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**Dignann** · 04-09-2007, 02:46 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Battle over Gettysburg projects pits historians, vendors vs. park service

By Robin Acton

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
April 8, 2007

Dion Neutra considered chaining himself to the building, thinking he could save it from the wrecking ball.

But Neutra, 80, of Los Angeles, is too rational for such a stunt.

He also believes it's not too late to restore the Cyclorama Building designed by his late father -- master architect Richard Neutra -- rather than remove it from Gettysburg National Military Park.

"It is one of my dad's most important projects. To remove it is changing history," Neutra said. "I call it revisionist history."

Neutra has joined the front lines of a 10-year battle over the National Park Service's plan to demolish the building and visitors center; build another center; and restore the Ziegler's Grove section of the battlefield to its appearance in July 1863 during Pickett's Charge -- one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

The Cyclorama Building and visitors center are located across from each other at Cemetery Ridge along Taneytown Road.

A new, single structure would sit one-third of a mile away near the intersection of Baltimore Pike and Hunt Avenue -- an area where no major battle action took place.

Business owners said they fear refreshment and souvenir sales at the new center would divert visitors from downtown Gettysburg, which relies on tourists for survival.

Historians and preservationists contend Richard Neutra's work is an important piece of modern architecture.

Taxpayers question the wisdom of a public-private partnership among the National Park Service, the Gettysburg Foundation and its board chairman, the developer for the project that has ballooned from $39 million to $125 million.

The controversy -- for years confined to meeting rooms and newspaper stories -- has spilled into federal court.

Neutra, a nonprofit group called the Recent Past Preservation Network and its president, Christine Madrid French, recently sued the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, park Superintendent John Latschar and other officials.

The lawsuit claims the defendants violated environmental and historic preservation laws by failing to consider the environmental impact from the center's demolition and by failing to use, maintain and manage the center properly before committing to the project. The plaintiffs aim to prevent demolition and, instead, to develop a restoration plan.

"The question is, how do we prevent the federal government from doing something before it is too late? We've tried, but we can't get a response to that," said Matthew Adams, the plaintiffs' Los Angeles-based attorney.

Katie Lawhon, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service, said the agency can't comment on a "matter of litigation." She referred inquiries to the foundation; foundation spokeswoman Dru Anne Neil said its leaders are committed to completing the project and working with the community.

"The town is as much a part of the battle as the battlefield. We will tell people that they need to explore the town -- we want to drive people to the downtown. A lot of things happened in town that are key to educating people about Gettysburg," she said.

As for the Cyclorama Building, demolition is a done deal, however. Most likely, the center will come down in 2009, Neil said.

Before it began to leak, crack and crumble, the building was a modern visionary's dream.

More than four decades ago, the park service commissioned Richard Neutra to design the center as part of "Mission 66" -- a post-World War II initiative to upgrade national parks with facilities designed by well-known architects. Neutra, who died in 1970, incorporated into his plans a cylindrical drum to house a 360-degree panoramic painting of Pickett's Charge by French artist Paul Philippoteaux.

Neil said 20 conservators are working on an $11.5 million restoration of the 365-foot oil-on-canvas painting -- damaged by inadequate temperature controls and an improper hanging system. The painting is expected to be available for viewing again in a cylindrical gallery in the new center next year.

"From our point of view, the park service did its best to preserve it as they could," she said. "We can't speak to the past."

In 1999, park service officials told Congress that the building suffered from years of deferred maintenance. They acknowledged, however, that they never asked for money to fix the structure. Critics view the building as a concrete eyesore, but architectural historians consider it a valuable example of Neutra's work.

"As part of Mission 66, it was part of a larger movement and has historical significance," said Abby Van Slyck, an architectural historian who is on the faculty at Connecticut College in New London, Conn.

Van Slyck said the park is made up of "layer upon layer of memorialization."

"Each generation has commented on the Civil War and, in doing so, has revealed something about themselves. If you tear it down, you wipe out an important comment and voice from the moment in time that it was built," she said.

Daniel Bluestone, an architectural history professor at the University of Virginia, said removal is "an odd strategy" because there are about 1,300 other monuments scattered across the battlefield.

"Why should this building come out? I think Lee's headquarters is the site of a commercial strip now. People who go to Gettysburg have to exercise their imagination as to how it appeared then," Bluestone said.

Business owners, such as Eric Uberman, said they worry about maintaining the flow of tourists in the downtown surrounding the park -- visited annually by about 2 million people.

Uberman, owner of the Gettysburg Gift Center and American Civil War Museum near the existing visitors center, said the new center's landlocked location could end some small operations if people would drive out of its parking lot and leave town after their tours.

"If some of these small businesses lose 10 percent of their business, they're gone," said Uberman, of Rockville, Md.

Uberman and others -- including Franklin Silbey, of Washington, a retired investigator with the U.S. House of Representatives and self-described "student of history" -- question the project's hefty price tag and debt structure. They also question the wisdom of a private group governing public interests.

"I do not accuse anybody of being dishonest," Silbey said. "But this centers on commercialization of the park, and in the meantime, the whole town's going to lose out and all the little guys are going to die."

Neil said the foundation -- a 2006 merger of the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg and the Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation -- would manage the center for 20 to 30 years while the project debt is repaid, alleviating the park service's responsibility for fundraising. The foundation will handle retail operations and tour reservations.

Developer Robert A. Kinsley, whose companies are overseeing the project, is board chairman of the foundation. Its president is Robert Wilburn, a Blairsville native who previously served as president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia and Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh.

Uberman and Silbey suggest nepotism has come into play, noting that lucrative project contracts were awarded to companies owned by Kinsley or his relatives.

Neil, however, said all contracted work, including anything done by companies owned by Kinsley or his relatives, is voted upon -- with Kinsley abstaining -- and put out for competitive bids approved by the park service. Information released by the foundation shows that increased costs for construction, painting restoration, battlefield rehabilitation, exhibits and administration pushed the project's price upward.

In February, Wilburn announced a revised fundraising goal of $125 million for the project -- funded by private donations, public money and commercial loans. He noted that the goal and facilities' costs compare to other major museums in the mid-Atlantic region, including the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and the new American Revolution Center Museum in Valley Forge.

"This is a big project, and Gettysburg is an important place," Neil said. "You need to get experts to do it right."

In California, Dion Neutra said he would like to be considered among the experts. He insists on talking of possibilities, rather than playing a funeral dirge for his father's work.

"I would like to work on rehabilitation of the building, if we could save it. It would be a wonderful finale to my career," he said. "It's not over 'til it's over."

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Eric

**GrumpyDave** · 04-09-2007, 04:43 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

I think the NPS should give the group the old Cyclorama building. Then tell the new owners they have "x" amount of weeks to get it off the park property! Building's gone from the hill and everyone's happy.

Wait till you see how the new builing sticks out like a sorre thumb. I thought the thing was supposed to be unobtrusive?

;)

**marylandreb** · 04-09-2007, 05:13 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

The cyclorama should not have been put there when it was, time to move it or let it go!
Paul

**AzTrooper** · 04-09-2007, 05:23 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Well said Paul!!!!
Respectfully,
John Rogers

**garyjd** · 04-09-2007, 05:51 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Dave, I agree with you. Give them the building and X amount of time to move it.

As for the new visitor's center my fear is that it will be loaded with tons of gimmickie type CW crap. One thing I've always enjoyed about the visitor center bookstore is the selection of books, DvDs, and CDs available. I can easily see the concerns of the smaller mom and pop type shops that have been around for decades, at least some of which I'm sure supported the NO casino camp. Hopefully none of their fears will come to be.~Gary

**Rob Weaver** · 04-09-2007, 09:16 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

The "Mom and Pop" shops of Gettysburg have been changing dramatically over the last 25 years, and dwindling slowly. I don't think the changes in the Visitor's Center are going to effect those trends much at all.
I remember the Cyclorama Center when it was the Visitor's Center and was less than 10 years old. The original intent was that the visitor would view the painting and then walk out with an interpreter onto the overlook and view the real terrain from very nearly the same perspective and location as shown in the painting. When led correctly, it was a very effective tour, especially for its time. However, as time went on, that last part of the program fell away. So did other uses for parts of the structure; has anyone ever seen a program conducted in that wonderful little amplitheater on the East side of the building near the door? The building itself has all the shortcomings of modern buildings: flat roof that leaks, aging concrete exterior that looks dingy, interior that's cold and unfriendly. The painting itself deserves renovation and the best preservation possible as a significant work of art, if not exacting historical research. The building itself, sadly, has really outlived its usefulness. I hat to say that because it's not much older than I am. Then again, "all flesh is as grass." Sic transit gloria mundi.

**jpbab** · 04-10-2007, 11:53 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Whatever it takes to resore the battlefield to as close as possible to how it looked in 1863 will have my support. Cut the trees, remove the buildings, plant a correct "copse of trees" as the focal point of Longstreet's Assault. Heck, I'd opt for a removal of the parking lots and the restoration of farm buildings long since gone.

**BobSullivanPress** · 04-11-2007, 02:39 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

This kind of "preserve everything" mentality just gets to me.

Each area that is preserved is preserved for a reason. The Gettysburg battlefield is there to preserve a significant military action, and a significant speech. If items don't have to do with the military action or the speech, and didn't exist at the time of the military action or speech, then they do not factor in the preservation effort. If you want to preserve buildings, go find a park dedicated to architecture.

Case in point: At Ft. McHenry, there is a statue of Orpheus the god of music in what is now the picnic area. What is a statue to the the Greek god of music doing at Ft. McHenry you ask? It was placed there when a particular song became our country's National Anthem in the 1930s. Great. Now Orpheus has been there for 70-some years, and, according to one former superintendent "Is as much a part of the park's history as the fort itself". Balderdash.

When I was there in the early 80s, the City of Baltimore was constructing the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. We suggested that the Fort make a gift of the statue to the city, and get them to place the statue near the Symphony Hall. Music-Symphony Hall, well, it made sense to us. But the superintendent nixed it with the above quote. So Orpheus still stands in the picinc area.

Side note - Orpheus is dressed only in a fig leaf, so there's always a full moon, so to speak, over the picnic area as you're eating.

**Rob Weaver** · 04-11-2007, 07:29 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Some kind and benevolent art-appreciating soul bequeathed a magnificent larger-than-life bronze replica of Michalangelo's David to the city of Sioux Falls, SD, a good many years back. Now these are good Midwestern people, spiritual kin to the kind Lutherans of Lake Wobegon, MN, and they couldn't bring themselves to turn down a gift of great art, even if it is statuary of a naked man displaying the artist's stunning ignorance of the significant sign of the Hebew covenant acted out upon the male anatomy :) Anyway, they couldn't figure out how to display David downtown. If he faced downtown proper, he would be showing off his full frontal nudity to the enitre business district. If they turned him to face the East side of town and the river, he would now be mooning that same downtown. They opted for the latter, and to this day David stands in a lovely little park, baring his backside to the banks, law offices and businesses of the downtown Queen City. They call him "Chief Standing Bare."

Sorry, it seemed to have a certain kinship with the Orpheus story.

**Bivouac_of_the_Dead** · 04-12-2007, 01:21 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

... has anyone ever seen a program conducted in that wonderful little amplitheater on the East side of the building near the door?

Yup. Twenty long years ago. I hear tell the sliding glass panels that opened the ampitheater to the outside are now warped and won't work right anymore. So much for a great work of modern architecture. :sarcastic

**BarryDusel** · 04-13-2007, 10:07 AM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

It's time to dump the dump!
Then again. I feel sorry for Neutra in that he feels the memory of his father trumps the importance of the landscape of this battlefield. The statement that he makes along with his cronies in that to destroy/remove this dump is "revisionist history" . It just makes me laugh. If anything .His fathers monument is a symbol of a bad idea . It detracts from the experience and ruins the viewshed .
As to the "townies" being upset. I visit Gettysburg for the battlefield, certainly not for the town. I don't go there to dine in their fine establishments or stay in their chain hotels . If Gettysburg was ever quaint, it is long gone. I can get the same atmosphere by visiting the slums of any City.
' Nuff said. Sorry for the rant .
Tear down the dump and restore the grove.

**M_Kupsch** · 04-13-2007, 12:06 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Barry,

Not to quarrel, but I hate to tell you, the "town" is the battlefield. So you can't really separate the two. Now true, you can divide the battlefield up into sections, some more true to their 1863 appearance than others. Hinting that the town of Gettysburg is equivalent to any other slum is just uncalled for; considering the very town you connect to being a slum was hotly contested in July of 1863.

If you truly can't find any of the quaintness anywhere in Gettysburg, then you haven't looked very hard.

**BarryDusel** · 04-13-2007, 01:14 PM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Hey Matt after 45+ years, and monthly sojourns knowledge that the town is part of the battlefield is common knowledge. In turn then,No offense taken.
On the last matter .Quaint is in the eye of the beholder .

**Dignann** · 06-20-2007, 08:44 AM

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Preservationists sue to preserve center

A group wants the park service to save the old Cyclorama building.

By MATT CASEY

The York Daily Record [York, Penn.]
June 19, 2007

Gettysburg National Military Park officials said they'll take seriously a group's lawsuit asking the National Park Service to preserve at least a portion of the Cyclorama building.

The park service plans to raze the Cyclorama building after the new visitor center opens next year. The Washington, D.C.-based Recent Past Preservation Network wants the 1961 building preserved.

Designed by famous architect Richard Neutra, the building housed a 19th-century circular painting depicting Pickett's Charge.

Military park superintendent John Latschar said the preservation network filed the lawsuit in March, arguing that the park service's official documents in its 1999 decision to demolish the building call only for its removal and that removal doesn't mean demolition.

The preservation network wants the park service to analyze �all feasible alternatives of removal, including relocating the building to another site,� Latschar told the Gettysburg National Military Park Advisory Commission on Thursday.

Park service officials have said the building is inadequate to preserve the painting, which is currently being restored and will be housed in a state-of-the-art Cyclorama Center at the visitors center just off Baltimore Pike.

The park also wants to restore Ziegler's Grove - the site of the current Cyclorama painting and visitors center where more than 900 soldiers died during the 1863 battle - to its Civil War appearance.

Latschar said lawyers from both sides have filed initial motions, and the two groups have met once for failed settlement talks. He said he expected the next round of motions later this summer and said the suit would have no effect on the completion of the new visitors center or the rehabilitation of the grove on Cemetery Ridge.

He added that, at this point, the park service's planned removal of the building stands.

ABOUT THE BUILDING
The Cyclorama Center at Gettysburg National Military Park was built as part of the federal Mission 66 program, a 10-year program introduced in 1955 to improve National Park Service facilities, according to the lawsuit filed by the Recent Past Preservation Network.

Architect Richard Neutra designed the 35,271-square-foot building, which was to act as a visitor center and museum, office space and the display of the 360-degree painting depicting the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.

The center sits next to the current museum and visitor center on Ziegler's Grove, overlooking the field where Pickett's Charge took place.

ON THE WEB
For more information, visit these Web sites:

� Richard and Dion Neutra Architecture: http://www.neutra.org

� Gettysburg National Military Park: http://www.nps.gov/gett

� Recent Past Preservation Network: http://www.recentpast.org

http://www.ydr.com/newsfull/ci_6176499

Eric

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