The Sedona Main Street Program is
proud to nominate the US Forest Service (USFS) Sedona Ranger Station
Historic Residence and Barn as the state’s Best Historic Rehabilitation
of Significance.
The USFS is selling their Sedona
Ranger Station, an administrative site, and building a new
state-of-the-art facility and visitor center at the entrance to town.
As part of their mandated public process for determining the effects of
this sale, the two historic buildings on the site were determined to
have lead-based paint, asbestos, rodent nests & feces in the walls, and
some deteriorated siding and wood windows.
The structures are designated Sedona
Historic Landmarks and have just been recommended by the Arizona SHPO to
the National Register of Historic Places. The residence is the oldest
surviving structure within the City of Sedona, built in 1917, and per
USFS research it appears to be the last remaining example of this style
of home built per government-issued drawings. The barn is one of two
surviving Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) structures built in the
1930s by the Sedona CCC Camp, also using government-issued drawings.
The USFS proceeded with necessary
steps to remove all hazardous materials and restore and protect these
wood structures. The District’s archeologist, Sharynn Blood, and
Project Manager, Doug Dank, worked to have rotten siding replaced with
custom milled wood. The siding was made by a millwork shop in Flagstaff,
AZ that created special ‘jigs’
to replicate the shape of the original. This was very fitting since the
original siding probably came from a Flagstaff sawmill. Wood windows
were repaired and re-glazed. An opening cut into the side of the
residence for a ‘window’ air-conditioner was also repaired with
replicated siding. Sharynn also researched the layers of paint removed
from the building and determined the earliest paint colors. The
buildings were repainted using that scheme. The original light fixtures
and fireplace in the living room of the house were protected and the
light fixtures were re-used.
The community rallied to ensure
protection of these important historic resources as they pass into
private hands. An ad hoc group, known as the “Heart of Sedona”* task
force has been under the leadership of a local club called “Sedona
Women”. The name of the task force came from the fact that the Ranger
Stations location was in the original ‘heart’ of Sedona’ original
commercial district. The group has been holding public meetings and
monitoring the events surrounding the sale for almost two years. To
help educate residents about the importance of these buildings and to
create an opportunity for the community to ‘bond’ with the place and
its’ history, the task force volunteered to paint the Ranger Station
historic buildings. This community event was called “Paint Your Heart
Out”. October 2004, approximately 50 people turned out on a rainy and
cold day to paint. Volunteers spent three days prior to the event doing
preparation work and others worked on donations, publicity, and event
coordination. Volunteer painters were treated to live music, lunch,
homemade cookies and hot cider.
The USFS spent approximately $90,000
on the hazardous materials remediation, and another $35,000 on repairs,
siding replication and painting of these two historic structures. In
addition, the ‘Sedona Women’ provided 400+ hours of volunteer time
toward preparation, painting and the “Paint Your Heart Out” event.
‘Sedona Women’ procured donations of tools, food and services from
several local businesses for their event.
Post Note: As a result of the “Heart
of Sedona” task force’s work, the City of
Sedona
initiated a long-range planning study of the ‘larger’ Heart of Sedona
area, including ‘blue sky’ planning concepts and ‘grand’ ideas for
public and private projects and re-development. Recently a developer of
an 11 acre parcel in this study area has presented preliminary plan
concepts to the City that incorporated the community benefits, land uses
and history-based design ideas that were recommended in the results of
that study.
Photos included with Nomination
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