This historic home in Highland Park on Highland Avenue near Rojo is scheduled to soon be demolished to make way for more apartments. A public hearing on the issue has been postponed until January 10. Please help show your support for saving this historic home by signing this petition.
Please read and sign this petition if you’d like your voice to be included. Thank you @bhamnow for bringing this to the attention of the neighborhood!
Historic Quinlan Castle was demolished earlier this year to make way for a new Southern Research building. But prior to Quinlan Castle, this was the location of the Roberts’ home, parents to author Anne Roberts Gayler of One Hundred Years, a memoir released by Birmingham Historical Society in September 2023.
Prominent early residents of Birmingham, David Roberts and his bride, Belle Sumter Yates Roberts, moved their family from Charleston first to Bessemer and then to Birmingham in 1894. Roberts had successfully raised capital for the formation of DeBardeleben Coal & Iron Company and took an ownership role in the new firm that was formed in 1886. At the time of his death in 1909, he was associated as a director of several banks and leading industrial and commercial interests in Birmingham. He was 63, his widow, 48, his daughter and the author of this book, only 27 years old.
The story of this remarkable Birmingham family as written by Anne Roberts Gayler at the age of 100, is available October 1st, 2023, 4:00PM at a Publication Celebration, 2827 Highland Avenue. The public is invited! Now available on Amazon HERE
The popularity of beautiful Bluff Park was definitely affirmed at the extremely well-attended presentation by Birmingham Historical Society Director Marjorie White and landscape architect & BHS Trustee Birgit Kibelka on September 19 entitled Bluff Park: Then & Now, hosted by the Hoover Historical Society. Hoover had a series of town halls this past spring to determine the community’s interest in greenways, trails, parks, and public spaces. As a follow-up to those town halls, this event delved further into the history and possibilities of a Bluff Park Preserve with maps, photos of rock formations and existing springs, views, and historical correspondence.
Proposed Preserve
Friends of Shades Mountain (FOSM), working with the Hoover Historical Society, and Birmingham Historical Society are promoting the creation of the Bluff Park Preserve on Shades Mountain. As the City of Hoover explores possibilities for future parks and preserves, the opportunity to save the last remaining publicly accessible viewpoint along Shades Mountain presents itself. The proposed future Bluff Park Preserve might include the original “Bluff Park,” Lover’s Leap-Sunset Rock, and the site of Tip-Top Grill. Please read this BHS newsletter for additional information.
Click on the interactive map above to locate your property. The State of Alabama encourages owners of historic income-producing properties to maintain them by providing tax credits for rehabilitation. Properties built before 1960 and in an historic district would most likely be eligible for the credit. Owners of income-producing historic properties can use this program to improve and repair their properties while receiving tax credits against income tax they owe to the State of Alabama.
1) Property must be at least 60 years old…
2) Property must be listed in the National Register of Historic Places either individually or as a contributing resource in a listed National Register district.
OR
3) Property must be eligible for the National Register either individually or as a contributing resource in an eligible National Register district.
Information on Alabama’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit HERE
2017 Alabama Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit
The Alabama Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit is a 25% refundable tax credit available for owners of income-producing properties who substantially rehabilitate historic properties that are listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and are 75 years old or older.
What expenses qualify for the credit?
Repair of exterior materials; repair of structural systems; repair of interior finishes like floors, walls, and ceilings; upgrades to HVAC, electrical, and plumbing; and architectural, engineering, and land surveying fees.
The Wallace Property Relief Constitutional Amendment (“Lid Bill”) Code of Alabama 40-8-1 Section 2. allows all historic property, regardless of use, to be assessed at 10% of the assessed value for ad valorem tax purposes.
Local Birmingham leader, preservationist, architectural historian, editor, and design enthusiast, Philip A. Morris, established a fund via the Community Foundation to perpetuate the good design for which he continually advocated during his lifetime. The first grants were only recently funded and included such notable preservation projects as Main Street Alabama, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Railroad Park, and Freshwater Land Trust.
Morris was a strong supporter of the efforts to restore Vulcan, as well as a contributor to BHS publications below:
A long time member and supporter of the Birmingham Historical Society, his life long contribution will now live on through his Design Arts legacy fund. Thank you Philip!
Over fifteen years ago, back in 2007, the Birmingham Historical Society filed a nomination for Birmingham’s Bethel Baptist and 16th Street Baptist, along with Dexter Avenue Baptist in Montgomery to be included among the UNESCO “World Heritage Civil Rights Movement Sites”. At the time, the World Heritage Society was researching sites throughout the world of non-violent movements in the twentieth century that confronted and dismantled racial segregation. The sites in Alabama were considered along with campaigns & sites fighting colonialism in India, across Africa, and elsewhere in the world alongside the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. On Thursday, August 10th, 2023, the World Heritage Society team will be visiting Bethel Baptist to make a final determination on the Alabama sites.
CRITERION (iv) Significance in Human History:
GSU World Heritage Initiative
“To be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage (s) in human history.”
CRITERION (vi) Heritage Associated with Events of Universal Significance:
“To be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance. (The Committee considers that this criterion should preferably be used in conjunction with other criteria).”
Glenn Eskew, who has ties to Birmingham, is the historian who headed up the George State initiative to review all possible sites in the United States. Over 300 sites were considered and over half were visited. The Civil Rights Movement nomination in addition to those in Alabama includes 10 additional sites across the country. The complete nomination can be read HERE
Ultimately, the 13 sites were considered for final selection because “the location and setting for each of the component sites remains relatively intact, thereby enabling each to retain its cultural value. All of the components of the potential Serial Nomination of U.S. Civil Rights Movement Sites express a spirituality and feeling of being as in a sacred space. All have evolved into shrines where the public goes to comprehend how nonviolent protests removed racial barriers to achieve tangible racial integration and intangible associated values of freedom and racial equality.”
The significance and benefits of being on UNESCO’s World Heritage List
(For a copy of ‘The Walk to Freedom’ published by the Birmingham Historical Society and illustrated in the header above, please click HERE)
Numerous examples of this style of construction existed in the antebellum South as slave quarters and later as company housing. This is a twentieth century example.
Find out about this and numerous other popular home building styles with Birmingham Historical Society’s book, A Guide to Architectural Styles featuring Birmingham Homes. It features the drawings of Auburn University’s Professor of Architecture, Cheryl Morgan, with descriptions by BHS Director, Marjorie White. Here’s an example:
GREEK REVIVAL
Americans chose the Greek Revival style for early public buildings. In love with the concept of Greek democracy, they built 19th-Century versions of ancient temples to house state capitols and banks. Homeowners also chose this prominent, historic style.
In the South, an elaborate portico became synonymous with the agricultural elite. And although actual
Greek temples were polychrome,
American temple-front houses were almost always white. Their rectangular massing emulated the proportions of the masonry originals.
GREEK REVIVAL
Americans chose the Greek Revival style for early public buildings. In love with the concept of Greek democracy, they built 19th-Century versions of ancient temples to house state capitols and banks. Homeowners also chose this prominent, historic style.
In the South, an elaborate portico became synonymous with the agricultural elite. And although actual
Greek temples were polychrome,
American temple-front houses were almost always white. Their rectangular massing emulated the proportions of the masonry originals.
A series of Birmingham lectures as part of the National Historic Preservation Month includes one on “How to Conduct Historic Building Research and How to Obtain a Historical Marker” THIS TUESDAY AT NOON.
Presented by the City of Birmingham’s Department of Planning, Engineering, and Permits, hear directly from the city authorities what you need to know to comply to historic requirements.
The lecture will be in the Birmingham Public Library – Arrington Auditorium, 2100 Park Place. Learn how to use sources in the public library and the county courthouse to research historic homes and buildings…and how to get a historical marker to recognize them. Should be an interesting lecture! Please plan to attend.
Historic Preservation Education Lecture Series
Click here for a printable schedule of events for Historic Preservation Month.
For more information, contact Hannah Garmon, Historic Preservation Manager, at 205-254-2424or Hannah.Garmon@birminghamal.gov. You can also reach Karla Calvert, Urban Design Administrator, at 205-254-2479or Karla.Calvert@birminghamal.gov.
