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Page 10-Sunday, March 19, 1978-The Michigan Daily

OLd West Side seeks
historic preservation

By ARLENE SARYAN
The Old West Side is among the few
Victorian residential neighborhoods
which has survived in a city as large as
Ann Arbor. Some homes in the area
date back to the early 1800s, however,
the majority of the dwellings were built
between 1860 and 1914.
Efforts to preserve the area began in
1967, when a group of residents formed
the Old West Side Association, a non-
profit neighborhood association char-
tered by the State of Michigan. As a
result of their efforts, Ann Arbor's Old
West was recognized as the first
"historic living environment" placed
on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1972.
ON FEBRUARY 6, City Council ap-
proved the first reading of the Old Wesi
Side Historic District Ordinance,
developed by a committee appointed by
Council in 1974 to research the creation
of a local historic district. The proposed
ordinance was brought for public
debate March 13.
John Baur, an officer of the Old West
Side Association, said the attempt t
keep this 19th century, former Germa
working-class community preserved is
unique in that the preservation focuses
not on a few particular homes or lan-
dmarks, but a residential neighborhood
as a whole.
In a survey report on the area in 1969,
Clarence Roy, former president of ti
Old West Side Association said, "TI
Old West Side is an older neighborhood,
one of Ann Arbor's first, and it still e
presses as fully as any ,area of to
community, the environmental charac-
ter that people associate with it. . .
"UN'T'IL RECENTLY," he con-
tinued, "our neighborhood has escaped
much of the apartment development
boom that has transformed other parts
of the city. We are not seeking preser-
vation as such, but rather conservation
and the careful replacement of
deteriorated structures with new ar-
chitecture, compatible in scale,
placement, form, material, and
character (as district form style)."
The Old West Side Historic District

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Study Committee, appointed by Coun-
cil, has developed the guidelines,
preservation standards and recom-
mendations of the proposed ordinance.
The recimendations stress that "it is
not sigested that protective
regulatb.n should 'f ze' the neigh-
borhodspecific d and require
all na 'tuctio fate building
of a spe f"tyle.
"Ratpe.tbe Old e should try
to 0'reseriv hose el s of the past
that have ue for 4. A judicious
mixturegoast and p esent will give
mension t" the various life styles of
its resident&"
',FlE BOUNIDARIES of the historic
district, following the reco men-
dations of the original survey o 1969,
have been defined as the Ann Arbor
railroad tracks on the east, the Main
Street commercial area, Wurster and
West Parks, and area to the west
beyond Seventh S st.
The preservat ds are .in-
tended to focus o physical
element- 7he fr perty is
consideredthe m istic and
i portant elem est Side
historic enviro to the
ordinance.
One of the s inance
is a restricti'height,
characterististreet
scapes. Retaiorches
side-yards bet'ealn
the s et and building
mate of the h fe other
sta ncludedtinance.
NI ('\ININK fences in front
yar -considered inappropriate to a
19th century residential streetscape.
Multiple demolitions of structures in
the neighborhood are also considered to
have a serious impact on the street-
scape under the proposed ordinance.
The ordinance, however, will not
regulate what any owner may change
on the interior of a home. Furthermore,
the st ards apply to all residential
prop and aren't intended to
prey certain amount of recon-
str air, or r rations
'h 3 hearing ap-
doze tents cofthe
Svoi support of
din ust now be
unci er to go into
al
e':ibit
spur
co1t
By I)IA
Adisplay ca ecture
and Design ded to
give people s t while
standing in li Guild
movies- show Iding's
audito m.
Pe ertainly notie of
the ,but not t is a pret-
ty si person, w refused to be
ident filed a comtlaint last Thur-
sday, ered because the display con-
tains more than 35 mice and three dead
goldfish.
"I'm all for artistic expression,"
wrote the complainant "but this is an
ugly spectacle." The riplainant said
he observed mice looking half-dead and

goldfish floating in their bowls.
Ro h, University art student
and er of the display case, said
c water killgd the goldfish.
asn't " ware of the
dd;ed thaithe mice are
od shape.
t putting death on
hn Robertson, another
signer. Robertson said
hree times more room
the pet store they were
ciety officials were
s espond to the complaint
b out the display case on
Fri ormation on possible action
the ials will take is not yet
available.
The animals were rented last
Tuesday and scheduled t return to the
pet store last night.
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