From Sky news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made in Monroe County, in Cayuga County, in Yates County.

All homes to the latest sites marked for historic preservation by the Landmarks Society of Western New York.

We're talking about the annual five to revive list this hour.

For the past dozen years, the Landmarks Society has identified sites in need of some kind of rehabilitation.

The goal is to encourage investment in those locations in order to preserve the region's architectural heritage and to uplift communities in which they are home.

And I have said it before, I will say it again.

Most of us have grown up somewhere where you can picture a building, a historic place in your neighborhood, or your village or your town, and maybe that's not there anymore.

Or maybe it's crumbling, or maybe it needs some help.

That's kind of the idea here.

What is our history?

How do you preserve it?

How do you get the grassroots movements going?

How do you leverage funding?

This hour, let's explore the 2025 five to revive.

And if you're watching connections on the Sky news YouTube channel, you'll see photos of the five there.

We'll also post them later on our website.

I'd like to welcome our guest this hour.

Wayne Goodman is executive director of the Landmarks Society of Western New York.

Welcome back to the program.

Thanks, Evan.

It's always good to be here.

Larry Francis is associate director of preservation for the Landmarks Society.

Welcome back to you, Larry.

Well, thanks, Evan.

Always great.

Great to have you as well.

And on the line with us is Andy Robley, who is president of the Preservation Association of Central New York and a graduate of Wels College.

Andy, welcome.

Thanks for being with us.

Thanks, Evan.

Good to be here.

So before we jump into the five and we're going to start on Wells College, but we've got a lot of places to go this hour.

I'm, you know, I was just talking to our guests in studio about kind of the whiplash of whether national funding or, you know, cuts that could be happening could affect us.

I had mentioned that, you know, The Washington Post was reporting that the Trump administration has closed at least five General Services Administration regional offices.

They put dozens of workers on leave from the agencies Fine Arts and Art and architecture divisions.

New Orleans Public Radio reports that in less than two weeks, the new administration reversed a two year long effort to preserve centuries of history along an 11 mile stretch of Saint John the Baptist Parish there.

That's the longest sweep of UN industrialized land in Louisiana is so-called chemical corridor.

So that was a big effort.

Now that's on hold.

business leaders and historic preservationists have been asking President Trump to save the SS United States from being dismantled and sunken as an artificial reef.

So there's all kinds of questions about what's going on nationally.

And I just want to start with this here.

You guys all steady and stable so far here.

Steady as she goes.

When anything any we should know about going on?

you know, so far, so good.

the Landmark Society, you know, it's funding really doesn't depend heavily on on federal funding.

The thing that concerns me is, the idea that preservation in general is, is integrated, in so many different facets of our society that we, we don't really think about, projects get funded for, let's say, affordable housing.

So if you cut affordable housing, it impacts preservation, even though it's not preservation defined funding.

So the tentacles branch out.

And it's really unknown at this point where it's going to go.

one of the biggest tools that, has been used in Rochester over the years is the, Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit program.

And, we hope that that program continues because it it's it's been proven over and over again to be a money maker, a generator of income.

So hopefully that's going to be safe.

I have outed myself as of romantic about communities in the past on this program.

I've been clear I don't love homogenization and design, I love character, I love the idea that every community has got its favorite tree, its favorite park, its favorite places, old buildings, retrofitted factories.

We're next to the old button factory.

I mean, I love stuff like, I think it's vital the communities have it.

I do want to ask you, Wayne, and I'll ask Larry as well, here for the people who are looking at what's happening in Washington, looking at cuts, trying to trying to tighten budgets.

What do you say, Wayne?

Did the people say, fine, do all that.

Just don't take any of my tax dollars to do it.

What do you say to that?

you know, it's it's a overall difficult climate, right?

you know, I think it's important, not not just from a, from a preservation perspective, but I think you make a good point in that local park or those buildings that that we remember, you know, either growing up in or we have sort of these formative moments in our lives and in those, those buildings, those sites are our anchors, right?

So they help identify who we are, who we are personally, but but also who we are as a community and a region.

And when you start losing that, you start losing a sense of authenticity that just simply can't be replaced.

And as I said before, I think it's that's interwoven.

That ethic is sort of interwoven into so much of what we do, and we just don't even really stop and think about it.

So I guess my, my call would be for people to be aware, right?

People to be aware that, that maybe it's okay to try to look for, for, for cuts and efficiency, but just be be cognizant of of the impact of that then that might have on on our everyday lives preservation.

We always try to, to really, spread the message that preservation impacts our lives.

We try to improve lives.

There's a rationale behind it, Larry, what would you say to that?

I think it's the quality of life issue.

And preservation is so important in people's quality of life.

And, you you feel better when you're walking down a historic street that has trees and the tree canopy, which was actually on our list one year.

And, you know, beautiful historic homes.

You know, they don't have to be the biggest, you know, fanciest ones.

But there's there's this quality of life that historic preservation is such a part of.

And when you start cutting things, your quality of life has to do with your physical health and your mental health.

And you know there's going to be more money that's going to have to go toward that.

If people are getting depressed because things are falling apart, you know?

So it really is all intertwined.

And, and, I think that's such an important part of preservation that, you know, just that quality of life issue which affects us all in many ways.

Well, to put a point on what Wayne said, I don't want to leave the implication that all of these efforts are driven by tax dollars.

And in fact, it is always a big cross-section.

It is leveraging opportunities to do that.

But a lot of it's grassroots, a lot of it's private donations, you know, and you're nodding over there.

Wayne, you want to add to that?

No, I mean, I just you're precisely right.

You know, it's and with and without community support, you know, I mean, the Landmarks Society wouldn't even exist.

we're so we're grassroots to the core, and that's how we like it.

That's what we we want our constituents to be.

Those people in the community.

We work for people in the community.

So as we get going with this list here, gentlemen, how do you come up with the five every year?

It's five to revive and never an easy set of decisions.

Do you both want to talk a little bit about how this comes together?

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

I'll jump in first and then hand it over to Larry.

You know, this started out the program started in 2013 and it's become one of our, signature programs at the Landmarks Society.

it was an idea first generated by, Tom castellan, who's an architect.

he's been a past board president.

He had this concept.

We were trying to figure out a way.

How do we shed light on buildings in need?

How do we create awareness?

And Tom really wanted a program that was positive in nature.

a lot of organizations have endangered lists, which this sort of borders on, but we really wanted to put a positive spin and let folks know that we wanted to be a partner in facilitating solutions.

And so when we add to the list we go through, as you can imagine, there's so many possibilities.

We have a committee.

Larry can maybe speak to how the committee works, but, we have this committee and we think about, well, what will a listing do?

What will a listing improve the situation for the building?

Will it help find an owner?

Will it connect a real estate developer to the problem?

Will it help raise money?

Will it help, leverage some financing?

So those are all facets.

And I guess we also take a look at will it be I think we use the term catalytic, will it spur additional investment in the district or neighborhood?

Larry.

And we've got a committee there, about five of us.

It's, been pretty consistent over the years.

We've lost a person we brought in in person.

But, a lot of the people who started out on the committee, which is chaired by Tom castellan, and we just look at the prior list, you know, because we have a running list.

So which one didn't make it?

And there are a couple on here that we've been talking about for probably 4 or 5 years.

And finally we said, yeah, let's put it on this year.

And you know, we all, discuss it and every so often, something comes in at the last minute and we say, well, which one don't we need at this point?

You know, we've we've cut it down and bring that in.

One of them this year was one that came in sort of toward the last minute.

And, we really try to find listings where there is a group in the area that we know is going to work for it.

We don't want to be going into an area saying, this is important.

You got to take care of it.

You know?

Will will tell you what to do.

No, we want to be working with a grassroots organization.

But to tell you the truth, this year is an unusual list because there are not that there are very few groups that we've worked with before, groups that came to us.

But when we reached out to them, there was a lot of concern and interest.

But, and and there are there's more than one where, you really can't, bring one group of people to work on it, you know, like the, the round banks, you know?

So, this is an unusual list, but we're really excited with it.

And, and now the work is really going to start because now the staff is going to be reaching out and going down and meeting with people and trying to get people together.

So, yeah, we're excited.

And as always, listeners want to know, hey, point to something.

You've had, past lists.

What are examples?

Because not everything that ends up on a list is going to thrive, and not everything is going to be there forever.

But yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I mean, I'm going to take.

Yeah, the first thing, which was from a very first list.

And I got to say, out of all the lists, we had only last one, which was the hotel to me, and that was the only one that was torn down.

And on our very first list was the Pulaski Library.

And I think we probably mentioned it last year, and we were very sad to have lost it.

And there was a fire.

And, you know, these these things do happen.

But out of that has come something pretty nice.

the Polish Heritage Society of Rochester, which was actually established in 1989, has reached out to us through, Kathy Urbana and, Michael Leech.

And they want to do a, Polish Landmarks survey to take that neighborhood and really some we typically only have buildings that are, you know, still with us, but we probably will be including some.

And, you know, the fact that they lost that building is what brought them to us.

They had seen our Jewish landmarks.

project.

And, so we're we're excited that, you know, through this tragedy, we are able to, really notate some of the important buildings for that community.

Literally out of the ashes.

Yeah, yeah.

Wayne, what else stands out to you from past lists?

Yeah.

So, in preparation for this, you know, we take a look at at at the five to revive from previous years.

And we often use the term this is a former five to revive listing.

So the five to revive just doesn't sort of die at the end of each year.

You know, it sort of continues, some of my favorites.

I mean, I just pulled some of the Eastman Dental Dispensary, you know, it was also on our first, first, list.

It was so close to demolition.

And now look at it, Eastman Gardens, it serves a wonderful function.

Holly High School was also on that list.

the Cattaraugus County memorial and historic building that was up for demolition.

It's recently been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

those are some good ones.

The front porch was an interesting listing a few years back, and that listing spurred, Fairport to create a grant program to help people, restore their front porches.

And again, the idea of a front porch is it's an architectural feature, but it's such a social feature.

It's a community feature.

When you're out on your porch and you're engaging with your neighbors and such.

So, we've been thrilled with the success of the list.

I mean, we've we've actually been surprised at how successful it's been, even though we're not batting a thousand.

pretty close.

We're pretty close.

Yeah, yeah.

And I want to jump in with just two quick ones.

Yeah.

Of course, the traditional trades, I mean, when we came in to talk about the traditional trades, it was one of five.

And that's all anybody wanted to talk about.

That's all the calls were.

And we've really moved forward with that.

We had a wonderful winter workshop this past year.

We've recently got funding from an anonymous donor to do another workshop.

Megan Clement, our staff is, talking with other, people who have who are working in the traditional trades at this point and, and organizations who are trying to.

So that's a great one.

And I gotta say, this was on our 2015 list.

It was Main Street East and North Clinton Avenue, which is that fabulous home leasing project.

that is going great guns and hopefully is really going to help turn around that neighborhood.

And the DRI funding that went to that, also went to our, Saint Joseph's Park with Alta Vista, that that whole area which brings in the Coxe Building, which we'll talk about later.

So that sets us up here to talk about the 2025 five to revive from the Landmarks Society.

Wayne Goodman, Larry Frantz are with us in studio.

Andy Robley on the line with us.

He's president of the Preservation Association of Central New York and a graduate of Welles College.

Welles College is in the village of Aurora, which is a beautiful place on the east side of Cayuga Lake.

Cayuga County.

And after 156 years of operation, Welles College announced its closure and listing for sale this past year.

So before we we get Andy's take on in, Larry Wayne, what should happen with Welles college when you see something like this?

It's kind of a shock.

You know, a college for sale.

What should happen here?

I, you know, first of all, when it closed, I had no idea the connection that the college had to the town.

and the you.

I think there's there's a connection even so far as to the water system.

Andy can talk more about it, but just to get a sense of just how important, again, not only architecturally, but how important the college and that site is to the town is incredible.

we want it preserved, you know, whoever comes in and whatever the you own ownership, whatever use the new owner, envisions, we want the campus to be treated with respect.

And we feel like that it's, undeniable that the campus is going to be connected to Aurora.

So Andy has some great takes on it.

He's really been, sort of a warrior on the ground there.

Well, Andy, I'm reading about some of the spaces there.

Many national Register buildings, an 1852 Tuscan villa, 1858 Gothic Revival home, 1890 brick main building, 1968 brutalist library.

and it's listed, assessed for sale, assessed and listed for sale at $8.5 million here.

What do you think should happen to all the space here, Andy?

Thanks, Evan.

That's a big, big question.

what I do know is that the as Wayne was, pointing to and as you pointed out earlier, these historic places, are just that they're not just buildings.

They're places.

And in the case of Wells College, it's been a place that has had such an impact on people's lives and their development.

For 156 years.

And it is inextricably bound to the village of Aurora, and community and Cayuga College, or commute.

excuse me, can you Cook County?

in the broader sense, you know what?

We know what we don't want to see.

We don't want to see, any bad treatment to the to the historic buildings.

We you mean we want to make sure that demolition or, you know, there's there's something that preservationists adhere to, which is called the secretary of the interior standards, and that provides some guidelines, some flexible guidelines into the appropriate treatment of historic buildings.

And so that's what we want to make sure happens.

Aside from that, you know, the the economics that you guys were talking about earlier is also important, especially in upstate New York, where the value of the land is almost always, lower than that of the buildings on top.

So you will I don't think you will ever get a better return on taking a building down to build something new.

when you could preserve it.

And so that's that's one of the economic, mantras that we always talk about that, it can cost more to tear down a building and rebuild.

So we want to avoid that.

Now, the the buildings on Wells College campus are, well protected there.

Most of them are listed on the National Register along with the entire town.

So going back to the the relationship between the village and the college, the historic district there is actually called the Aurora Village Wells College Historic District.

They're the same, many of the most of the historic buildings on campus are also locally protected, which means they actually have a higher level of protection for, against bad treatment and bad development.

So it's really, I think we're in a good place, a good position.

What Packard is interested in is just making sure that communication is facilitated between, the people that live in the village and the college administration and the state, and a listing like the five to revive, does a goes a long way in providing tools to make sure that that communication is in place and is working.

so while Andy was describing what he doesn't want to see happen, I saw Larry Francis react when I said, you know, so you don't want to see demolition and Larry said, not just that.

It's so obviously you don't see demolition, but can you, can you elaborate, Larry, on Andy's point there?

All right.

Well, I do want to point out that Andy was great and bringing a coalition of preservation groups together, including the Landmarks Society, the Preservation League of New York State and Historic Ithaca.

So all of us as a group had been meeting on zoom and, you know, going to some meetings and so forth.

Andy surely was the lead, but at first the concern was we were going into winter and they were not leaving the heat on in these historic buildings.

I mean, that is like the number one sin.

So, because, you know, it's it's just not going to work.

I mean, you're going to have problems.

And they may be problems that you just can't get over.

So we got through the winter, but we also did get them to to turn the heat on back on some of the buildings.

And also, this local designation, which is really, you know, that's what has the, the real that that's what can actually save a building, but a local designation because the national Register is great, but it's honorary.

But the local designation just happened, right?

And it didn't, you you sent us off this great email about, you know, one of the trustees who just came back and was telling you that they got it through.

You want to take it from there?

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

So, a point of contention has been, for well over 25 years.

The buildings that, were constructed after 1968, and that includes the Long Library seven, which you referenced.

And then two of, I guess, little sister buildings called, Barlow Music Hall and the Campbell or Campbell Art building.

These were designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, which is probably I'll go out, out on a limb and say it's the premier architecture firm in the world right now.

They did the Burj Khalifa, One World Trade Center.

They're known for these like iconic buildings.

Not many people know that there's three swim buildings on Wells campus, but they were so young when the original National Register listing was done, they didn't qualify.

Typically, there's a 50 year guideline for a building to become, quote unquote, historic.

Well, we've passed those those marks for all those buildings.

And so we, we very, actually just last year, 2024, because the two sister buildings were built in 1974. so we recently, just two days ago, we're able to help get those buildings locally protected.

And at the same time, they were designated as National Register eligible by the State Historic Preservation Office.

So now these buildings, which were would have been subject to whatever plans a potential buyer would have now at least have to consult with and work in partnership with the local community.

And so that's a that's a huge benefit.

And, we're just so glad that that happened.

These are iconic buildings.

they're really remarkable architecturally.

So Wells College in the village of Aurora on the list here.

And one other question I have before, what we're going to do is we're going to rip through the rest of the list, and then I've got a I've got some emails here.

Okay.

you always got great ideas coming from connections listeners, by the way.

but I want to ask you, Annie, Larry Wayne, a little bit about, how you find the right use for something as unusual as a series of.

But this is not one building.

It's not a button factory.

This is a series of buildings of different shapes and sizes that worked as a college.

And, you know, just recently, I happen to have been spending a lot of time in the region looking for empty space because I'm on the board of a Little League program and we lost our indoor training space.

And so I'm going, well, you know, there's got to be old factories and empty spaces.

And there are, they're not always suitable for repurposing in certain ways or.

No, not always affordable.

One place that we kind of put our eyes on was the old Freedom Village on the southwest side of Seneca Lake, which is a series of buildings.

There.

And people who I talked to down there were like, what's going to become of all of these buildings?

That was this very specific thing.

So I'm thinking of Wells College in it, and it wasn't fair for me to ask you, what should this be?

That's too early.

There's probably a lot of ideas that's not necessarily right in the wheelhouse yet, but but I do want to ask you obviously demolition is bad, but what is the kind of thing that you would say?

Boy, I just don't want to see it become this.

Is there something on the top of your mind?

There?

I'll, I'll I'll answer your first question.

What should what should happen?

What should happen is, whatever happens, whatever the use of these buildings becomes, should be the product of continual negotiation between all the stakeholders.

And so preservation is never, almost never dictated by any power, whether it's the state, the local preservation commission, preservationists or the property owners.

It's a continual negotiation.

And, to to understand who, quote unquote, owns these buildings.

so often, let's say there's a historic building in your town and somebody in California owns it, and they have their own plans, but they don't understand the local context of how the building was used and what it means to people if they're not in communication with the people that live there.

That's where problems arise.

And, you know, I could point to a number of examples where communities have splintered into bitter stalemates over the potential use of a historic building and so it's so important to begin that conversation.

as for what I don't want it to be, that, again, is hard to say because, architects are creative and preservationists and the people that care about these buildings are very creative, too.

And so we know that there's purchase offers that have specific plans that we're excited about.

and it all the question that nobody likes that the preservationists, including myself, always has to give is it depends.

No.

It's contextual.

I understand.

That's fine.

Larry, anything popped to mind for you?

What do you know?

Well, Quiznos subs.

I'll be the one that I sort of know.

that's, fast food.

Is that, I'm just intrigued by the purchase offers the people who've put it in, and most of them are for schools, either charter schools and some, with Native American, history and I think, studies, and also the, the alumni, organization has put in a bid to open up another college.

So, I mean, I think solution coming.

You I think so.

And, I mean, those in my mind, those would be perfect.

I mean, keep a university where there's no university, keep a college, you know, on a college campus, and then you want to add wine?

No.

I mean, you know, Andy has done a great job down there.

And and it's been, as Larry said, it's been it's been fun working with a coalition.

the scale of this listing is a little bit larger, you know, and, than than some of our, you know, for example, the Cox building, it's it's very, very easy.

It's very tangible.

this is a little bit more nebulous, but, we we feel like positive results hopefully are around the corner.

Let's get this only break of the hour and let's come right back and we're going to rip through the five to revive.

We just told you about Wells College in the village of Aurora, Cayuga County.

For more to share with you on the 2025 list with the Landmark Society.

After this only break, I'm Evan Dawson Monday and the next connections have leaders in Europe changed their perspectives on building and developing defense alliances since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and since the recent American elections.

We'll talk about the precarious politics in Europe, especially Eastern Europe.

Then in our second hour, how does education shape our city?

We preview an upcoming panel from the Community Design Center of Rochester.

Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Mary Carrie Ola Center, providing education and life skills solutions designed to empower individuals and the families of those with complex disabilities.

Mary Carrie Ola, center transforming Lives of People with disabilities More at Mary Carrie ola.org.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Every year, the Landmark Society of Western New York chooses five to revive typically buildings, sometimes series of buildings, community landmarks and more.

And they're choosing these because they think that some rehabilitation is necessary.

Some grassroots organizations sometimes funding different kind of efforts.

The next on the list we just told you about Wells College.

The next on the list is the Cox Building in the city of Rochester.

Wayne, tell us about that one.

Yeah.

So the Cox building was built in 1888.

It's a Romanesque building.

It's fallen into disrepair.

It's been a problem for the city for a number of years.

And in looking at this particular listing, the committee felt that it's one of these, iconic, larger buildings in downtown Rochester that just has a ton of opportunity, particularly for, for mixed use, whether it's affordable housing, retail, office space.

It could be a mixture of that.

and this is another example of where we feel like the Cox building would have that that catalytic gem put it would leverage additional investment.

Larry pointed out earlier, we have a great partnership with Idaho, at their project next to Saint Joseph's Park, the Alta Vista, project.

We're a partner in that, this is nearby.

And we feel like that this area is really ripe for investment.

And the, the mayor was at our press conference, and he specifically brought up on this that this is sort of, you know, going right around that corner and grabbing this whole area with the, the main and Clinton project.

and, he felt it was really important to sort of just get this downtown section really, really moving and where excited about that?

Well, you point to Pittsburgh, their strip district.

You point to cities that have similar challenges.

When you've got something that ends up hollowed out, there may be action going around around it.

But if you've got a seven story building that's really struggling, that's often the domino that either says is going in a good direction or this district is going to struggle.

What do you see, Wayne?

Is there something that pops to mind?

You, you look at that and say, that could be Xyzzy.

Yeah, I mean, housing is is of course my first my first thought.

It's a it's it's well-suited for housing.

It's, it's listed in the National Register.

So it is a building that is eligible for the rehabilitation tax credit program.

It's really a prime piece of real estate.

And as Larry pointed out, and as the mayor has pointed out, it's sort of that missing piece.

It's that link that connects a lot of other good projects together.

so we're excited about it.

I think, I think the possibilities are, are certainly endless there.

That is one right in the heart of Rochester that we'll be following this year with the five to revive the next on the list is the Bologna mill and the hamlet of Bologna.

That's in Yates County.

Bologna is a hamlet with a population of just more than 100.

I love this, and it's got a large stone mill that dates back to 1828.

Larry French, sir, what happens next here?

Well, first of all, you asked, if, Well, I don't know if you asked her.

I said.

Anyway, John Cutco more or less brought this to us.

We saw that man is everywhere photographing.

Yeah, it's usually Letchworth, I should say, but he's not at Letchworth somewhere beautiful with his camera.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And and we saw this picture and, and Megan reached out to him, and, he connected us with the owner, and, it's a really good story because, you know, there there was some discussion that the owner was just going to sell it and was going to be torn down.

And the word got out on that, probably because of John Kutcher's photo.

And you know, being on Instagram and Facebook and the, the area, you know, the hamlet, the, the few people in hamlet that they really got up in arms, they were really upset about it.

And, there's the, Yates historic, Yates County Historic Center in the area, and they sort of took a lead on it.

We got in touch with them.

we we got in touch with the owner.

They got in touch with the owner, and he recent it, he said, you know, I'm I want to work with somebody on this.

I want to do something for the area that will work.

And you know, it's, just midway between Geneva and Penn.

Yeah.

I mean, it's 15 minutes from Penn Yan.

It's like maybe 20 minutes from Geneva.

And, you know, the possibilities of, you know, doing, you know, maybe a great, you know, housing project in there for, Airbnb or something, you know, you know, you said you're right.

And maybe an event space.

Yeah, an event venue, maybe a little in.

Yeah.

I passed this one all the time, by the way.

Do you.

It's beautiful.

That and it was an eye candy, too.

It is, it was.

So it's one of those historic ones where you go that does look 200 years old.

Yeah.

but it looks like it's got good bones.

It's got a new roof.

But is it the kind of thing that it's going to be too much of?

I mean, too much of a challenge internally?

Or do you think this is realistic?

You know, I'll just jump in because I think part of this is, it could be an interesting rehab project because there's probably not, I would say this there's a lot of flexibility in this particular structure.

And, and I'm going to go back to something you said when we first started the program, Evan, which is this sense of identity and, and authenticity.

At one point, these sort of mills were, were fairly common in the Finger Lakes region.

And now there's not a, not a whole lot of them left.

Like they're like old barn totally.

You lose one and you go, that's right, man.

And you sort of it's one of these, you don't know what you have until you lose it.

Yeah.

And and people just responded.

It is the as we've said, if you've if folks haven't seen it, it is such a picturesque.

It is a postcard image of the finger like it looks like Americana.

I mean, it really beautiful.

Yeah.

So and this came to our attention late in the process.

So we already had easily four picked.

And it was like wow.

You know we were talking about this one.

And you know, so that way onto the five.

It sure did.

So thank you.

Thank you John for bringing.

That's right.

Bellona mill in the hamlet of Bologna.

That's in Yates County.

Hey, before I get to numbers four and five on the list, Hoover in Pittsford wants to jump into the conversation.

Hello, Hoover.

Well, Evan, you do it.

You upstage yourself again.

You're having these wonderful educational programs that, enlighten our community.

really key issues.

And these guys, they have a lot of experience.

They know what they're talking about.

am I on?

Can you hear me?

Oh, yeah.

Go ahead.

Oh, okay.

I worked with City council when I was working for the city back in early 70s, and we put together the Corn Hill, Preservation District, because otherwise it's going to be torn down.

All those beautiful brick buildings, lot of more vacant.

I like the idea of expanding this into the Finger Lakes because there's so many of these cold warehouses.

It's like, gold seals along the, the west side of the lake.

I don't know if those two buildings or three buildings have been, memorialized or set aside for preservation, but they should be.

And then you mentioned that the hotel was not the one out in Greece.

It was.

Yeah.

Well, you guys are too young.

I used to go there and listen to Willmar, and then they after, I mean, just just for that cultural thing alone.

That should not have been torn down.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Hoover.

Okay, how about a go ahead?

Oh, yeah, I God, no, you guys, I love these programs.

and you just every one is better than the last one.

So thank you.

And the community needs you and they need these programs.

Thank you very can.

That's Hoover.

And by the way, Wells.

I'm sorry.

He's a gold seal.

I think that's on your Hammondsport.

And, that is worth investigating seeing what's happening down there.

So that's one I'd like to learn more about.

You know, all of these the Finger Lakes, as we all know.

I mean, the real estate values in the Finger Lakes are just skyrocketing.

Yeah.

So, as that happens, I think we need to be a little bit more vigilant about some of these buildings.

they could become endangered, whereas only, just maybe a few years ago, they weren't.

So.

Yeah.

And about the demand, I mean, that's that's a that's a tough one.

That is a tough one.

But I love that memory.

Hoover I love it.

Yeah.

We got to have places to get out and come together as a community and dance a little bit.

Yeah.

well thank you very much.

Hoover.

That is a great phone call.

Appreciating what this group is doing.

And number four on the list of the five to revive 2025 is mid-century modern round banks in Monroe County.

Rochester was home to approximately 14 of these built in the 60s, some in the 70s, and people have probably seen them.

So some of these buildings have been demolished.

One, Brockport, is set to be torn down for a chick fil A.

So what are we doing with the rest of them guys?

Well, first of all, I wish that they would, I wish that chick fil A could just incorporate the bank and make the bank the chick fil A, you know, Andy said before, when we were on the program, you know, architects and preservationists get creative.

And I think that that's what we're talking about here.

You know, this is one of those listings that we've talked about for several years.

I was a big proponent of this.

I think it's important that we understand that each generation inherits a new set of historic buildings.

So, I used to.

I used to talk to my father, you know, and mentioned, you know, buildings that we were trying to preserve.

And he would just shake his head and say, you know, is that really historic?

That was if it was built after I was born, you know.

Is it really that historic?

Yeah.

So each generation inherits this new set of buildings, and sometimes it it challenges us to expand our definition of what historic means.

Mid-Century modern is is hip, right?

I mean, just turn on Antiques Roadshow.

You're going to see what what people value.

Now, these simple lines, very ergonomic, design features to, to these, these buildings.

And we want to make people aware because, one day we don't want to wake up and realize that at one point we had these cool round banks and now they're all gone.

And this is one where you even do point to an example of a KFC in Corning, the Crystal bucket, KFC, right?

Or a nail salon, nail salon in Greece.

And you say, look, this one doesn't matter what you're doing with it, just don't take the circle, don't take the wrong structure down.

Right.

Let's remind people what this used to.

Great.

I mean, you know, you think of, adaptive use and, you know, coffee shops, right?

I mean, we love spot coffee, but what a great reuse that was.

I mean, I could see coffee shops and tons of reuses, but the structure, I think is so unique.

and it was these are designed by, local Rochester architects.

And, I think it's something that probably I would venture to guess, most people looked at them and thought they were unique, but they really didn't think of them in the realm of historic and and they are.

Well.

And the last on the list is traditional neighborhood commercial corridors.

you write that they're often developed in the early to mid 20th century.

Traditional neighborhood commercial corridors are similar to traditional main streets, but smaller in scale and distributed throughout the urban environment.

What's an example, Larry?

Monroe Avenue, you know, Titus Tavern and House, two guitars.

Oh, yeah.

That area.

Yeah.

Right there, there I square.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, you know, this one sort of this was one that we fought over a lot because some people on the committee felt, oh my God, that's like such a huge, huge, undertaking.

I mean, they're everywhere.

How are you going to how are you going to deal with it?

But, you know, we'll we'll deal with that one at a time.

When they come up.

I mean, they're it's a great, it's a great one to work with a neighborhood organization on.

And it sort of brings us back to last years grassroots preservation organizations, which was our thematic, which I mean, that's what this is all about.

This is about working with a a neighborhood group.

It's always going to be, I think, neighborhood groups that are going to care about this to make their neighborhood better.

And some of the neighborhoods are maybe getting a little tough.

And this would help, it's all about, again, the Main Street concept, which is what our, grassroots preservation was.

You know, there are four pillars.

It's got to be organization.

There's got to be an organization that's working together.

There's got to be some sort of grassroots group.

It's about the design.

You really can't.

There are some beautiful designs in these, little corridors.

economic development is absolutely important.

You can't just have all museums everywhere.

You've got to have, you know, some coffee shops.

It's got to be some homes and you got to be able to promote it.

So, you know, we have been working.

And Caitlin Nivas, who was our director of preservation now with the Preservation League, she's working with the Landmarks Society to really try and get a New York State Main Street program together and something like that is going to help these corridors.

Chris and Hamlin says, I spent my childhood and adolescence in the 19th ward 60 years ago.

I understand that the commercial strips along Churchill Avenue, Arnett Boulevard and Thurston Road were developed before the First World War, when the area was a streetcar suburb and before automobiles had become common, people would patronize the small businesses, getting off the trolleys on the way home from work downtown.

This whole way of life is gone now, as it has been for generations.

Could your guest talk about how these spaces could be effectively repurposed to serve the community that lives there?

Now?

It's a good question.

These corridors are, without question, anchors for neighborhoods and districts.

They just simply are, when when you see the commercial corridors fail or you see them suffer or you see them neglected or vacant, that has an impact on the surrounding residential areas.

So a lot of these as as he points out, were districts that serve the people in the neighborhood with different types of shops and services.

And it was basically built on a pedestrian model.

And I don't think that that's necessarily outdated.

I think that we've gotten accustomed to living without it.

But we only have to go to Park Avenue, you know, look at Park Avenue and that's a that's an example of something that works.

Monroe Avenue works.

It's just we you know, there's some trouble there.

I mean, the, the the stores are suffering.

We need to put some more focus on these.

because by focusing on the commercial corridors, we're focusing on the residential impacts.

So, often the walkability often.

Right.

Very often.

Yeah.

And, and I also see that, you know, maybe it was always just restaurants for the people getting off the trolley that were there.

So we've got to have some businesses because there's got to be people working there who want to eat at the restaurants, as well as the neighbors.

There got to be second floor apartments, which is what's happening a lot and which was traditionally there, and start restoring some of those more.

And there'll be people who will want to come down and eat at the restaurants.

And so, I mean, I think it all just works together, but it is the wonderful thing about Rochester, our, our neighborhoods.

We have some really, really great neighborhoods that other cities don't have.

You know, in all of these listings, you know, none of them really represent what we would call these static monuments, right?

I mean, these historic buildings are here to be used.

They're here for a purpose.

yes.

They're great pieces of architecture, but we leverage that heritage to improve lives.

I mean, as we've said, it's about quality of life.

And that's why the Landmarks Society exists.

That's our mission.

Joel says.

I love this year's list.

It is a great grouping.

No pushback on this elections and hope that the mill, Wells College campus and Cox Building are put to great adapt give rise the funk round banks can be saved.

Definitely think that the loss of the round Bank building in Brockport will make that area even more boring.

But Joel says nevertheless, I must state, as I do each year, that the Jackson Sanatorium needs to make the Landmark Society's list says, I do not think that the property in Livingston County has ever made the list, and Dansville has long needed a hotel by the well, by the way, certainly a hotel would help nearby colleges and people who want another gateway to Letchworth Jackson Sanitary, you guys, we talk about it.

We talk about it every year, every single year.

But I appreciate those comments.

I mean, Joe's and we'll push it.

We'll push it a little bit more to the top.

So maybe next year.

Yeah, yeah.

Keep advocating Joel.

Greg says having owned an older home for a while, I've experienced the pain and frustration in trying to maintain a house that declines and no longer meets the family's needs as time goes by.

We've all heard they don't build them like they used to.

My opinion is there are very good reasons for that.

Sometimes safety, efficiency.

On the other side, a late family member in Wilmington, North Carolina, used to recall as a young kid in school in the 50s or 60s, saving pennies to save the battleship to help restore the USS North Carolina.

I have fond memories of exploring the ship as a child.

I've also loved visiting the Wick Wire 1890 house in Cortland, the Seward House in Auburn.

I'm sure many others have similar stories, and glad that they have saved and maintained these places.

That is from Greg.

So yeah, those are.

That's exactly why this has been happening.

And before we lose the hour, I just want to ask Andy, Rob Lee, for a little bit of your sense for as we talk about Wells College, earlier in the program, what is a realistic timeline here?

This one feels like I mean, if you if you someone comes forward with 8.5 million tomorrow, the whole thing changes.

Or this could be a while here.

What's a realistic timeline for Wells?

Andy?

Well, first let me point out that I did used to work at the Seward House, so I'm glad for the, shout out, wonderful place.

the timeline.

Well, if somebody showed up with the if the offer was accepted and they showed up with the check tomorrow, it's still has some, mandated processes that it has to go through, which, I'm certainly not an expert on.

But I do know that the college administration has to put together a closing plan that then has to be approved by the state attorney general.

And so all of the all of the, input from the local stake holders in our little group, which has been sending the attorney general letters, that all gets factored in.

And, you know, they will work with, any potential buyer to make sure that their plan is appropriate.

so as far as a time frame, I don't know.

This is also new.

You know, small colleges are closing at a rate of maybe one a week in this country.

And so it's hard to say.

Cazenovia is still not completely settled, although they luckily have found, temporary tenants.

so I really don't know.

I wish I had an answer.

Well, Andy, I hope the next time we talk there's a little bit more clarity.

And I know it's going to be a long process here, a difficult process, but that's why the Landmarks Society has put Wells College on its 2025 list.

Wayne and Larry, what do you want people to know about learning how to get involved or learn more about what you're doing here?

Wayne?

Well, you know, to learn more about the Landmarks Society, they can just go to Landmark society.org.

we welcome membership.

We we welcome supporters.

We welcome volunteers.

Because at the at the end of the day, we're, we're we're here for people, right?

I mean, without the people, the buildings don't really mean much.

So, we depend on people, we rely on people, and we welcome it.

Larry.

Facebook and Instagram at Landmarks Society, we also have our statewide preservation conference coming up.

It's going to be in Poughkeepsie this year.

If anybody wants to go down to the beautiful Hudson Valley, you can go on to our website and sign up for that.

we've and we've obviously got lots of great things going on.

We've got our house tour, which is going to be June 7th and eighth, and it may not have been announced, but I'll announce it.

It's going to be in the Park Avenue area again, which is always fabulous.

there's, our cocktails and carburetors in September inside downtown.

Lots of great things.

and come to Saint Joseph's Park, Eastman, Saint Joe's.

We got lots of things happening.

Well, what a lovely our great email from Roger talking about how he's going to miss the Pulaski Library.

But sometimes you lose something in a community, you see, is the value of saving what's left.

That's what this conversation is about.

Larry French or Wayne Goodman for the Landmark Society of Western New York.

Thank you both for being here.

Thank you.

and thanks, Andy.

Robert, good luck to you and the team trying to figure out what to do with Wells College.

Thanks for being with us, Andy.

Thanks.

And from the whole team at connections.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you for watching.

Thanks for being with us.

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