Preservation Poster Child

 Preservation Poster Child

                A love of architecture and history has led me down the path, to the pursuing of a career in Historic Preservation.  For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be an architect. When I was a young girl, my sister and I played for hours in our irrigation pond, designing mud homes with vast landscapes. In the winter months I drew elaborate house plans supported by clippings of people and products from the Sear catalog. My husband and I bought our first house in 1990; it was to coin the popular phrase a “fixer-upper”.  After the sale of the first house, we upgraded and remodeled our second home; the third led us to Roslyn for a final one together.  We had both vacationed in Roslyn as children and moved to Roslyn to get back to the east side of the mountains and four seasons. We did the majority of the remodel work together and ourselves.  This leads me to the point of this essay encompassing my love for history, architecture, beer and becoming the poster child for preservation in the town of Roslyn as a newly single mom.  

                 It is another Friday night in the small mountain town of Roslyn. Roslyn is tucked between two foothills of the Cascade Mountain range. My kids are with their Dad and I ride my bike down to Marko’s the local’s hangout for beer, free pool and local drama. Dogs are allowed inside but smoking is not and the air of the bar is more reminiscent of dog farts then nicotine anymore. Tie dye shirts for sale hang from the edges of the old wooden mirrored bar. Julie Miller; bartender, home owner and student is the Friday bartender.  I come to her for companionship, beer and a lecture. The lecture from Julie entails; the encouragement to move ahead on my purchase agreement, to buy Joe Peck’s house on 5^th street. When the deal is done, it will be dubbed the last good deal in Roslyn. I have a purchase and sale agreement for fifty thousand dollars and with the advent of Suncadia the master planned resort being built nearby; even the derelict buildings are going up in value rapidly. I have spent many hours recently, completing the Planning Commission application packet and drawing myself, the required specs for front, side and rear elevations, drawn to scale with dimensions shown to scale.  Also, a plot plan showing setbacks, significant slopes, all structures on my property and immediate neighboring structures, with distance and dimensions to scale.  These applications, the construction loan and the intricacy of planning the timing with the Planning and Historic Commissions are finished.  All this is done while I hold down a full-time job and raising two kids.  I’m feeling overwhelmed and exhausted and have not done any manual labor yet.

                The entire platted portion of the City of Roslyn has been a National Historic District since 1978. Design review is mandatory for all construction by application to the Planning Commission. The Historic Commission encourages all home owners to list their buildings on the local Roslyn Register of Historic Places. Roslyn has an interesting and unique history reflected in its residential architecture which was predominantly built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s.  Founded in 1886 and incorporated in 1891, coal was discovered in 1886 and Roslyn became a mining town and helped to build the State of Washington. The character of Roslyn’s residential neighborhoods are supported by several design elements;  houses on the same street are similar in size, scale and orientation, main entrances face the street with a raised covered porch, roofs have a similar shape and are steep in pitch to allow for fire safety and not allowing large accumulations of snow. Garages and other buildings are detached and face the alley and not the street.  At the height of its glory Roslyn had twenty-three saloons and two breweries; currently there are only six bars and one brewery. Immigrants came from all over Europe to work in the mines. The cemeteries reflect this rich cultural diversity and the local cemetery is also listed on the Historic Register and has its own Commission. The cemetery contains twenty-five separate ethnic but adjacent cemeteries, with each section maintained by its own ethnic organization. The last mine shut down in 1963 and there has been no further major industry here. In 1990 and until 1995 the television show Northern Exposure was filmed here as the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska.  

                My house sets across the street from Maggie’s house a character in Northern Exposure. In June of 2006 we broke ground on my project. My contractor thought he would have me in the house by Thanksgiving.  The first day of construction the neighbor in the alley behind me, comes by and mentions to my contractor the thought that I was crazy to take on this project; however she was grateful for the eyesore improvement and wanted to document the project from beginning to end with her digital camera.  This turned out to be a blessing as she was retired and took pictures of happenings that I missed out on due to working.  The documentation of my preservation project beginning to end through paperwork and photos was to be used by the Historic Commission to assist others in preservation of Roslyn history and for a tax incentive. The Commission had asked me to be there poster child. As word got around as it does in small towns I was also asked by two reporters for interviews and photos of the project, they took the title given to me by the Historic Commission and used it as well.

                The fireplaces and roof of my house were not salvageable and were removed. A bad addition had been added at some point. We removed it and added a new back on out to the existing foundation. The inside was gutted and a new more efficient floor plan was created.  The windows were no longer the original windows and not reusable and with some regret I put in vinyl windows, while economical, they would not be allowed as a deduction on the tax incentive. The contractor salvaged much of the outside siding from the old addition and I was able to use it on the new. To save money, Don my contractor knowing I had experience with construction allowed me to do some of the work. At the beginning of the project, I was responsible for yard preparation and tree removal.  I removed all the beautiful foot wide planks of wood from the interior walls to salvage for shelving. The bathtub was a rundown claw foot tub. With the help of my sister we sanded, painted and scrubbed it. I was also able to salvage two doors. The first was the front door with beautiful intricate woodwork with antique hinges, iron plate and knobs. The other was its counterpart a wooden screen door with iron scrolling. I sanded and stained both doors and replaced the screen with copper screening rather than the dull silver. Outside the house I pressure washed, sanded and caulked the siding. In areas due to times influence, there were gaps of light seen from outdoors while standing inside the house. I repaired them and then moved onto primer. I had many painting volunteers and we were able to get the primer on in one weekend.  The following weekend we put the final coat of paint on.  My volunteers worked for free but I thanked them with dinner and beers at The Brick and The Pastime taverns consecutive weekends.  The weather was changing fast to winter and the crisp apple air of October was changing to November rains, it was time to move inside where I did the finish work of grouting, sanding, painting and staining.

                By listing my house on the Historic Register I received tax incentives through the government. When construction is completed, within two years I had to submit to the County the paperwork for the tax incentive. The tax incentive is based on the taxed assessed value of my home when purchased and allowable for ten years. I will pay taxes for ten years at the value of $28,960 compared to its 2008 tax assessed value of $176,440. The house is protected by its Historic listing and any future changes to the structure or landscaping will have to be approved by the Historic Commission.

                 It is the tail end of Thanksgiving weekend as my friend Laura and I approach the stairs that lead into the infamous Brick Tavern. The Brick was established in 1889 and is one of the oldest running taverns in Washington State and was featured regularly in the Northern Exposure series.  One of my favorite annual activities at The Brick is in March when The Brick hosts the spittoon boat races. A race of hand designed miniature boats in different class’s race down the old spittoon river that lies underneath the stools attached to the antique bar. Laura and I climb the thick concrete steps and enter through the double doors and walk to the famous bar were we sit down on a stool so that our feet dangle over the spittoon river.  Murphy, the bartender heads our way and says to me with a smile “Why hello, if it’s not our own Preservation Poster child.” He lives nearby in the City of Ellensburg and has been reading the articles in the paper.  I smile and say, the kids and I moved in today, and order my usual drink.  He makes my drink for me and places it in front of me and says, “This drink is on me, congratulations on finishing your house, it looks really good”.