Agenda Item Name:
Title
Approval of a Chair letter of support for a grant application to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for Old Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Gainesville
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Presenter:
Kathleen W. Pagan, Senior Planner, 352-374-5249
Description:
Historic preservation leaders are working with Pastor Gerard Duncan to submit a grant application for a roof project at the Old Mount Carmel Church in the Pleasant Street Historic District. The application will be submitted to the National Trust for Historic Preservation ‘Preserving Black Churches- African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.’
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approve the letter of support
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Prior Board Motions:
Approved a letter of support to add the building to the National Register of Historic Places
Fiscal Consideration:
Fiscal Consideration
NA
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Strategic Guide:Strategic Guide
Social and Economic Opportunity
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Background:
With leadership of Pastor Gerard Duncan and the UF Historic Preservation Interim Director Cleary Larkin, Ph.D., a community effort is underway to preserve the Old Mount Carmel Church and to create the Pleasant Street Civil Rights and Cultural Arts Center. This grant process has a deadline of November 14, 2022, and the requested funding will be used for much needed roof work. The covered costs will include an architect and/or engineer to specify structural stabilization for a new roof as well as new roofing and sheathing specs. The project team includes City of Gainesville Historic Preservation Planner Kathleen Kauffman, as well as consulting architect Rick Gonzalez. Historic Commission staff liaison Kathleen Pagan is participating in the team meetings. This grant is part of a continuing fundraising project to complete restoration of the building with architectural merit that was an important place in local civil rights effort. The Old Mount Carmel Baptist Church is centrally located in the Pleasant Street Historic District in NW Gainesville near downtown and the project will contribute to neighborhood revitalization.
In 2019, Pastor Duncan began collaborating with UF's College of Design, Construction
and Planning to raise awareness of the church’s significance. The Historic Preservation
graduate studio researched and documented the building’s history, laser scanned the
building, and wrote the National Register nomination (listed in 2021). At that time the County Commission approved a Chair letter in support of the National Register nomination. An UF Architecture design
studio studied the adaptive reuse of the building. Students in both studios engaged the
community to understand the meaning of the building to their lives and cultural heritage.
In July 2021, the City of Gainesville and UF received a $50,000 grant from the FL State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to prepare an assessment and rehabilitation plan for the church, including: Historic American Building Survey (HABS) drawings;
Pleasant Street Civil Rights and Cultural Arts Center video oral histories of community stakeholders; a conditions assessment, repair recommendations and estimated costs; and a community design charrette to re-imagine the use of the building. Professional partners for the assessment and charrette included REG
Architects and StoryN studio.