Fw: GUEST COLUMNIST: Emotional ties needed to save Searcy House | TuscaloosaNews.com

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Joe Bruner

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Jul 10, 2013, 9:51:01 AM7/10/13
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LIVE LIFE WITH LOVE.
JOE BRUNER
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From: Diane Hall <dmh3...@att.net>
To: John Earl <jo...@photographybyearl.com>
Cc: Joan Barth <joanm...@aol.com>; Kelly Fitts <k2rf...@gmail.com>; Tim Higgins <timothypa...@gmail.com>; Bill Fitts <bill....@me.com>; Anne R. Gibbons <arg...@att.net>; Tom Fanning <tomg...@comcast.net>; Patricia Dotson <pdot...@bellsouth.net>; Jil Chambliss <dana...@comcast.net>; Debra Brown <dbrow...@aol.com>; Easty Lambert-Brown <borg...@bellsouth.net>; Gary Limmroth <zap...@hotmail.com>; Gabriella Merriman <gmer...@bama.ua.edu>; Sharon Pate <shar...@juno.com>; Joe & Freddie Bruner <joebr...@yahoo.com>; Lib Davis <buckeye...@yahoo.com>; "evans...@gmail.com Fitts" <evans...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 9, 2013 7:01 AM
Subject: Re: GUEST COLUMNIST: Emotional ties needed to save Searcy House | TuscaloosaNews.com

Joan, is this what you had in mind as in having folks sign a petition for the 2600 block?

From: John Earl <jo...@photographybyearl.com>
To:
Cc: Joan Barth <joanm...@aol.com>; Diane Hall <dmh3...@att.net>; Kelly Fitts <k2rf...@gmail.com>; Tim Higgins <timothypa...@gmail.com>; Bill Fitts <bill....@me.com>; Anne R. Gibbons <arg...@att.net>; Tom Fanning <tomg...@comcast.net>; Patricia Dotson <pdot...@bellsouth.net>; Jil Chambliss <dana...@comcast.net>; Debra Brown <dbrow...@aol.com>; Easty Lambert-Brown <borg...@bellsouth.net>; Gary Limmroth <zap...@hotmail.com>; Gabriella Merriman <gmer...@bama.ua.edu>; Sharon Pate <shar...@juno.com>; Joe & Freddie Bruner <joebr...@yahoo.com>; Lib Davis <buckeye...@yahoo.com>; "evans...@gmail.com Fitts" <evans...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 9, 2013 6:51 AM
Subject: GUEST COLUMNIST: Emotional ties needed to save Searcy House | TuscaloosaNews.com

By Elizabeth Stanard
Published: Tuesday, July 9, 2013 


When I was a young adult, back home from college, I had the opportunity to spend quality time with my grandparents. Both engaging and interested, they were gracious as always, encouraging my ambition while sharing their own life stories.
It came about through our conversations that I should record the rich history that was being shared. In particular, my grandmother had a penchant for the past. And so, for a series of afternoons, I sat with her at her kitchen table. I carefully placed a tape recorder between us. She talked, and I listened.
Her side of the family all had lived in the Tuscaloosa area, and for many years, on Greensboro Avenue. Unfortunately, most of the houses on the avenue have since been destroyed. Nonetheless, my grandmother frequently referred to the still standing Searcy House, the Jemison-Van de Graaff and
Battle-Friedman homes, as well as the now-demolished Rosenau and Hester-deGraffenreid homes.
Documenting our family history was significant, even if only for archival purposes. And though my grandmother’s associations were authentic, steeped in once living connections, mine felt removed. I was familiar with most of the landmarks she referenced, yet only a few held resonance for me. I understood their genealogical and historical impact, but the emotional attachments just were not there, as much as she attempted to kindle them.
Nearly 15 years have passed since our oral history project. My grandmother is deceased, but our family members own copies of the recordings. And now, I have a better understanding of how people develop a personal affinity for a building, even if the structure seems antiquated or irrelevant to others.
Of course, like many Tuscaloosa natives, I share an appreciation for cultural landmarks like the Bama Theatre. And I also have fond memories of getting into mischief in a number of historic homes that my childhood friends once inhabited in neighborhoods like Audubon Place, The Downs, Caplewood and Hillcrest Drive.
There are a few historic structures, though, to which I am intrinsically intertwined. In 1987, my parents acquired the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion’s Servants’ House and established their two small businesses there. Built around 1860, it originally was used as a servant quarters for Sen. Robert Jemison. Now, it is simply known as “The Office” to me. I spent hours in my mother’s decorating business upstairs; and I worked for my father’s marketing firm downstairs, where he still operates today.
The Old Tuscaloosa County Jail near Capitol Park also remains an important foundation for me. Originally a hotel when Tuscaloosa was the state capital, the building was later outfitted for a prison.
The Tuscaloosa City School System purchased the landmark in 1980 for American Studies, a humanities program for high school students. To those enrolled, this off-campus satellite was anything but a jail.
Rather, it was a refuge from the doldrums of Central High School and a transformative experience. Today, the structure sits vacant, but if those walls could talk!
And I must mention the house I grew up in. Constructed in 1941 by architect Don Buel Schuyler, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright who left a large footprint in Tuscaloosa, the home has some unique features: a photography darkroom, an interior glass wall and a three-story laundry chute. This pitched-roof dwelling is nestled in the College Park cul-de-sac off University Boulevard threatened by student blight. My parents still reside there, and I consider it to be my true emotional home.
The current architectural face of Tuscaloosa is being transformed at an alarming rate. Older buildings are being razed to pave the way for new development. In a city that is struggling with how to maintain its heritage while addressing tornado reconstruction and the University of Alabama’s booming enrollment, we certainly have been enduring some growing pains.
This struggle to preserve and progress continues to beg the question of what to save. The Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society restores and stewards traditional landmarks. And the city of Tuscaloosa enforces protections for many historic structures and invests in them, despite the valid criticism that such initiatives are sometimes much too little and too late. But if we truly want to preserve our heritage, the onus is really on us, concerned citizens.
The Searcy House will be auctioned off to the highest bidders on July 17 by the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education.
Constructed in 1904 by prominent businessman George Searcy, the mansion is one of the few remaining on Greensboro Avenue. Suggestions have been made on how to repurpose and restore it, but the new owners will have the final say. Preservation organizations say they do not have the funds to purchase it.
And I have not heard any news that suggests that the city of Tuscaloosa or the University of Alabama will, either.
The word is that prospective buyers plan to destroy the house and convert the property into a parking lot. Or perhaps a developer will purchase it for more new construction. Adequate parking and new development are necessary for those who reside, entertain and worship downtown, but should this need result in the demolition of historic structures?
Many of us have no emotional ties to the Searcy House. And I wonder if that is what is truly necessary to ensure its survival. At least, in channeling the bonds we have with our own respective dwellings, we can understand how dilapidated empty vessels were once living organisms that merit another chance. Some buildings are not worth saving. But others, even with such torrid pasts as harboring slaves and prisoners, find a new life that is relevant.
Is the Searcy House worth fighting for? To me, its test will be to prove that we feel a certain connection to it today. This feeling needs to run so deep that it inspires us to approach responsible buyers immediately, as well as to place unrelenting pressure on the ultimate highest bidders to facilitate its preservation, an expensive and complex endeavor, especially if the home is relocated.
Yes, it requires impetus on our part, but nothing worth saving should be taken for granted. And if we had more infrastructure in place to support preservation, like the proposed Greater Downtown Plan and financially robust foundations, this home’s fate would be less urgent.
Perhaps big money and special interests will win again in the end, but that should not preclude us from representing what we hold dear.
At the very least, may this potential casualty remind us that we, not anyone else, are responsible for ensuring our fate by doing the planning and work required.
To sign the Save the Searcy House petition, visit: http://www.change.org/petitions/save-the-searcy-house-2.
Elizabeth A. Stanard, a Tuscaloosa native, is a small-business owner who resides in Northport.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20130709/NEWS/130709830?p=1&tc=pg






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