Photo by Cynthya Porter
Washington Crossings, a Winona apartment complex on the National Historic Register, reused the shell of the old Winona Middle School after District 861 divested itself of the buildings. |
To people on the outside, they might just look like old buildings. But to people who call Winona home, the facades of longtime landmarks are their past, part of the story that weaves the tapestry of what Winona is today.
For this reason, the Historic Preservation Commission is unapologetic in its efforts to identify and protect landmarks that stand throughout the community.
Most recently, the HPC has drawn the ire of District 861 school board chair Stacey Mounce Arnold and a local newspaper editor for announcing its intention to see four Winona elementary schools placed on local and national historic registers.
The designations would mean that current and future owners would have to go through a special process to raze or significantly alter the exterior appearances of the buildings.
Arnold has decried the measure as an end run to prevent the district from closing Central Elementary, the smallest and arguably the most historically interesting of the buildings.
Historic designation would drive off potential buyers of the building, she said, because of the limitations it would place on the property.
But proponents of historic preservation say the assertion is wrong, and that historic designation can actually attract buyers interested in repurposing a building using the tax breaks and grants such designation can provide.
Being added to the local or national historic registers would have no impact on what the interior of a building is used for, and numerous examples exist throughout Minnesota of historic school buildings that have been turned into condominiums, apartments and community centers.
Addressing the school board last week, Winona Historic Preservation Commission member Bob Sebo said the commission is in the process of obtaining funding for studies required prior to designation.
“We are in no way saying they must remain schools, but we are saying they are important to the city,” he said.
Sometimes, said Sebo, an architectural study finds that a structure has been too altered to be considered authentically historic, as was the case with the Old Wagon Bridge. “When we learned it had been too altered, we ceased our work,” he said.
Sebo said he expects the nomination and designation process to be complete in 2010. Building owners do not have to participate in the process for a building to be identified by local authorities as historically significant.
To determine its historical significance, architects examine the origin and use of a building, noting particularly its architect, architectural features, and purpose.
Historic designation, particularly on a local level, provides added protection from demolition as the preservation commission and city officials must agree before a historic building can be torn down.
It can also provide valuable funding avenues and tax credits for those seeking to restore or reuse a building, most notably thanks to a statewide preservation movement to save historic school buildings.
Metro Plains took advantage of such tax credits when the company purchased the old Winona Middle School on Broadway.
The district had offered the buildings for sale, but the potential cost to demolish them for the land underneath was prohibitive for prospective buyers.
Ultimately, the district sold the buildings to Metro Plains for $5,000 and the promise that the buildings were headed for revitalization rather than demolition.
Today they house 62 apartment homes, a renovation effort Metro Plains has mirrored in a dozen other historic schools and some 50 historic buildings.
District 861 officials were notified by a state organization of the availability of grant dollars aimed at historic school preservation, but have not yet publicly discussed the information.
Arnold has, however, publicly challenged Winona Mayor Jerry Miller and the Historic Preservation Commission for interfering in the future of District 861 property and limiting the district’s ability to dispose of its buildings.
Historic preservation officials counter that it is not interfering unless someone wants to tear a building down, and even then an owner might be able to make a justifiable case to do so.
Thursday Arnold objected to the presumption that she wants Central Elementary torn down, saying, “I was a little upset when a slogan was out there saying a vote for closure is a vote for demolition, because we’re hoping to use it for something.”
The school board has not voted to close Central Elementary or any of the other district schools, though talks are ongoing regarding the possibility that they will.
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