School board, preservation group clash over Lylburn renovations

By Jess Ramos

As Lexington School Board plans to renovate 80-year-old Lylburn Downing Community Center, the Historic Lexington Foundation is fighting hard to preserve the center’s historic windows.

Foundation Executive Director Leslie Giles said the organization has been struggling to preserve as many of the 50-plus original windows as possible. Earlier, the school board voted to preserve only four.

“It’s almost like saving the doorway or the first two inches of the façade and throwing everything else behind it away,” said Giles.  

At the Lexington City Council meeting Sept. 4, the historic foundation appealed the issue to the council, which owns the land under the center.  Council has not acted  and appears unlikely to take action until it can meet with school board members next month.

Plans to renovate the community center should be completed by the end of next week, according to city schools Superintendent  Dan Lyons. The school board will share the plans with City Council  at the annual joint meeting the two groups hold in October. After the meeting the school board will begin accepting bids from contractors, and the renovations will begin in spring 2009.

Lyons is confident the renovation plans are proceeding on schedule.

“I mean, there are no surprises,” he said. “There shouldn’t be anything that shocks the  [council].”

Lyons said maintaining the building’s original appearance, including the windows, was a  priority. He said replacement windows would look like the original windows,  but they would be double-paned and energy-efficient.

Also, Lyons said the renovations would focus on the building’s interior. The improvements would remove non-historic walls, revealing the original auditorium and stage. Heating, air conditioning, new wiring and plumbing would also be installed.

“It will be much more user-friendly,” he said.

Last week, The News-Gazettepublished some of an e-mail exchange between school board members and historic foundation members that illustrated the conflict. In an e-mail to fellow school board members, Aaron Bruce said political reasons were behind the four-window concession.

“If this issue is revisited,” wrote Bruce, “my vote will be to replace them all.”

The historic foundation’s  frustration stemmed from the school board’s previous arguments against preserving the windows. Initially, the school board said repairing the windows would be too costly and that the original windows were not energy-efficient.

However, Giles said the school board’s architect found no significant cost difference between repairing and replacing the windows. Giles also cited research findings that showed repairing the original windows would use less energy than  replacing them.

In a letter dated Sept. 9,  the state Department of Historical Resources urged city officials to reconsider the school board’s decision. The letter was sent to  city officials including Superintendent Lyons, School Board Chair Leslie Straughan,  Mayor John Knapp and  City Manager Jon Ellestad.

In March 2008, architects commissioned by the school board began working on general renovation plans for  Lylburn Downing Middle School, which sits next to the community center. By early summer, the plans had expanded to include renovating the center as well.

The center, originally known as Lylburn Downing School, was built in 1927 as a school for African Americans. In 2003, the school was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.

The center’s place on historic registers means it must meet national preservation standards. One of the things the standards affect are renovations. Giles said windows are high on the list of things to preserve in a historic building.

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