Asheville City Council honors Restoration Program

Jan Trainor watches Tim Hanlon cast plaster at Restoration workshop.

The text below is from the mayoral proclamation presented  Tuesday, June 28.  Stay tuned for PSABC remarks from same meeting!!

WHEREAS, the Decorative Restoration program at A-B Technical Community College was founded in 1988 as a cooperative venture with the Biltmore Estate. Students have come from as far away as Alaska and Vermont to take advantage of the only full-time program of its kind in the country, which graduated its final class this year; and

          WHEREAS, the program has graduated nearly 300 students, all skilled artisans, a number of whom have begun thriving restoration businesses all across the country and have worked on the restoration of historic artifacts and buildings, churches and cathedrals; and

WHEREAS, two passionate and visionary teachers have guided the Decorative Restoration program during its 23 years: Derick Tickle, a master craftsman who previously taught for London’s distinguished City & Guilds, arrived from England in 1989 and directed the program until his retirement in 2005 when Tim Hanlon, a 1997 graduate of the program, took over its leadership; and

         

WHEREAS, we have these two instructors and their students to thank for the beautifully restored ceiling of the County Courthouse, which took six years to complete, and for the uniquely decorative foyer and Council Chamber of City Hall; and

WHEREAS, we appreciate the program’s philosophy that the greenest building is the one already built. The Decorative Restoration program has helped keep Asheville’s heritage intact for today and tomorrow. Through its contributions, Asheville’s citizens learn to appreciate our historic buildings, their decoration and construction, and to preserve them for future generations.

          NOW, THEREFORE, I, Terry Bellamy, Mayor of the City of Asheville, do hereby recognize the

                   Decorative Restoration Program

at A-B Technical College as an exemplary program, which has made a significant contribution in the preservation of historic buildings in Asheville.

          IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the City of Asheville, North Carolina, to be affixed this 28^th day of June, 2011.

                                                          ___________________________

                                                                TERRY M. BELLAMY

                                                                             MAYOR

Window repair station in Auditorium, teaching restoration skills.

What to do now?

By now, many of you have received our request for your help in this campaign to save the Ivy building, your auditorium.  And, the letter may have piiqued your interest.  We hope so.  Here are some ideas:

1. Contact our office so that we can ensure you receive timely information, the way you want to receive it!  director@psabc.org
2. Visit this blog routinely as another way to keep informed,
3. Forward your memories and photographs of the Ivy building so that we may use them in our publications,
4. Contact other classmates that may not have received our note and get them informed,
5. Prepare to communicate with communiity leaders and AB Tech administration about the issue.  Stay tuned: we will provide talking points on Monday.
6. Post your own ideas about how we may be effective.
7. If you live near Asheville, would you join a task force to work directly on this issue with other voulnteers?
8. Consider other organizations & communities, etc. that would join a coalition to ensure that the Ivy building is protected.

Thank you so much for your interest.  We will keep you informed as things progress.

The Ivy Building; Your Auditorium

SGP & Gibbons Hall Postcard going out soon!

THANK YOU to Carolina Day for coordinating a mailing to the SGP & GH alums requesting their assitance in working to save the Ivy Building.  Also, special thanks are in order to Kieta Osteen-Cochrane, Priscilla Lloyd Fortner and Melinda Farr Brown (Class of '60) for their help in getting this campaign started.  We are very hopeful that others will join our efforts to work with A B Tech to protect the Ivy Building during their expansion project(s).

SGP Auditorium - 1937 or 1938

A neighbor of Robert Sauer and Scott Riviere, Ms. Jo Ann Lipinsky Edwinn, has provided us with this photo.  She has also identified almost everyone from this class of 1937 or 38.  It includes classes from SGP and Gibbons:  Jack Clark (d),
Marsden Wallace (d),
A. O. Mooneyham Jr.,
Ann Calloway (d)
Ann Damtoft
Ann Rutledge
Jo Ann Lipinsky Edwinn
Eleanor Brown Hall
Ruth Rutledge
Betsy Anderson
Ruth Patterson (d)
Mary Emily Harris (d)
Jane Perry Hildebrand
Henry Lehman
Bynum Brown (d)
Edward Schoenheit
Winston McMahan
Jean ?
Dale Williard Swift (d)
Margaret Jane Taylor (d)
Betty Sumner Warner (d)
Penelope Self
Patsy Holliday (d)
Mary Jane Fischer
Barbara Loughran

Launch of Save the Ivy Building Blog

Good afternoon.  This is the first entry in the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County's blog to inform our community about the work to save the historic Ivy Building, the last remaining historic building from the Saint Genevieve of the Pines original campus.