GDG- cylclorama

Sun Dec 10 06:11:35 CST 2006

Thomas,

In response to that, I can only cite these excerpts from the May 1999 report of the panel appointed for the Section 106 consultation of the NPS plans for Cyclorama building to the Advisory Council for Historic Preservation giving its recommendation (this consultation included input from all concerned, including advocates of the building).

Regards,

Margaret

>>A.  Introduction

The influential political philosopher, the late Isaiah Berlin (1909-97), believed that "all serious political choice involved loss, not merely trade-offs or compromises but genuine sacrifice of desirable ends: so much liberty sacrificed for so much equality or justice sacrificed for the sake of mercy and so on.'' Whatever the general validity of this theory, we are confronted in Gettysburg with an example of its specific salience. [fn. omitted]

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E.  The Basic Choice to be Made

. . .Gettysburg, as a site, thus represents a post-Independence turning point in national history -- our development politically -- that has few if any rivals. It is of paramount importance historically. The rehabilitation of this key battlefield site so that the battlefield can properly be interpreted must be regarded as a historic mission of the highest order.

This imperative transcends the reality that cumulative policies of NPS have compromised this historic landscape in some areas of the battlefield and that any landscape as a natural environment will inevitably change over time. The exact replication of the 1863 battlefield, with its carnage and devastation, and devoid of its commemorative markers, would be impossible and undesirable even if possible. The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes recognizes that restoration standards allow for the depiction of a landscape at a particular time in U. S. history by preserving materials from the period of significance and removing materials from other periods. The period of significance selected by the park substantially predates the Cyclorama Building.

The Cyclorama Building, constructed in 1960 in the southern portion of Ziegler's Grove, caused substantial changes to the topography and features of this critical portion of the battlefield. It is located just east of the highest point on Cemetery Ridge, the object of repeated Confederate attacks on July 2 and 3 to gain the heights of Cemetery Hill. It was sited at the focal point chosen by tile artist of the Cyclorama Painting and provides an observation deck from which can be seen Seminary Ridge, the terrain of the six-mile long Confederate line. 

The siting of the building was based on an approach to visitor orientation that, by today's standards, would be rejected out of hand; indeed, it is clear that such a location would violate the NPS's Management Policies, its basic service-wide policy document. These policies provide, among others, that "development will not compete with or dominate park features" (Chapter 9:2); and that "to minimize visual intrusion and harm to major park features, visitor centers will generally not be located near such features" (Chapter 9:11). The Advisory Council itself in a June 1977 publication entitled A Plan to Preserve the Historic Resources of the Gettysburg Area of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, called for the relocation of the Cyclorama Building and the nearby visitor center because they were "intrusions near the cemetery and the climactic scene of the battle..." (p.6-7). 

No more dramatic demonstration of this intrusiveness can be seen than to move along Confederate Avenue on Seminary Ridge and view the Union's defensive line from this vantage point. The bulk and scale of the drum of the Cyclorama Building is prominent in the viewshed, and from certain points this and the long office wing with its ramp and observation deck introduce a discordant and disturbing note in an otherwise pastoral landscape  dotted with memorials that are themselves testimony to the emotions stirred directly by the events that took place.

The Council should not reverse its 1977 recommendation in the absence of compelling reasons to do so. The Keeper's determination of the building's eligibility (even accepting the premise that the Mission 66 program made a "significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history") does not rise to this level of persuasiveness because it is focused on the building in isolation from, and not on its relationship to, a paramount historical objective: the rehabilitation of this key battlefield area. Those who would question the historic value of such rehabilitation appear to believe that the Building does not diminish or intrude upon visitors' understanding of the battlefield events or, even if so, future generations may not focus on the military as distinguished from the political significance of Gettysburg, and that the re-creation of the conditions of 1863 is unrealistic in any event.  To accept this view would open the door conceptually to further construction in the future tha
t substantially changes the topography and viewshed.  Public and scholarly interest with battlefield events has continued unabated for long after the survivors have died. There is no basis to suggest that this would change in the future, and this kind of speculation could undermine historic preservation objectives generally.

It is no criticism of Neutra to give priority to this rehabilitation objective. The architect was responding to the client's directive. The massive drum was a direct expression of the function that was to be served by the Building. In other hands the work would doubtless have been done less admirably but just as intrusively because of the massing required to achieve its purpose. With rare exceptions, the millions of people who have visited the GNMP since 1962 have come to see the battlefield and not Neutra's architecture. Neutra has a secure place in the pantheon of American architectural history. There are other Neutra buildings; there is only one Gettysburg Battlefield. The proper treatment of the Building would be considered under quite different criteria, of course, were it on some other site without superior historical competition.

The continued existence of the Building is consequently pre-empted by another controlling historic preservation objective. In such circumstances it is not necessary to enter upon any examination of whether the building can be adapted to another use or can feasibly be altered to accommodate the Cyclorama Painting or whether the Painting can be accommodated without any such alteration. To engage in this examination is to presuppose that the Building can trump the objective of battlefield restoration and rehabilitation. It is also not necessary to evaluate, accept, or reject the asserted defects of the Building in either design, construction or maintenance. For the purpose of the unpleasant choice posed by its unfortunate siting, it should be assumed that the building is completely functional in all these respects. The result is the same. The Building must yield.
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-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Thomas Eishen" <teishen at houston.rr.com> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> I think it is a mistake for those interested in historical preservation to 
> narrow their focus to only certain time periods. There are already enough 
> forces at work trying to destroy our history that the last thing we need are for 
> those bent on saving it to be fighting among themselves. When that happens, we 
> all lose. 
> 
> 
> 
> If it weren't for its location, the Cyclorama on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg 
> would be a structure worth saving just as was the Jenskins house near Stone's 
> River National Battlefield, which was torn down to make way for development. 
> While many think their reasons for wanting the cyclorama destroyed are valid, 
> the truth is the effect is no different. A national treasure will be destroyed 
> and lost forever. 
> 
> 
> 
> As our population continues to move to the large urban areas of the east more 
> and more battlefield land and historic structures are lost everyday. Instead of 
> historic preservation groups spending money fighting, we should be working 
> together to save all our history and not just the part we are interested in. 
> 
> 
> 
> As Lincoln said, "We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final 
> resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. 
> It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this." 
> 
> 
> 
> We are again involved in a great struggle, but this one is the effort to save 
> the memory of those who came before us. As developers work to meet the needs of 
> the increasing population, the struggle will become even more desperate. 
> 
> 
> 
> Just as a portion of the field was set aside to honor those who gave their 
> lives, I think we should set aside a portion to be a rallying point in the 
> struggle to save our history. I say leave the Cyclorama where it is and turn it 
> into a monument for historic preservation. It could serve as the National 
> Center for Historic Preservation a working memorial where all historic 
> preservation groups can work together to find common ground and educate 
> developers on the benefits for them in saving our history. 
> 
> 
> 
> As the Pennsylvania Memorial stands to the south on Cemetery Ridge as a reminder 
> of the "great civil war" the Cyclorama should remain as a national rallying 
> point in the struggle to save those places that are our national history. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sincerely yours, 
> 
> 
> 
> Thomas Eishen 
> 
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