Opinion: City Should Show Wesleyan How To Prize Its Heritage

COMMENT on "Oh the things you'll find under Agendas" (too long to fit in the comments box); submitted by Downtown Village District resident, trained architect and city planner Catherine Johnson. The Common Council voted Tuesday to acquire the building, in order to have it demolished by Wesleyan, and replaced by a parking lot. 
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The [Forest City Dry Cleaners] building is not abandoned - it is simply empty. The owner passed away and the widow allowed someone to use it so it would be looked after - and it was. Now the family wants to sell it. I thought we vowed to not rip buildings down anymore? We have erased so much already.

Yes, the site needs attention but, unlike other brownfield sites, this pollution is finite and easily remediated. Why the whole building would have to be removed when this particular contamination does not involve walls, I am not sure. It does need a new roof and a rebuilt clerestory. Ideally, if there really were a need for parking and the floor was already being removed, you'd plan for parking in the basement and retain the building above to use.

I am glad the city would take possession of the site so we can access grant for clean-up of the previous dry cleaner use and historic preservation to repair the roof. This is something the person caring for the building came to ask the city for help with over the past  4 years. But what I find odd is that it would instantly be considered as a parking lot when the building offers more promise as a space for activity.

Wesleyan doesn't need any more parking nor does the Village District. What we need is human beings doing things. What the school and the community could use is a building like this for performances, rehearsals, singing, yoga, recitals, exhibits, parties, celebrations, classes - oh, look! It could be used as a classroom during the day ...

People often think the best route is to tear a building down because they think it'd be cheaper or more efficient. But we now know, living in the age of LEED-certified buildings, that The Greenest Building is An Existing Building. All the time, energy, and raw materials that went into producing and transporting the bricks, beams and stone to the site to erect that building cost something. Pulling it down would throw all that investment into the landfill. All we'd end up with is an expensive, empty space. The usual reason demolition is suggested is not a result of a thoughtful reflection on the options, but instead because no one wants to make the effort to come up with a smaller, more time-intensive solution. Contractors, engineers, and architects are used to proposing new construction: Bigger project = Bigger fee. No one wants to admit that you could scrape,  repaint and re-glaze windows for pennies. It almost could be community project - instructing people how to do this for their own windows. The Town of Hamden retained the original windows when the old town hall was renovated simply because there was nothing wrong with the existing windows: they just needed some attention.

Once cleaned, I think this building could be renovated for less than $500,000 to make it useful: new roof, new floor, bare bones heating system and toilets. I would like the front saved to use as a wonderful porch - a truck hit it when someone working on the steam plant. This can be easily repaired. The front could also be a small store - it is a well-built space.

That building is an chance to reverse what we've done downtown for 5 decades. Were it rebuilt, we'd have something that could bring town and gown together in a way nothing else does. As Wesleyan leaves the Green Street School, where is the Venn Diagram intersection of our two worlds? We don't have another building like that next to campus on the downtown side.We've lost the Downey House. The Student Union, which architect Henry Bacon designed for the steam plant location was never built. Wesleyan wanted to rip down this dry cleaning building for years but the owner didn't want to sell it them.

I say, let's keep the building as a Monument to Alternatives that go farther than serving  the car. The car doesn't need our help! What we do need are places for purposes that the Russell Library Hubbard Room now serves somewhat - a place to gather, to talk, to meet, to discuss, to perform,to exhibit, to sing, to tell stories, to plot our future. We need a place we can get together when it's 5 degrees Fahrenheit out.

Pulling down a building to put up a parking lot is SO 20th century! Why not take this opportunity to do something that will reap a higher return on the investment?   If Wesleyan doesn't prize our heritage, than we should show them the way.