GDG- cylclorama
cygnus
cygnus at insightbb.com
Sun Dec 10 09:14:10 CST 2006
I have to agree . The historic significance of that building does not date
back to the time of history of the battlefiled. I don't doubt many of us on
here would like to see the town exactly how it was back in 1863 . You have
to wonder why over the years they didn't preserve everything exactly as it
was. But the townspeople probably didn't really see what to them was normal
progression of their lives ie adding on to their buildings, altering their
farms, removing old buildings as removing history . I believe , and
wonder if this conversation shouldn't have been occuring in 1960 . "Why
put this building in a historically significant part of the Park ? We
continue to modernize and develop land on this battlefield and destroying
our past ."
I would think the casino could house it on their property. Maybe lure some
suckers/customers in .
Thanks
Mike
----- Original Message -----
From: "Margaret D. Blough" <mdblough1 at comcast.net>
To: "GDG" <gettysburg at arthes.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 6:11 AM
Subject: Re: GDG- cylclorama
> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:
>
>
> 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]
>
> *******************************************************
> 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.
> ***************************************************************************<<
>
>
>
> -------------- 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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