Mike Wolanin | The Republic People gather for the first part of a series of talks by the Landmark Columbus Foundation called Progressive Preservation at Helen Haddad Hall in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, July 12, 2022.
It seemed more than fitting that Landmark Columbus Foundation’s kickoff of its new Progressive Preservation Talks series unfolded Tuesday in a 100-seat structure connected to a former chicken-hatchery-turned-orchestral-office downtown.
Because the preservation of the three-story building known as Helen Haddad Hall at 315 Franklin St. seems as progressive as anything in the city — a project that gave the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic prized and unique space for the extensive future and the ensemble’s growth while saving a century-plus-year-old building with solid bones.
Call it the past and the future working in concert.
That general concept was part of the panel-style discussion among Richard McCoy, the local nonprofit foundation’s executive director; and Marsh Davis, president of Indiana Landmarks, the nation’s largest nonprofit, statewide preservation organization, with a membership exceeding 8,000 and a network of field offices throughout Indiana; and Tiffany Tolbert, associate director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation based in Washington, D.C. The Action Fund is the largest preservation fund in U.S. history dedicated to the preservation of historic African American places, according to its background information.
Near the end of their discussion before a crowd of about 70 people surfaced local preservation projects such as the Crump Theater, currently being gradually restored and renovated as funds become available.
Mayor Jim Lienhoop presented a proclamation to Davis naming Tuesday Indiana Landmarks Day. In the citation, the mayor aptly referenced Davis’ support and work the past several years to preserve both First Christian Church and North Christian Church, the city’s two best-known Modernist houses of worship. But Davis said he has keen interest in another local project — the 132-year-old art-deco Crump.
“Before I retire, I definitely want to help get that up and running and in service once again,” Davis said.
Indiana Landmarks already assisted by placing the Crump on its 2019 10 Most Endangered Structures list, earning it extra attention among history buffs and preservationists.
Davis, who serves on the advisory committee of the National Fund For Sacred Places, has been a catalyst for securing that fund’s grant money for preservation work on structures at both First Christian and North Christian. He remains very supportive of First Christian’s ongoing fund drive to preserve its tower.
“It’s an icon for this city, and Columbus wouldn’t be the same without it,” Davis said.
And he said he was pleased to see other Sacred Places funds go to North Christian “to go to help sustain the building, no matter who uses it in the future.”
North Christian has disbanded as a church body, and its final service is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at 850 Tipton Lane. The Bartholomew County Public Library is considering using the structure in the future as a space for various programs.
And therein lies much of the idea behind what McCoy and others label as progressive preservation: keeping and restoring a structure out of respect for its significance and prominence in a community’s history while helping ensure that its use enhances the future. McCoy and Tolbert included 143-year-old Second Baptist Church in that concept.
They both met with local leaders Monday afternoon to discuss helping Second Baptist, Bartholomew County’s first Christian church that openly welcomed Black residents, through its post-COVID struggle for financial health.
It’s all part of our shared history,” McCoy said after the meeting.
Tolbert mentioned that Second Baptist leaders have a lot of options in the next couple of years to preserve its local faith role while avoiding a closure that so many churches have faced.
