Heading to Town Hall
Continuing on with our theme of more personal reflections, I'd like to share with you another significant event that has happened recently in my career as an interior designer and resident of Fredericksburg, Texas. I'm humbled and honored to have been selected to be a member of the Fredericksburg Historic Review Board. This was an unexpected and hugely encouraging affirmation of everything I've worked for in my career in our little (but widely acknowledged) town.
The Historic Review Board is tasked with the stewardship of our architectural heritage in Fredericksburg. This is so important because we really are the caretakers of a unique piece of Texan and American history. The legacy of the German immigrants of the 1840's is so central to what makes Fredericksburg special. Each immigrant family to the area during that time was given a town lot measuring 100' x 200' and a 10 acre outlot for farming. Most families first built a log home or half-timbered 'fachwerk' and later more substantial stone homes. Many of these stone homes are still standing. Subsequent generations also left their mark on the town as they built their businesses along Main Street. This unique tradition is not only central to Fredericksburg's identity but also, to a huge extent, our economy through tourism. So the decisions that we make about our buildings affect us all, and have for decades prior.
I am humbled and grateful to have been selected for this position. It isn't a given that one's energies and work will be recognized and appreciated by others, so milestones like this are precious. It’s a privilege to be selected among some very qualified peers. But in many ways it really is a natural continuation of what I've been doing in my interior design practice all along. So much of our design work at SDS revolves around and is fed by a historically Texan aesthetic, often starting with historic buildings. We make heavy use of natural colors, textures, and materials, lots of wood and stone, things that speak of the Texas landscape and history. Of course these are the materials that our forebears first built the town out of and it makes sense for us to work within that tradition.
There are two main issues that we are looking at in Historic Preservation that can sometimes seem at odds with one another:
Keeping and preserving historical structures and features, and
Not living in a museum.
In her introduction to the 1966 report With Heritage So Rich, now considered the 'bible' of historic preservation, Lady Bird Johnson touches on this tension:
"In its best sense preservation does not mean merely the setting aside of thousands of buildings as museum pieces. It means retaining the culturally valuable structures as useful objects: a home in which human beings live, a building in the service of some commercial or community purpose."
Working with these two goals in mind has always been at the heart of my design philosophy: making homes that are interesting and beautiful, but always with an eye to making it a place you would want to live in. My process of really getting to know you is what allows me to do this best. Similarly, my career in Fredericksburg has really allowed me to get to know the town, to really absorb what makes Fredericksburg architecture and design unique. This means that I've learned how to really push to the edges of what can be most beautiful and intricate design-wise, thoroughly preserve the historic nature of a house, and at the same time, remain fully functional and livable.
Personally, it is gratifying because this kind of preservation is exactly what we're doing in the renovation of our 'Old Stone House' which will be the SDS office and showroom as soon as we get it done. Our central aim in this project is to take a historic German Sunday House and fix it up in a beautiful way that can showcase the best in modern design that also takes into account, enhances, and embraces the historical nature of the building. If you haven't seen my blog post on this project take a look here!
I love Fredericksburg. I love its history, its quaint, earthy substantial feel, but I also love how it remains a real living place. It is not trying to live in the past like an open air museum, but remains vibrant and growing, rooted in its history without being stuck in it. Being on the Historical Review board feels like the perfect continuation of my work in the town and I'm excited to be a part of the preservation of Fredericksburg's architectural heritage. The journeys we are all on do take surprising turns, but in the long run we see how they really do make sense. Thank you for being a part of my journey and letting me share it with you.
-Amy