Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Survey of Fargo Estate to be conducted


The Fargo Estate neighborhood will be surveyed to aid in completing its nomination for the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The survey entails finding out the specifics of the neighborhood’s architecture, like materials used in constructing buildings and in what year buildings were actually erected.
Research will be funded by a $6,200 grant awarded last month to the Kleinhans Music Hall Management group from the Preservation League of New York State, an organization dedicated to protecting New York State’s historic buildings and districts.
“The survey will capture on paper the history, the importance and the artistry of the neighborhood,” said Catherine Schweitzer, a board member for the Kleinhans Management group.
Kleinhans' goal is to create a historic district on the Fargo Estate. Leaders applied for the grant for three consecutive years before finally being selected by the Preservation League.
“We’re absolutely thrilled that 2012 was the year the Fargo Estate neighborhood was accepted,” Schweitzer said. “It’s been a long time waiting for the funds to finally become available.”
According to Tania Werbizky, regional director for Technical and Grant Programs for the Preservation League of New York State, the Kleinhans application stood out and as such was accepted for a variety of reasons.
“The first thing that jumped out at us was that this was a cooperative effort between Kleinhans and the Fargo Community Association,” Werbizky said. “Kleinhans really presented themselves as seeing the importance of being a good neighbor.”
Additionally, Werbizky noted that the quality of the Fargo Estate buildings was important in accepting the Kleinhan’s application.
“They’re certainly worthy of the investment and the neighborhood is worthy of any and all efforts that can really help it be as stable and attractive an area as it can possibly be,” Werbizky said. By Tom Gallagher and Mike Straw.