August 7, 2007 - Volume 16, No. 32

a Winkler Company publication

Also featuring photos from our monthly supplement...

Louis Lott's tribute to
Frank Lloyd Wright

6th grader notches 3rd at OSF Spelling Bee

Zev Lustgarten displays 3rd place ribbon.

Zev Lustgarten, 11, a sixth grader at Edwin D. Smith School, came in third at the Ohio State Fair Spelling Bee last week. He was the winner of one of his fifth grade class Spelling Bees and was randomly selected to compete with a field of 50 other contestants from throughout the state who had also won at their respective schools.

“It was a real nail biter,” said his mother Linda, who said that there were at least 10 rounds between the eventual second and third place winners.

Zev enjoys baseball, basketball and plays the violin in his spare time. He also is fond of his pet Chihuahua, Pedro. He is the son of Linda and Gary Lustgarten of Oakwood.

Building 26 march Aug. 15

On Wednesday, Aug. 15, the public is encouraged to walk the mile from Sugar Camp to NCR’s Building 26 at Stewart Street and Patterson Blvd., in the footsteps of the 300 Navy WAVES who marched to their work shifts each day at the historic structure.

The commemorative march will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 15 - V-J Day - which marked the official end of World War II. World peace was hastened by months, perhaps years, by the codebreaking machines that were designed and built in Building 26, under the direction of NCR engineer and UD graduate Joseph Desch. Untold lives were saved by Dayton’s top-secret project, which wasn’t revealed until the mid-1990s.

The marchers are walking to honor the world-changing achievements of the 1,000 Navy and NCR personnel who worked in Building 26, but also to ask University of Dayton officials, and UD President Dan Curran in particular, to go “the extra mile” in working with local preservationists to save the building.

In a May 31, 2007 letter to UD officials, Mark Epstein of the Ohio Historic Preservation Office wrote: “We are confident that the University of Dayton will do the right thing. You have shown a commitment to historic preservation in the past. We know that preservation isn’t always easy... We also know the extra effort often yields extraordinary results.”

Both the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Dayton, Inc. have asked the university to explore reusing the building. “As the nation’s leading preservation authority, the National Trust would very much like to be a part of this process,” said Royce A. Yeater, the trust’s Midwest director, in a May 31, 2006 letter to UD’s Curran.

UD is set to demolish the building in September, even though most of the original structure, built in 1938, still exists but is hidden behind surrounding modern additions of glass and panel. Building 26 can be adaptively reused and can take advantage of historic tax credits, as shown by a recent study commissioned by Preservation Dayton Inc. (www.preservationdayton.com).

Curran continues to dismiss those who want to explore alternative uses for the building. In recent weeks, a local non-profit organization with a serious plan for reusing Building 26 approached UD officials and was told the university planned to go ahead with demolishing the structure.

“The University has never demonstrated that it is impossible to reuse Building 26 in a cost-effective, strategic and architecturally effective manner,” said David Bohardt, president of Preservation Dayton, Inc. “In fact, it appears UD officials are afraid – and rightly so – that the opposite may be true. At the very least, the University owes the community an opportunity to demonstrate that reuse of Building 26 will work. To demolish the building without providing this opportunity is fiscally irresponsible and, for anyone who cares about our history, morally indefensible.”

A press conference will be held at Building 26 on Stewart Street at 6 p.m. immediately following the march. The keynote speaker will be Prof. Daniel Bluestone of the University of Virginia, one of the nation’s leading experts on historic preservation and adaptive reuse. In an April 1 story in The New York Times, Bluestone said Building 26 should be reused for its great historical significance: “Why wouldn’t you want to harness that history? You would have a workplace with a soul.”

WHERE TO MEET: Schantz Ave., just west of Far Hills, Sugar Camp entrance. (Those who can’t march are welcome to be at Building 26 on Stewart Street at 6 p.m.)

WHEN: 5 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 15. March begins at 5:30 p.m.

THE ROUTE: East on Schantz, North on Main, West on Stewart to Building 26

PARKING: Behind the Dayton Area Board of Realtors building, 1515 S Main Street. Shuttle service will be available from River Park Road to Sugar Camp.

For more information, contact the Building 26 Defense Council at 222-2815 or 294-4665.

Oh, the Joy!

Photo by Carol Judge

Youngsters throw rose petals in the air in preparation for the 8th annual Giving Strings concert held on Sunday evening on Lonsdale Avenue. Concertgoers were treated to virtuoso piccolo-playing by guest soloist Janet van Graas, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra’s principal piccolo player, a lullaby by local composer Mark Hofeldt, and a lighthearted Ode to Joy conducted by DPO maestro Neal Gittleman.

DMHA presentation rescheduled to Aug. 27

Dayton Metropolitan Housing Authority (DMHA) Executive Director Greg Johnson will brief Oakwood City Council on the work of DMHA at the Aug. 27 council meeting.

This is a date change from the August 13 date announced last week. In addition to explaining the mission and operation of DMHA, Mr. Johnson will respond to question of city council and any one from the audience. The meeting is open to the general public and begins at 7:30 p.m. It will take place in the council chambers at the Oakwood City Building, 30 Park Ave.

top of page