Old Makes Way for the New
A recent email came in from a Vienna citizen who thought we were criticizing the Vienna Presbyterian Church (VPC). While we have absolutely no gripe with the church, he was offended that we would even question "historical" aspects of VPC's new church. He wrote us to say how the church had:
"...painstakingly preserved [their chapel]."
It should be noted that in order for VPC to expand to its current size, the "historic" structure in the yellow circle in the picture below was bought by VPC then demolished. This picture shows the Freeman Store in the foreground and to the left of the yellow circle is the original VPC Chapel out of the picture:
Click to Increase Size
(Inside Yellow Circle is "Historic" Building Torn Down)
So while VPC did work to maintain their original chapel without the help of the government, they did also demolish another old time Vienna building to make way for their new church. Plainly, history in Vienna comes and goes. The consistency of how so-called "historic preservation" in Vienna takes place is a joke.
Comments
I did not question anything about what you had to say about the new building. I merely pointed out that the original church that has been there since 1879 has been preserved. While not on any national historic registry, assuming that is required for a structure to have historic value, which it is not, some would consider that such a structure has local historical significance. Out of curiosity, where exactly is the building in your circle located and when was the photo taken. The only buildings that were torn down to make the church its current size were buildings already on site. When was this building torn down?
Posted by: Rob M. | March 27, 2006 11:46 PM
The building torn down by the Church sat where the parking lot is across the street from the old Library. Your church records will show when you bought it and when you demolished it. In terms of the original church, there are specific processes for identifying and maintaining historical structures - else people will modify in any way they see fit. Just saying it has local historical significance means zilch in the eyes of the law. Do the work. Put it on a register. Abide by a set of rules for changing and altering. Does the church get to do what they want, but other residents of Vienna get saddled with the nonsense of a historic district?
Posted by: Historic Vienna | March 28, 2006 11:55 AM