The Preservationist

is a quarterly newsletter that highlights preservation activities within the City of Allentown. It offers historical articles and how-to advice for owners of older homes. A subscription to The Preservationist is included with membership in the Allentown Preservation League.

The Preservationist, September 2007 (pdf document, needs Acrobat Reader)

Below are articles that have appeared in recent editions.

ASK BILL

Written by APL board member Bill D’Arcy of Builder’s Guild. Bill is very familiar with the building and restoration phases of all types of homes and is a great source of knowledge and information. Look for the Ask Bill column in The Preservationist.
Send your question to the APL address and we’ll see what Bill has to say.

What’s the story on compressing insulation and the use of a vapor barrier?  

Q.  l’ve heard that if you use 5 ½-inch-thick fiberglass batts in a 2x4 wall, the insulation will have a higher R-value than standard 3 ½-inch batts provide. But some people say that compressing fiberglass batts lowers the R-value. Should a vapor barrier be installed between the insulation and the drywall? What's the story? 

A.  Both statements are correct. When you compress fiberglass insulation, you increase its R-value per inch, up to a point. However, when you compress a batt of a particular  thickness, the total R-value does decrease. For example, standard low-density batts, at their nominal rated thickness – R-11 at 3 ½ inches, or R-19 at 6 inches – have an R-value of about 3.1 per inch. If you compress a 6-inch R-19 batt into a 3½ -inch cavity, you get about R-14, or 4.0 per inch. This is a much higher R-value per inch, but the total value of R-14 is still substantially less than the R-19 you started with. Even in a 5 ½-inch wall, the R-19 (which is rated at 6 inches of thickness) gives you only R-18.

For the best performance, any batt should be installed carefully, to fill the entire space without compressing around wires, pipes, bridging, or other obstructions. For those seeking higher R-values per inch than standard fiberglass batts, one alternative to compressing large batts into small cavities is to use so-called high-density batts (R-13 or R-15 at 3½  inches, or R-21 at 5½  inches). Although they cost more than standard batts, they are stiffer, easier to fluff up, and easier to cut around obstructions in wall framing. These factors result in a bigger benefit in real-world performance than the factory ratings indicate.

Plastic vapor barriers should only be installed in vented attics in climates with more than 8,000 heating degree days. You can forgo the plastic and use a vapor retarder (kraft-faced insulation or latex ceiling paint) in all other climates except hot-humid or hot-dry climates. In hot-humid climates, attics should not be vented and vapor retarders should not be installed on the interior of assemblies. In hot-dry climates a vapor retarder should also not be installed, but attics can be vented. All attics – vented or unvented – should have an air barrier (a properly detailed airtight drywall ceiling, for example) regardless of climate.

Omitting a ceiling vapor barrier by arguing that “you have to let the moisture escape” or “because the house has to breathe out the top” is actually correct, in a way. It's also incorrect, in a way. Now, I'm a real fan of controlled mechanical ventilation to limit interior moisture levels in cold and mixed climates, as well as to limit other interior contaminants in all climates. In other words, all houses require controlled mechanical ventilation in order to “breathe.” It is also my view that this necessary air change should not happen because of a leaky attic ceiling, attic vents, or even leaky walls. Hence the requirement for an air barrier and controlled mechanical ventilation in all houses, regardless of climate.

Bill D’Arcy

DO I REALLY NEED A HOME INSPECTION?

Your lender may require a pest inspection to make sure the home you are buying is free of termites and other wood-destroying insects. If the pest report mentions damage from an active or previous infestation, then the lender will require someone to verify the structural integrity of the home. Neither of these inspections takes the place of a home inspection that examines the condition of the house and its components.

A home inspector evaluates and gives feedback about the systems, such as the roof, plumbing, electrical system, heating & air conditioning units, insulation, windows, doors and more. Home inspections are an extra expense and are optional, so do you really need one? Probably. Money might be tight for closing, but try to imagine moving in and finding out that the electrical system is substandard or that a chimney is in need of immediate repair.

Your Agreement of Sale has a detailed statement regarding your rights to a home inspection. The standard contract used by real-estate agents may give you the right to back out of a purchase if a home inspection uncovers more problems than you are willing to deal with.

Don’t assume the seller will make all the repairs that you ask for. They may refuse to make any repairs. Have it in writing.

Most states offer little or no regulations on the home-inspection industry. There are some good organizations such as NACHI (National Association of Certified Home Inspectors) that are monitoring the standards of the home-inspection industry. Talk to friends who have recently purchased homes. Ask your real-estate agent for a list of qualified home inspectors.

Ask the inspector for information regarding their training and experience. Do they belong to an organization? Do they have “errors and omissions” insurance? This type of insurance may come in handy if the inspector overlooks something major.

It’s best that you attend the inspection yourself. Inspectors will report all defects no matter how minor. Home buyers will sometimes become excited over these minor problems simply because they do not have an understanding of what’s really wrong. Witnessing problems first-hand will give you a better grasp of what is, and what is not, a problem. I would recommend asking the seller to provide a one-year home warranty or purchasing it yourself, in the event a major repair is needed within the first year of ownership.

Bill D’Arcy

LEAD PAINT REMOVAL

Dear Bill, Our contractor told us that the government has new rules about lead paint in old buildings. Can you explain how this affects our renovation work? What should we know?

Bill answers: Lead safety for renovation, repair, and painting of older homes has come under new regulations. Many buildings containing lead-based paint are being renovated, and the mere act of renovation poses serious health threats to young children and pregnant women. In 2008, the EPA issued a new rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act regarding “lead-based paint hazards created by renovation, repair, and painting activities that disturb lead-based paint in target housing and child-occupied facilities.” The rule, which has an effective date of April 2010, directly affects general and specialty contractors by requiring them to be certified if they are performing work on a targeted facility and to provide warnings to let people know of the hazards.

The rule generally applies to renovation of any housing constructed prior to 1978 and any public or commercial facility constructed prior to 1978 where children are present on a regular basis, such as a day-care center or school. 86% of pre-1940 homes contain lead-based paint on at least one surface; 66% of homes built from 1940 to 1959 contain lead-based paint on one surface, according to EPA findings. Exemptions include minor repair or maintenance work involving an area no larger than 6 sq. ft. of interior painted surface (20 sq. ft. for exterior), renovations by an owner to their own residence or a certification that the work area is free of lead-based paint (as determined using an EPA-recognized test kit). Some housing may also be exempt if it is shown that no children under the age of 6 or pregnant woman reside or regularly visit there.

Not only does the rule affect general contractors, but it also applies to any specialty contractor that in the course of their work may disturb a surface that could have lead-based paint. This would include plumbing, painting, HVAC, electrical, finish carpentry, drywall, insulation, siding, tile, glass and glazing, as well as others. General contractors should ask for a copy of sub contractors’ certification.

The rule requires that anyone doing renovation on targeted facilities obtain certification that evidences they are trained in the use of lead-safe work practices and that they will follow specific work practices when performing the renovation. What this means to you is:

(a) The contractor must receive certification;

(b) a certified renovator must be assigned to each renovation of a covered facility;

(c) all persons performing work on the project must receive on-the-job training by a certified renovator;

(d) all renovations must be performed in accordance with the EPA work practice standards related to lead-based paint;

(e) Contractor must provide the owner and occupants of the property with an EPA pamphlet advising them of the lead hazards associated with renovation and obtain a signed certificate of receipt; and

(f) Contractor must keep records of compliance on all projects. It is unclear exactly how enforcement will take place.

Suffice it to say that if a property owner is injured as a result of lead-based paint exposure during or after a renovation, your certification and paperwork had better be in order. And you may be liable for personal injuries if you fail to perform the work in compliance with the EPA standards.

Bill D’Arcy

Bill D’Arcy is a General Contractor & owner of Builders Guild, Specializing in Historic Restorations & Renovations,
N.A.C.H.I. Home Inspector, as well as a Certified Renovator. 

Fourteen years ago, back in November of 1991, the Board of Directors of the Allentown Preservation League produced a list of buildings and sites that they believed were endangered. In 2005, this list was found in the APL archives. A lot has happened in the intervening years. Some of the buildings and sites are gone, others saved, and others are still endangered after all these years.

What is encouraging is that, of the 16 sites on the list, more than half of them have been saved.

In the May 2005 issue of the newsletter we began a column in which we examine a few of the well-known sites in Allentown that also appeared on the 1991 list. In coming issues, look for profiles of other sites on the list, and try to discover which buildings or sites are ... saved, gone or still endangered.

Saved and Being Restored

Allentown National Bank, 1905 – Constructed in 1903-04, this Beaux Arts-style building was opened for business on March 15, 1905, at 11-15 North Seventh Street in Allentown. Designed by Allentown architects Jacoby, Weishampel & Biggin, this building was Allentown’s first modern skyscraper built with steel and rises eight stories. The building features a “spacious dome 32 feet in height supported by 6 onyx columns,” noted the Chronicle and News of Allentown in 1905. After the bank became the First National Bank and moved operations to a new building at the corner of Seventh and Hamilton Streets in the 1950s, the building housed several other businesses, most notably the Allentown Business School, now Lehigh Valley College in Center Valley. In 1995, the Allentown Preservation League worked to have the building placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the 1990s, the City of Allentown acquired the building and struggled to find suitable tenants. This year (2005), Pennrose Properties is working to restore the building to its former glory and convert the bank and the former Trojan Powder building next door into 63 senior citizen apartments.

 

Saved

Hamilton Street Flower Bowls, 1916 — For 90 years, the flower bowls attached to the lamp poles in downtown Allentown have been a symbol of the city, so much so that the Allentown Preservation League adopted a drawing of an old lamppost and flower bowl as its logo. Part of the “boulevardization” of Hamilton Street in 1916, the flower bowls were fitted onto 15-foot light poles that lined the street. An idea of the Allentown Planning Commission and its most energetic chairman, General Harry C. Trexler, the lamp posts and their corresponding flower bowls created a more uniform look to Allentown’s main thoroughfare. In the spring of 1973, as part of the Hamilton Mall project, the lamp posts and flower bowls were removed. However, many of the flower bowls were saved and placed on the tall lamp posts downtown, above the heads of viewing public. During the 1990s, the city nearly discontinued planting real flowers in the bowls. By the mid 1990s the newly elected mayor, William Hedyt, made it his duty to remove the canopies on Hamilton Mall and eventually had replicas of the original lamp posts and flower bowls manufactured and reinstalled on Hamilton Street. The “Hanging Gardens of Allentown” have been restored to the downtown Allentown cityscape as an enduring symbol of the city.

Gone

Colonial Theater, 1920 – Designed by the Philadelphia firm Hoffman and Henon, this movie palace was “to be a temple to the illusion of the silver screen,” according to John Y. Kohl, former Morning Call Sunday editor and theater critic. Located next to the Lehigh County Courthouse on Hamilton Street in Allentown, it opened on Monday October 11, 1920, and showed the feature film “The Idol Dancer,” an epic of the South Seas by D.W. Griffith. The theater, for many decades Allentown’s grandest movie house, was decorated with marble and beautiful ornate chandeliers and could seat 3,000 people. Closed on September 23, 1982, and purchased by Mark Mendelson of Philadelphia in 1988, the building was allowed to deteriorate beyond repair. This once-glorious theater, which had become an eyesore in past years, was razed this past year along with the neighboring Lehigh County Annex Building and the site now lies vacant and awaits a new use.

The Charles Building and 832 and 844 Hamilton Street — Located on the southeast corner of South Ninth and Hamilton streets, these properties have had mixed uses throughout their history. The Charles Building at 834-842 Hamilton Street was opened in September of 1942 as the Charles Department Store, which specialized in clothing and shoes for women and children. More recently the art-deco building had been divided into five addresses as follows: 834, a street-level doorway leading to the second floor; 836, the Philadelphia Vision Center; 838, BIE Financial, an investment business; 840, Dreyer’s Fine Jewelry; and 842, last occupied by Latt Market. To the left of the Charles Building was 832 Hamilton Street, which was for many years occupied by Furs by Yianni. On the corner of Ninth and Hamilton was 844 Hamilton, the home of many restaurants over the years. In the 1940s, the building housed Tallman’s Restaurant, which later became Rube’s. The 5,500 sq. ft. building subsequently housed a sportsbar named Chicago, then the Good Spirit Restaurant, a brewpub, and finally Flora’s. This group of buildings was demolished in 2005 to make room for the Butz Corporate Center, a six-story metal-and-glass office and retail building that will become the new headquarters of Alvin H. Butz., Inc., when it is completed later in 2006.

Still Endangered

Neuweiler Brewery, 1913 – Opened by Louis F. Neuweiler and Son on April 28, 1913, this sprawling industrial site was the home of the beer locals knew of as “nix besser” (“none better” in German) and is a shell of its former self. Designed by Philadelphia architects Peukert and Wunder, the stately brick buildings at Front and Gordon streets in Allentown have been decaying since 1968 when the brewery closed under the burden of a large debt. The City of Allentown has had the long-vacant property in its sites for condemnation. Most recently, back in May, 2005, the site was purchased at a Sheriff’s Sale by Joe Clark, former owner of the Allentown nightclub Crocodile Rock; however, days later the ex-owner stated he would pay the back taxes owed on the site. The site is in danger of demolition because of the huge expenses associated with the rehabilitation of the property. The Allentown Preservation League continues to be concerned for the Neuweiler Brewery’s welfare and fate and ultimately hopes that the site will be rehabilitated.

The Americus Hotel, 1926-27 — Designed by the Philadelphia architectural firm Ritter and Shay, ground was broken for this Spanish-Moorish-style hotel at the northeast corner of Sixth and Hamilton streets on July 17, 1926, with then-Mayor Malcom W. Gross and General Harry C. Trexler in attendance. Opened on September 13, 1927, and supposedly named after the sixteenth-century explorer Amerigo Vespucci, the hotel cost $2.5 million and was paid in cash on the day it opened. Built by Allentown businessman Albert “Bert” Gomery, the ornate 14-story hotel boasts Spanish-style tile insets and brick decoration, as well as graceful arched windows. On the lower levels, pedestrians can still see the American eagles that grace the building. In addition to the building’s two ballrooms, the grand ballroom located off the lobby and the smaller “Tiara” ballroom on the 11th floor, the building contains about 80 rooms and 40 apartments, many of which were occupied until the City of Allentown forced tenants to leave because the building was unfit for habitation. This once-beautiful hotel is now sitting vacant, except for several businesses that still do business in the lower level of the hotel along Sixth Street. Mark Mendelson of Philadelphia, who has owned the hotel since 1984, continues to allow the building, which has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, to deteriorate.

Researched and written by APL board member Joshua A. Fink, Curator and Historian at the Liberty Bell Shrine and Museum. Josh is now vice president of the APL board.

Others sites on the 1991 Endangered List

        Harry C. Trexler Home

        Rose Garden

        1100 Block of Walnut Street

        Union/West End Cemetery

        Kramer residence

        The 19th Street Theater

        Lehigh Valley Club Building

        Fairview Cemetery and Greenwood Cemetery Chapels

        Poultry Building at the Allentown Fairgrounds

        Adams Island residences

        Hotel Traylor

        Dorney Park Road Sign

Exactly how did the 1991 “Endangered Sites List” come to be? When the list was found in the APL archives, the selection criteria provided some insight into how the sites were named to the list.  The name of each site had a number behind it, indicating the board had voted for it to be included on the list. Some sites had as many as five votes, while others had only one. Most, however, had three votes.

SELECTION CRITERIA (from the 1991 list)

Is the candidate (site) in danger of being lost?

Does it have historical value?

Does it possess a significant architectural style?

Was it constructed by local architects whose work reflects a unique style?

Has the candidate (site) been allowed to become derelict in appearance?

Has it been given recognition as a National Register Building (eligible for the National Register of Historic Places)?

The two sites that had the most votes for selection to the list in 1991 were the Allentown National Bank  (1905 — saved) and the Neuweiler Brewery  (1913 — still endangered), both of which were profiled in the first installment of this series. In the past two installments,  Josh has profiled the Nineteenth Street Theater (1928), which has been saved and restored, as well as the Hotel Traylor (1917), which is still endangered. Unfortunately, it was also necessary to profile two significant historic sites that are now lost and only a memory, the Colonial Theater  (1920) and the Dorney Park Arcade Building (late 19th century).