vacamartin Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Old Gibson smokestack is going to be taken down......shame to be losing an American iconic symbol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Part of my job involves the preservation of historic buildings. Doubt they will go this route but if it is beyond repair they could remove the smokestack, build a modern core structure in its place and then re-attach the original brick as a façade. I actually had that done with an entire building once. Took the place down brick by brick, built a cinder block structure, and then re-attached all of the original exterior and interior brick. Looking at it from the street or inside you would never know. Very expensive and time consuming though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bram99 Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Part of my job involves the preservation of historic buildings. Mine too... If this was where I live it would likely be on a local landmark list or there would be a pretty vocal local group seeking preservation in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duluthdan Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 That's Life ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Where is Heritage Guitars moving to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vacamartin Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 Where is Heritage Guitars moving to? Heritage must be in another building, because the original factory is condemned[crying] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 That's Life ! I whole-heartedly disagree Dan! This is death! I know you are a Bozeman fanatic, but Jeesh! Kalamazoo is the birthplace....! That's Life....really???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 God Bless JT for documenting the "remaining workers" and building before it 'goes down' ! I think a preservation group needs to step in ....quick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62burst Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 "I'd like to buy a "G", Alex." Sad news, indeed. Easier to tear it down, I suppose. So it's just the smokestack at this point, not the building. Sounds like there may be intention of saving the bricks. Too bad the "i" is an upper case letter; I can think of someone here who would be interested in that dot (.). Is there a structural engineer in the house? With the advancements made in lightweight foam concrete, wouldn't it be possible to temporarily encapsulate (reinforce) the exterior of the smokestack, chimney sweep/ prep the interior, fill it with reinforcing bar in cylindrical cage form, and then fill in stages with foam concrete? Can't be much more a job to preserve history than the tedious task of dismantling the thing, removing old mortar brick by brick, which is what they're considering. Perhaps just the fear of lawsuit greater than the desire to preserve history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Mine too... If this was where I live it would likely be on a local landmark list or there would be a pretty vocal local group seeking preservation in place. What do you do? I work with the National Park Service. There is a Save the Smokestack Facebook page so there is obviously some kind of a grassroots group out there. You would think though the SHPOs office would step in and try and lend a hand to save the feature. I would have thought the building is on at least the State Register of Historic Places if not the National Register. While this will not save the smokestack it would make it easier to get some technical assistance as well as financial incentives to preserve the feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 To bad it couldnt be moved to Nashville or Bozeman.. and keep the Piece of History intact.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 To bad it couldnt be moved to Nashville or Bozeman.. and keep the Piece of History intact.. Historic Preservationists would much prefer to preserve the feature in situ. Point is, it can be saved - just gonna take money being spent. It would be more helpful if Gibson offered to foot the bill or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Historic Preservationists would much prefer to preserve the feature in situ. Point is, it can be saved - just gonna take money being spent. It would be more helpful if Gibson offered to foot the bill or something. Just a thought here.... Maybe Gibson should have there Nest back in Kalamazoo ,, then build there Guitars around the Historic Icon. But we probably already know the answer to that one.. Seems kind of odd that.. when I watch TV at times.. I see so many abandon buildings and they look like theyve been empty since the dawn of time.. so run down and nothing done with them... seems more odd that 1 stack is so out of place over all the other building that have really no purpose to human use. SAVE your HERITAGE sites guys.. we up here are losing ours left right and center ,, all for the greed of money and profits. I bet out of 500 old beautiful buildings here in Calgary .. only a half a dozen or so are in a heritage park, the rest are gone...to give the perception of what it was like back in the day. yipee. Our City has wasted so much of what was Nice to look at.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bram99 Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Here is more story.... http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2015/01/effort_underway_to_demolish_fo.html The article states.... "Sharon Ferraro, historic preservation coordinator for the city of Kalamazoo, said the building, which was built in 1917, is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places but is not designated as such. To be registered, a structure has to be at least 50 years old and have good historic integrity. Explaining "historic integrity," she said, "The building has to still be able to tell its story and that one (the Gibson building) is relatively unaltered.". More than 50 years old, maintains sufficient integrity and is clearly significant for historical reasons. Seems like the city or county would be hard press to issue that permit without environmental review including soliciting comments from local interested parties and the SHPO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Here is more story.... http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2015/01/effort_underway_to_demolish_fo.html The article states.... "Sharon Ferraro, historic preservation coordinator for the city of Kalamazoo, said the building, which was built in 1917, is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places but is not designated as such. To be registered, a structure has to be at least 50 years old and have good historic integrity. Explaining "historic integrity," she said, "The building has to still be able to tell its story and that one (the Gibson building) is relatively unaltered.". More than 50 years old, maintains sufficient integrity and is clearly significant for historical reasons. Seems like the city or county would be hard press to issue that permit without environmental review including soliciting comments from local interested parties and the SHPO. I have no idea what the economy of Kalamazoo is like, but the north central US--and a lot of Michigan--has had a tough time of it in recent years. It's a sad day, any way you look at it. "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone...." I'm about to sell a couple of my Kalamazoo-built Gibsons, and it makes me sad. Now I'm even sadder. A large percentage of the great guitars we know from the 20th century were built in that building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bram99 Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Here is more....all ready been through the courts... http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2015/01/bricks_are_likely_to_be_saved.html Most of the teeth in preservation law applies to federal and state agencies. Local jurisdictions that issue permits sometimes fall under State Historic Preservation Office® (SHPO) review. It varies state by state, and many cities and counties have their own local ordinances regarding historic structures. It becomes more complicated when it is private property, and when a public safety issues is at the center, it becomes an up hill battle to argue for preservation in place. This usually comes down to good will of the land owner. The times when I have seen this play out well is when the conversation between interested parties lands on the economic feasibility and benefit for the land owner to rehabilitate and use the structure as a key feature of the property. Local commercial real estate conditions play a big part in that equation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Oh no - this chimney must NOT crumble to dust. The landmark-factor is way too big and it would be sacrilege to let it fall. My suggestion is to bring to Bozeman a rise it there as the symbol of music, pop, art, culture and the cool side of US it is. Treat it as a sculpture and place it on a new right chosen spot - not in front of the main entrance, but neither too far aside. I'm as far from a building-constructor, engineer or a bricklayer as anyone, but couldn't it be done fairly swift. Clam some wired hooks around the fellow, then remove a ring of bricks down the near base level and lift the loose pipe over on a madras-bedded truck. Drive it to Montana where some refurbishing of the cracks should take place and finally bring it up on a right sized/positioned fundament of cement. You may say I'm a dreamer But it would be worth every step in the long run. . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountainpicker Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I live in a National Historic district and have for almost forty years. Last April my town council had secret meetings with representatives of Bud Light and some of them accepted pay offs. In September Bud Light marketing types were allowed to paint two blocks of a National Historic district Bud Light blue and then they flew in about a thousand people for a party. Many other things not in keeping with the historic nature of my town were swept aside in the name of money in the pockets of a relative few. We were promised that the blue paint would be removed by the Tuesday following the weekend event. That didn't happen. On the Thursday following the event a prolonged rainstorm occurred and the storm gutters of my town ran milky blue for hours with the water carried down into the local river that is clean enough to support a healthy trout population. I have watched my town go from a predominant population of fierce preservationists to being over run with people that don't know what clean water or clean air really is and who want to make as much money off the place as they can. And they don't care a whit about much else. Preservation is a tough sell getting tougher and tougher as more and more people are trying to "live the American dream" without giving much consideration to much of anything except money. I've come to believe that music is about the finest thing we humans do. Practically everything else is pretty ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I only visited the old Daylight Factory only once and that was many years ago. To many of us who own the guitars designed and built there visiting is like a pilgrimage. Again, even if the building is put on the National Register it will not save it. There is no such thing as the Preservation Police. The best hope is to raise the money to allow the owners to preserve the feature. I have seen it done. But that was only because the town Blue Heads who ran the local historical and preservation societies wanted it and were able to get somebody to foot the bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
62burst Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Pay it backward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Without exaggeration, guitars that were created in that building have brought me some of the greatest joy in my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 Pay it backward What a picture ✓ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I have no idea what the economy of Kalamazoo is like, but the north central US--and a lot of Michigan--has had a tough time of it in recent years. It's a sad day, any way you look at it. I'm about to sell a couple of my Kalamazoo-built Gibsons, and it makes me sad. Now I'm even sadder. A large percentage of the great guitars we know from the 20th century were built in that building. Say it ain't so Nick! What ya selling??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Without exaggeration, guitars that were created in that building have brought me some of the greatest joy in my life. [thumbup] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimt Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Without exaggeration, guitars that were created in that building have brought me some of the greatest joy in my life. I would have to agree with this comment.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.