bakerhuntcampus2

Is a structure that is made almost entirely of glass too modern and too out sequence with the surrounding Licking Riverside Historic District?

That is the question that will be before the Covington Urban Design Review Board next Monday when the Baker Hunt Art & Cultural Center formally makes its approval request for a $3 million campus renovation project.

“What we’re seeing over time is a more discerning student that wants both the great curriculum and they want to have a really great environment to be in while creating their artwork,” said Ray Kingsbury, executive director of Baker Hunt. “If we are going to be a destination community, we have got to create stuff to draw people and things like the new hotel, things like the Ascent, and like this iconic building are going to be things that people are going out of their way to see.”

Much of the ambitious project relates to refurbishing some of the existing structures, historic former residences that line the campus’s Greenup Street side. “We are combining some classroom space, making the space more functional, adding much needed administration spaces to make the campus more functional, and we’re making buildings safer, looking at fire escapes and adding much-needed signage,” said architect Chad Burke of Cincinnati-based firm GBBN, when the plans were presented for informational purposes to the UDRB in February. “The entire campus will be more accessible.”

That will include the addition of ramps and an elevator. 

But in the middle of the campus and very visible from the street will be a new glass structure that will be designed for activities. Kingsbury said it’s not really a building at all but a piece of art. “It’s really a functional sculpture,” he said. “It’s a building that will be used as an art studio but it’s also a piece of art and I’m sure that can be debated just as most art can, so that’s another issue of both accessibility and visibility. About 80 percent of what we’re going to do in the master plan is in the other buildings.”
 
 
But the campus plans will require approval from the UDRB because some of them stray from the city’s historic preservation guidelines for new construction and infill. Chief among the violators is the proposed glass structure. A possible preview of Baker Hunt’s strategy was laid out in February. 
 
“This is a campus and not an individual property for the purposes of infill,” Greg Otis, owner’s rep for Baker Hunt, told the UDRB earlier this year. “You are relieved of the guidelines relative to the cadence of the street. Think of this more as an institutional campus as the way to interpret the architecture.” He said the campus would not operate any differently than it does now.
 
That explanation does not fly with Lisa Sauer, a Licking Riverside neighbor and leader of Progress With Preservation, a local group that is active in saving and preserving historic buildings.
 

“I don’t think the new building is appropriate,” Sauer told The River City News. “It doesn’t come anywhere close to meeting the design guidelines which is what covers the entire Licking Riverside district. It needs to conform to those and it doesn’t appear to have even taken them into consideration.”

Sauer said that she does not object entirely to new construction. “A new building is OK but the design guidelines were specifically constructed on how a new building can be compatible with historic buildings,” she said. “I think sometimes people get focused on whether they like a building or not. I think you can like a new building they are designing but still understand it’s not compatible in the neighborhood.”

Among the violations, from Sauer’s vantage point, is that the structure is not as tall as it needs to be and that it interrupts the rhythm of the street, and it also sits at an angle. She is also concerned about the material being used and its lack of similar features to the buildings that surround it.

But drawing attention to Baker Hunt is exactly what Kingsbury wants.

“I’ve been here four, almost five years and when I first got here there were some things that I noticed over my tenure that I think everybody realizes,” he said. “One, we’ve got some really old buildings and we need to preserve those and we need to sustain those, which we have. We spend about a fourth of our budget on maintenance on the buildings and upgrades. But what I hear most from people is, Where is Baker Hunt? I tell them it’s at 620 Greenup Street and they say, No it’s not. We’ve never seen it. And that’s one of our issues, visibility and accessibility.

“If we’re going to be a walkable community, I think having a presence on Greenup Street and being the icon that we are, we need that visibility.”
 
 
When Margaretta Baker Hunt, the Covington arts, education, and religious activist bequeathed her home as well as the adjacent Scutter mansion that belonged to her niece, it was intended to be used for the arts. However, the structures were built as homes and not as an art school.
 
“What she left were two residential properties, so how do we evolve into making this a functional art school?,” Kingsbury said. “As we look acros the river, a lot of art centers are springing up. Mariemont, Clifton, Blue Ash, Sharonville, Anderson, Mason. What we need to do is make sure that for the next 100 years we are progressing towards what that new student is going to want. Those are things we saw in the last couple years that prompted us to say if we’re gong to be good stewards of this institution, we’re going to have to do things a little differently into the future.”
 
Sauer said that she supports Baker Hunt and spoke to the organization during an open house they hosted for neighbors. Her concern is maintaining the historic character and property values of the neighborhood. “What they are doing, they are putting that building right on the street and therefor it’s like any other building,” she said about why it should be scrutinized under the city’s urban design guidelines. “If they wanted to put it in the middle of the campus where it wasn’t visible, that would be a different story.”
 

Sauer and other neighbors recently lost in an attempt to keep a modern design townhouse from being built in the neighborhood. The UDRB had refused to allow the home to be constructed as presented, but the city commission overturned that decision. Another preservation issue where Progress With Preservation has been involved is headed to court next month. The UDRB refused to allow Columbia Sussex to tear down its historic Bavarian Brewery Building, a decision that was upheld by the city commission. A Kenton County judge will have the final say.

As for Kingsbury, he sees his campus as a mix of old and new with an eye on the future and a capital campaign will begin in earnest if approval is granted for the plans next week.

“I think the climate in Covington is one of such that people are interested in progressing and I think things that bring people to Covington – and we’ve noticed some of those things here lately, like Pike Street and the new hotel and so forth – if we’re going to be drawing people, let’s keep them here. Let’s have an architectural tour that will show the Cathedral, some of those older gems, but also show the Ascent and our building.

“How cool would it be if people at the Hotel Covington go down to Left Bank Coffeeshop, grab a cup of coffee, look across and say, What’s over there? And we have a public entry way there and they can come and enjoy our campus?”

Written by Michael Monks, editor & publisher