New Uses for Old Buildings:
A Russian-American Workshop on Historic Preservation

June 3-6, 2001
St. Petersburg

BACKGROUND

The architectural heritage of an historic city is one of its greatest treasures. Effective stewardship of that heritage and the need for urban revitalization together shape the common ground of architects interested in historic preservation. Architects, those most reasoned of artists, supply the vision and technology, the esthetic values and the practical concepts to meet the needs of a city for change tempered with order. Initially, however, there must be a concerted effort on the part of concerned citizens, the body politic, and the business community to articulate those needs. In every city, these groups are organized in different ways, but their goals vary little: to preserve the historic assets of the city while adapting to the needs of the community for growth and development.

Each city resolves its preservation problems in a unique way. But there are common themes and approaches that can be shared. Across the United States, cities large and small have begun to recognize that developing historic districts can lead to significant benefits for cultural and economic revitalization. In Russia too, cities like St Petersburg have begun to work actively to preserve and restore their rich architectural trust.

No other city in the western world was designed and planned with such detailed foresight as St. Petersburg. A city built on barren marshes for an empire’s royalty, its founders focused on the comforts of the imperial class and their intellectual amusement: music, dance, painting, literature, and the theater. Architecture became a central protagonist in the development of the city’s culture. As the city has emerged in the last decade from 70 years of political rigidity and neglect, it faces choices on how to regain its pre-revolutionary position as one of Europe’s grandest cultural centers.

If the city is to prosper economically, St. Petersburg must adapt to become a center for financial and service industries, maintain its regained role as Russia’s main cultural link to the West, and develop as a mecca for artistic and cultural tourism. The bases of such development – democratic government, real estate investment, stable regulatory laws, fair tax policy, neighborhood awareness and education – must all keep pace.

New Uses for Old Buildings brought together in St. Petersburg approximately 50 government officials, architects, preservation experts, real estate investors, and cultural leaders from several cities in the United States and from St. Petersburg. Together, these experts probed and defined the role of preservation, new technologies and techniques in preservation architecture, and the needed legal and financial infrastructure to encourage the ongoing renewal of this great city. (click here to see the agenda) 

The historic architectural masterpieces of St. Petersburg are among its chief assets. The city has recognized this and launched efforts to develop itself as a world capital of culture. The State Hermitage Museum and the Mariinsky Theater are not simply St. Petersburg institutions, but are counted among the world’s great cultural treasures and are beginning to win significant support at home and abroad. Further, there have been a number of investments in the city’s architectural projects, several involving foreign investors, principally the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and private investors from Sweden and Finland. The 1870s Grand Hotel Europe—a once and future king among world-class luxury hotels—is run by an international hotel management company and by 1992 was restored to western hotel standards. New and/or restored luxury condominiums are sprouting on the banks of the Neva, complete with underground parking garages. Pockets of St. Petersburg’s landscape are now shrouded by scaffolding and dust nets.

Nevertheless, there is still much to be done on all levels and fronts to ensure that the legal framework, technical skills, and financial incentives are in place to maximize such assets and enhance St. Petersburg’s long-term economic viability.

It is within this larger context that the workshop took place in June 2001. American and Russian preservationists, architects, investment professionals and government officials met in formal and informal sessions to discuss specific issues and problems. In addition, field trips to St. Petersburg’s historic buildings provided on-site case studies of successes and opportunities for possible further development.

2000 TRAINING PROGRAM FOR RUSSIAN WOMEN ARCHITECTS—INSPIRATION FOR THE WORKSHOP

In 1996, Lyudmila Bakayutova, Director of the St. Petersburg office of FAF, convened a small group of women architects in St. Petersburg to gather ideas for a project. The women found their cooperation and networking so useful that they decided to formalize their group as an officially registered organization with the Russian Government. Since that time, the Women Architects Circle (WAC) has met several times each month at the FAF offices in St. Petersburg, bringing in outside experts to discuss issues relevant to running an architecture firm, developing collaborative relationships with counterparts in Finland and elsewhere in Europe, working together on design projects, and generally providing support to one another in a field that has not traditionally been well-represented by women.

FAF has played an important role in nurturing this new organization, through its initial formative stages to now a larger and more formal professional association. With the support of private foundation funders, including vital support from the Trust for Mutual Understanding and the Hillsdale Fund, FAF was able to bring six women architects and designers to the United States for an eighteen-day program in September and October 2000. The women architects participated in an intensive two-day training program in association management at the American Institute of Architects. They met with leading private architecture firms and restorers in Washington, DC, Baltimore, New York, and Chicago. They visited agencies such as the General Services Administration to learn about the US Government’s policies for the preservation and use of its historic architecture. During these meetings, the six program participants also began to make plans for a follow-up visit by their American counterparts to St. Petersburg for a continued exchange on the adaptation of historic buildings to new uses. These ideas served as the catalyst for the planning of the workshop.