Worth Saving Preserve Whats Possible

"If you want things to happen, you have to make them happen," citizen-activist Diane Walkowiak has said. Back in May 2010, we reported that the 1913 Industrial Arts Building (IAB) was on the National Trust's list of endangered places. First built as the Agricultural Hall, a centerpiece of the Nebraska State Fair, the enormous, trapazoidal building fell into disrepair. It closed in 2004. However, preservationists believed that the building's Renaissance-inspired architectural exterior with Palladian windows should be saved.

In 2010, the fairground relocated. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln planned to develop the old fairground, creating a research park called Innovation Campus. As is the case in many communities, demolition of unused structures was more cost-effective than rehabilitation.

The timeline of events is well-documented on the Save the IAB website maintained by "concerned Nebraskans" led by Diane Walkowiak. It took two years, but in January 2012 the University announced a revised plan to save the exterior of the historic building, while gutting and rebuilding the interior. "We will lose the steel trusswork and mezzanine level, in addition to that open, airy feel," says the Save the IAB website. "But this is what you get with adaptive reuse - it's not historic preservation, but an attempt to preserve what's possible while making the building useful for future generations."

Plans for the IAB are on the website of the University of Nebraska.

More:

• What Is Adaptive Reuse?
• Historic Preservation: Research, Restore, and Preserve
• Heritage Nebraska
• Innovation Campus

^{SOURCE: "Volunteer fights for Industrial Arts Building," by Seanica Reineke, NewsNetNebraska, October 7, 2010 [accessed May 13, 2012]}