Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

[Beaner]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

I think restoring "the Grove" should be the priority and not the preserving of a building built several years after the battle.

Dave Prince
4th Texas Co. E

[celtfiddler]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Hopefully the park service will ultimately prevail and be permitted to demolish that eyesore and restore the grove.

[tomp40]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Restoration of Cemetary Ridge and the grove to its 1863 appearance is so important.. So many guys gave their lives in that area and to build that structure there originally was a mistake. Its now time to correct that mistake and remove the building restore that hallowed ground.

Tom Ragno

[6thWis]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

This whole thing kinda reminds me of Eddie Izzard standup. Making fun of Americans for bragging about buildings being "over 50 years old!" Meanwhile, in Britain, they have castles nearly 1,000 years old.

I really like the Cyclorama Center. Its cool to go outside and see where everything happened. You get a good view, but you can't compromise the field like that. I mean, seriously, what does this guy think he can do? What the h#ll is the building gonna do just sitting there, being useless? Who the h#ll is gonna visit it other than him?

Tear that mother down.

Ryan Alcaino

[GrumpyDave]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

I say "Give em' the keys and tell them the thing has to be gone by (insert date) or the buldozer man is coming."

It is sort of ironic. Some folks want to preserve CW stuff. Some folks want to preserve architecture. So, it goes.
:lightning

[Charles Heath]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Looks like some shyster has gotten wind of the Tower fellow being paid off, and now wants to visit those same deep pockets. Rent a nice dozer from Alban, and this whole matter could be settled in a few hours.

[tomp40]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

They can always hit it with some reb artillery from Seminary Ridge.. That would be a site to see.

Tom Ragno

[laurelgirl]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Neutra has been told that he is allowed to arrange for the building's removal- at him own expense. He has not replied yet... it has been a year-and-a-half...

[Dignann]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Park Service eyes December demolition of Cyclorama

BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER

The Gettysburg Times [Gettysburg, Penn.]
September 5, 2008

The old Cyclorama building at Gettysburg National Military Park could be demolished as early as this winter, even though a lawsuit to save the architectural masterpiece continues to meander its way through the federal court system.

“If we stay on schedule, the buildings could come down in December,” GNMP Supt. Dr. John A. Latschar said regarding the old Cyclorama and Visitor Center facilities, located atop Cemetery Ridge in Ziegler’s Grove.

The park intends to raze both buildings and transform the land, home to Pickett’s Charge in the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, back to its Civil War era appearance. But a Virginia based group — the Recent Past Preservation Network and Dion Neutra — filed a lawsuit in December 2006, arguing that the park never fully considered alternatives.

“The current contract that we have is for the demolition of both buildings, but it depends, of course, on the resolution of the Cyclorama lawsuit,” said Latschar. “Even though we don’t have to wait until a decision is made, the Department of Justice has advised us that it’s prudent.”

The old Cyclorama building — built in the early 1960s to house a 377-foot-long by 42 foot-high painting that has since been moved to the new $103 million park Visitor Center — is considered by preservationists to be a memorial. Neutra’s father, Richard, designed the complex, but it has been unused since the park’s new 139,000 square-foot Visitor Center and Museum opened in April along the Baltimore Pike.

Thousands of documents have been filed in the lawsuit, and the Recent Past Preservation Network recently asked the judge to settle the case in a federal courtroom.

“There is good cause for an oral hearing in that the issues raised in the Plaintiffs’ motion are complex, the Administrative Record for this case is lengthy and there continue to be significant and legal disagreements between the parties,” wrote attorney Nicholas C. Yost, in court documents filed June 20.

Presiding Judge Thomas F. Hogan has not ruled on the motion.

The demolition project is part of a comprehensive $9.5 million plan to restore Ziegler’s grove back to its 1863 appearance. The Gettysburg Foundation, the park’s non-profit partner, is raising money for the project — the first phase is the demolition of the old Cyclorama and Visitor Center buildings. A portion of the parking lot, big enough for about 30 cars and several buses, is being left for Soldiers National Cemetery visitor parking.

“The contract doesn’t include the parking lots,” explained GNMP spokeswoman Katie Lawhon.

Planning for the new Visitor Center and Museum began nearly 14 years ago, and after years of studies and public comment, the park opted to move to a larger facility instead of renovating its old home, which was originally built as a private residence and added onto 14 times since.

The Recent Past Preservation Network contends that the park, in its General Management Plan of 1999 and the associated Environmental Impact Statement, “studiously avoids” restoration and rehab alternatives.

Also, the group argues that the park’s decision to demolish the old Cyclorama building violates federal preservation laws.

http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/articles/2008/09/06/news/local/doc48c1161489bea963410083.txt

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Cyclorama lawsuit heads for federal court hearing

BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER

The Gettysburg Times [Gettysburg, Penn.]
October 16, 2008

The ongoing lawsuit to save the Cyclorama building at Gettysburg National Military Park is headed for a federal hearing, according to documents filed this week with U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

The hearing is being held Thursday, Oct. 30 in Courtroom #7 in the U.S. District Court Prettyman Building, located at 333 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington D.C.

“It’s not sealed. It’s an open public hearing,” Courtroom Deputy Kymberly Kay said Wednesday.

The lawsuit pits a preservation group — The Recent Past Preservation Network — that wants to see the Cyclorama building preserved, against the National Park Service, which plans to demolish the gigantic structure and restore the land to its 1863 Battle of Gettysburg appearance.

But the preservation group, led by Mission 66 and Christine Madrid French, argues that the park did not study viable alternatives before deciding to demolish what it considers an architecturally significant Cyclorama building.

GNMP spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said Wednesday that she is unable to comment about litigation, but legal counsel representing the parties involved in the two-year-old case confirmed that they plan to attend the hearing.

“The matter is now pending before U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia,” explained attorney Caroline Blanco, who is representing GNMP Supt. Dr. John A. Latschar, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, and NPS Northeast Region Director Dennis Reidenbach in the case.

Latschar said previously that the park’s current schedule is to raze the Cyclorama building, as well as the old visitor center, which sit atop Cemetery Ridge within Ziegler’s Grove near Taneytown Road, by December.

“It’s not a hindrance,” Latschar said recently regarding the lawsuit. “We’ve gone through all of the legal steps. A group filed suit to keep us from doing that, but we find it very unlikely that the project will be stopped.”

Originally docketed in December 2006, the case has slowly meandered its way through the federal judicial system, with thousands of documents filed over the last 24 months.

The Oct. 30 hearing will be the first time that the case has spilled into a courtroom.

http://www.gburgtimes.com/articles/2008/10/16/news/local/doc48f71511d7c72516119465.txt

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

BUSINESSMEN: ‘We’ll take Cyclorama’

Uberman, Monahan would place 47-year-old complex on their properties

BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER

The Gettysburg Times [Gettysburg, Penn.]
October 29, 2008

Two businessmen in the Gettysburg area, Steinwehr Avenue entrepreneur Eric Uberman and Gateway Gettysburg developer Bob Monahan Jr., have told the group that’s trying to save the old Cyclorama building at Gettysburg National Military Park that they’d consider accommodating the 47-year-old complex on their properties.

The National Park Service intends to demolish the building, which previously housed the famous Cyclorama painting, sometime this winter, even though there is a lawsuit filed in federal court to prevent the project.

“To disparagingly call it an oil drum, which the National Park Service has done repeatedly, is a slap in the face of historical, modern architecture, and shows the ignorance of those who use that term,” said Uberman, who owns the American Civil War Museum along Steinwehr Avenue. “I’m not sure that I could put the entire building on my property, but we could at least take the cylindrical part and transform it into some type of museum.”

Relocating the building, according to court documents, could cost more than $5 million.

“It may very well be what Steinwehr needs to revitalize itself,” said Uberman, who thinks the building could house a variety of museums, including a “cultural exhibit of civilian life,” or perhaps Civil War artwork.

The Recent Past Preservation Network, a Virginia non-profit corporation, filed a federal suit in December 2006 to save the building, arguing that the park never considered alternative plans when it decided to raze the structure.

Uberman said that he was approached by the group “well over a year ago,” while Monahan indicated that he spoke with the party about six or seven years ago. Monahan owns the 70-acre Gateway Gettysburg property along the intersection of routes 15 and 30 in Straban Township, which is home to a movie theater, two hotels and two restaurants.

“I don’t think that Mr. Monahan and I are looking at this at this as a competition,” said Uberman, adding that he would lease a portion of his property to a non-profit group interested in operating the Cyclorama as a museum. “There is absolutely no competitiveness between me and Mr. Monahan. We’d probably work together to make this happen.”

The National Park Service intends to raze the Cyclorama building, as part of its General Management Plan of 1999, as well as the old Visitor Center, and restore that area of the battlefield to its 1863 appearance. Preservationists and historians claim that the building, designed in the 1950s by the late Richard Neutra, is historically and architecturally significant. Neutra’s son, Dion, is siding with the Recent Past Preservation Network in the case.

Through 2005, the old Cyclorama building housed a 125-year-old painting of the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg. The 377-foot long by 42-foot high artwork is now on display in the new $103 million Battlefield Visitor Center, which opened in April along the Baltimore Pike.

“The bottom line is: I do not want to see this torn down,” said Uberman, a critic of the park since plans were first unveiled for a new visitor center back in the mid-1990s. “The Cyclorama is an historic building. It’s not because I say so — it’s because historians in architecture and art have said so. Even the Park Service has said so.”

A relocation of the multi-ton building is possible by “using dolly wheels and a grid of steel beams,” according to court documents filed by Jerry Matyiko, owner of Maryland-based Expert House Movers. His $5 million estimate did not include landscape work, construction of a temporary gravel pathway wide enough to accommodate the Cyclorama, or preparation of the building for relocation.

“The design and condition of the office wing…is such that it could feasibly be re-used for office, retail or restaurant use,” wrote David McIlnay, Principal at the Harrisburg-based Office of Planning and Architecture, in court documents. “The design and condition of the remaining portion of the Cyclorama, including the portion of the building in which the painting was hung, could feasibly be re-used as a theater, museum, art gallery, or other purposes which require a large display area.”

GNMP Supt. Dr. John A. Latschar has said publicly that the park doesn’t view the lawsuit as a hindrance, and that the federal government doesn’t anticipate its project being stopped by the court. The buildings sit within Ziegler’s Grove on the Union Battle Line, which was the High Water Mark of Pickett’s Charge in 1863.

The ongoing lawsuit to save the Cyclorama building spills into a federal courtroom Thursday.

A hearing is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. at U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., in Courtroom 7.

http://www.gburgtimes.com/articles/2008/10/29/news/local/doc49084e4e65f66569082247.txt

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Cyclorama lawsuit in federal court today

BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER

The Gettysburg Times [Gettysburg, Penn.]
October 30, 2008

A federal lawsuit to save the old Cyclorama building from being razed at Gettysburg National Military Park spills into a courtroom for the first time today in Washington, D.C., after nearly two years of meandering its way through the judicial system.

The suit pits a Virginia non-profit agency dubbed the Recent Past Preservation Network against the park, which plans to demolish the Cyclorama building as part of its 1999 General Management Plan, and restore that area of the battlefield to its 1863 Civil War appearance.

A public hearing on the suit begins at 10:30 a.m. today in Courtroom # 7 at U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., before Magistrate Judge Alan Kay.

“I think we are really looking forward to Thursday’s hearing,” said attorney Matthew Adams, who is representing the non-profit group in the case. “The fact that a federal judge granted our motion to have this matter heard confirms that the Park Service cannot simply ignore its environmental responsibilities any longer. The hearing will begin the process of determining which side has the stronger legal argument, and we look forward to that resolution.”

The circular building, considered an architectural landmark by historians and engineers alike, was built by the late Richard Neutra and opened in 1962, and displayed the famous Cyclorama painting for decades. Neutra’s son, Dion, has teamed with the Recent Past Preservation Network to preserve the building.

“A hard look must be taken at potential alternatives to demolition, such as relocating the building or portions of it,” said Neutra. “On several occasions, we have offered to help the Park Service identify such alternatives. But each time the Park Service has refused to speak with us. It’s almost as if they don’t want to know that it might be possible to save the building so that future generations can enjoy and honor it.”

Hundreds of documents have been filed in the case since it was first docketed in Dec. 2006.

Earlier this year, the Recent Past Preservation Network filed a motion seeking a summary judgment: a legal term meaning that a court makes a decision without a full trial.

“The ultimate goal of our lawsuit is to force the Park Service to undertake the National Environmental Policy Act analysis that it was legally required to perform before deciding to demolish the building,” said Dion Neutra, son of the late architect Richard Neutra.

The park’s General Management Plan of 1999 calls for a removal of the building, so that the land — which is also home to the former Visitor Center — can be restored to its 1863 Civil War appearance. But Neutra and the Recent Past Preservation Network argue that “removal” doesn’t necessarily mean “demolition,” and that the park didn’t fully consider alternatives.

“We have long argued that the Park Service needs to comply with federal environmental laws before demolishing the Cyclorama Center, and that the 1999 General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement does not constitute compliance for the demolition project,” said Adams, who is representing Neutra and the Virginia agency pro bono.

Architects believe that the building could be relocated, and two area businessmen expressed an interest this week in accommodating the massive structure on their respective properties.

Steinwehr Avenue entrepreneur Eric Uberman and Gateway Gettysburg developer Bob Monahan Jr., who have ties to the visitor center project since it was first proposed in the 1990s, believe that the structure could possibly be used as some sort of museum.

The building previously housed the famous Cyclorama painting, a 377-foot long by 42-foot high panting drawn in the 1800s, depicting Pickett’s Charge.

But the gallery closed in 2005 and the park invested $16 million in restoring the painting, which was severely damaged over the years by an improper display, storage, climate control, water and fire.

The painting was later transported to a gallery at the new $103 million Battlefield Visitor Center, which opened in April along the 1100 block of the Baltimore Pike.

The cylindrical building is situated atop Ziegler’s Grove on the High Water Mark of Pickett’s Charge, where 900 soldiers fought on the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Conceptually, the land is planned to be returned to its 1863 look, although the Park Service intends to leave a small parking lot in the area for National Cemetery visitors.

http://www.gburgtimes.com/articles/2008/10/30/news/local/doc49098da7d3913662255936.txt

Eric

[FlatLandFed]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Quote: "… But the gallery closed in 2005 and the park invested $16 million in restoring the painting, which was severely damaged over the years by an improper display, storage, climate control, water and fire."

Sooooo, what part don't the building fans not get? It failed in its original attempt for storing and displaying a valuable painting; why would it suddenly make a great venue for displaying other art or historical items, no matter where it is moved? Hope they plan to spend some serious coin to upgrade it.

My 2 flying eagles,
Paul Hadley

[David Fox]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

For what it's worth, I first visited Gettysburg as a Civil War-besotted twelve-year-old in 1955. It was one of my most memorable experiences. Bought my first firearm, a battered 1863-dated Enfield, at an antique shop there that Spring for eleven Yankee dollars earned cutting lawns. At the museum centre, then I believe in private hands, I stood next to my Granddad, the two of us in mute shock, gazing into a glass case containing the skeleton of one of the boys who died there 92 years before, laid out to be stared at by crowds of gawkers. Grandpa was the son of a private in the 7th-aye-God-West Virginia Infantry, First Brigade, Third Division, Second Corps, Army of the Potomac. At least one Civil War vet was yet alive that May morning 53 years ago. Those remains were what was left of that then-living veteran's fellow soldier and, though likely an unnamed KIA Reb, a fellow who suffered the same travails as the father of the man next to whom I then stood.

I know I'd go howling mad today if I came across such a display of one of my Vietnam comrades who had not left the rice patties alive and was offered-up as a curiosity in a glass case. Decades ago someone with authority finally 'got it' and laid those obscenely displayed boy's bones to rest, I believe when the National Park Service acquired the private museum and morphed it into the public visitors' centre around the time of the centennial. For that act of decency I honour them.

Often properly chided for ham-handed bureaucratic stupidities, the NPS has thus ever been moving things in a direction we should applaud. And for years the Park Service has been in an on-going grapple with Gettysburg, Adams County, and their elected and self-proclaimed representatives as the Service has incrementally acquired land and returned parts of the field to again approximate its appearance in 1863. It hasn't always been a well-conceived undertaking, funds have been a problem (and now doubtless will be more so), but I for one support the ongoing effort.

Were I to have a vote, I'd raze all that construction connected with the now-old visitors' centre, the empty cyclorama building, and the parking lots. Using the best available material, the topography should be returned to as close to its 1863 appearance as the monuments and park roads allow. I don't impose my view on anyone nor claim it is objectively correct, but it seems to me no intrusion of the size and bulk of those buildings or those acres of concrete and asphalt should have been tolerated there in the first place.

[Dignann]

Re: Gettysburg - Attempt to Save Cyclorama Building

Two offered to take old Cyclorama building

By ERIN JAMES

The Evening Sun [Hanover, Penn.]
October 30, 2008

If the Cyclorama building survives its planned demolition, the 46-year-old structure could have a new home either on Steinwehr Avenue or at Gateway Gettysburg.

Two Gettysburg businessmen say they are open to the idea of relocating the building - which until recently housed the famous Cyclorama painting - on their properties.

And that could be a key detail for a federal judge who is to hear arguments today on whether the building should be demolished.

Eric Uberman said he has about three acres on Steinwehr Avenue that could serve as a future site for the Cyclorama building. The property is located near the American Civil War Museum, which he owns.

Another option is 70 undeveloped acres at Gateway Gettysburg, a hotel and convention complex owned by Bob Monahan near the interchange of routes 30 and 15 east of Gettysburg.

But the Cyclorama building won't be going anywhere before a federal judge rules on a lawsuit filed in 2007 by a preservation group that opposes the structure's planned demolition. The Recent Past Preservation Network alleges that the Gettysburg National Military Park neglected its responsibility to explore options beyond demolition of the building when planning a rehabilitation of the land where it sits.

One point that is sure to be made in federal court today: The Cyclorama building can be moved, and there are places to put it.

Christine Madrid French, president of the Recent Past Preservation Network, said the non-profit sought out local land owners and found two - Monahan and Uberman - who said they'd consider leasing property for the building.

The group also found someone who said relocation is not an impossible feat.

"The point of all of this is is that it can be moved and there are places to move it," French said. "The Park Service obviously did not explore all the alternatives."

The president of Expert House Movers, a Missouri-based company that specializes in moving structures, filed a declaration with the court stating the Cyclorama building can be "removed from Ziegler's Grove and relocated to another site using dolly wheels and a grid of steel beams."

In the filing, Jerry Matyiko also estimated the cost of relocating the building at $5 million.

As for who would pay that cost, French said, "We haven't gotten to that point yet."

Katie Lawhon, spokeswoman for the park, declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The park has plans to restore Ziegler's Grove, the current site of the Cyclorama building and the former visitor center, to its 1863 Civil War appearance. More than 900 soldiers died there during the battle.

Razing the 1961 building, designed by famous architect Richard Neutra, is part of that plan.

But demolition of the Cyclorama's former home is on hold until the lawsuit is settled. Park Superintendent John Latschar recently said the project would ideally begin in December and be completed in about two months.

Other than expressing interest, Monahan said nothing else has been discussed, including costs and logistics.

"That would be something we'd have to discuss," he said. "But it never got that far."

Both Monahan and Uberman said they would prefer to see the Cyclorama building preserved.

"It's done by a world renowned architect. There's value to it," Monahan said. "I think it's a worthwhile effort to try to preserve the Cyclorama."

http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_10854844

Eric