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Transcript

Episode 27: Samantha Bosshart (Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation) · Buying Local Podcast

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  The superpower that every citizen has is the ability to
• 0:02
  control where they spend their time, money and attention by
• 0:06
  focusing these on supporting local businesses who are having
• 0:09
  a profound impact on your friends, your family, and your
• 0:12
  local community. So if you want to change the
• 0:14
  world, you can start with buying local.
• 0:21
  Welcome everyone to buying local Saratoga.
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  I'm your host Mike Nelson here with Samantha Bosshart.
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  From Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, thank
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  you for joining us. Thank you for having.
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  Us. Yeah, absolutely.
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  I should. Say, well, you're a
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  representative of a group, correct?
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  Is that fair? And so why don't actually, why
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  don't you kind of give us a quick rundown of what the
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  foundation does? The Saratoga Springs
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  Preservation Foundation was founded in 1977 and our mission
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  is to preserve and enhance the architectural and cultural
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  landscape heritage of Saratoga Springs and we do that through
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  advocacy, education, technical assistance and restoration.
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  That sounds like a lot. We do a lot for a small organ,
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  small staffed organization. How?
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  Many are you. We are myself included A2.
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  Two full time staff and a part time administrative assistant.
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  OK. And and and I do know that you
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  do a lot of things, so why don't what kind of, you know, give us
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  the rundown of all the great work you're doing in town?
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  Well, one of the things that one of the biggest things we have
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  going right now is in, which is actually underway for those of
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  you who want to drive by is our rehabilitation project at 65
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  Fila St. That house was.
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  Endangered and was listed on our endangered list since 1998 and
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  and and it's been on that list since 1998 and then eventually
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  the owners sought to demolish that building along with the
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  building next door at 69 Fila St.
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  We oppose that demolition and we were able to acquire the
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  property two years ago and due to.
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  COVID construction, you know, challenges with availability of
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  contractors and supplies, we really hadn't been able to get
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  the work going until just recently with the break in the
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  spring weather and so. We are actively doing work.
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  Yeah, it's, it's interesting. I think I was actually when I
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  moved into the area was either 97 or 98 and I lived right at
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  the corner of Circular and Fila right now.
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  So you're familiar with the? Property familiar.
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  Yeah. I used to walk by it all the
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  time way back in the day there and really interesting just
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  following that whole story and and reading about, you know,
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  knowing that it was going to be demolished and then you guys
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  stepped in. What I'm not sure that everyone
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  understands though like what is your.
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  Objective with those properties like what's the end goal?
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  Well, 65 Fila and 69 Fila both represent a period of time in
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  our history. They were both built in 1851,
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  which is relatively early in the city's development. 65 Fila St.
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  was in the same family, the Alexander a Patterson family.
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  He actually owned a Spring. And had a large building for his
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  spring at the corner of Fila and Putnam where the parking garage
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  is today. And that's where Patterson had a
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  building. So he had a connection to the
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  city Springs and our development of the city and that family
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  lived in 65 Fila for 90 years. And then it became a Jewish
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  boarding house. And so it's sort of as
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  representative of a different time and you know.
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  So we felt it was important for that reason, but we also felt it
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  was important to preserve the buildings because the prior
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  owners had essentially did demolition by neglect.
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  And we didn't feel that that should be rewarded.
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  And we felt that it was important that the buildings be
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  preserved at the heart of our downtown.
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  And so we own 65 Fila St. a young couple purchased 69 Fila
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  St. And they are going to be
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  beginning their rehabilitation project in the near future, and
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  they plan to raise their family there.
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  Oh wow. That's awesome.
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  So we will have two buildings that have been long neglected,
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  looking beautiful, hopefully by the end of this calendar year.
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  Yeah, and what and what will you do with 65?
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  So our goal is, and we've been fundraising for it, is to help
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  underwrite the cost of the rehabilitation we're going to
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  do. We have done.
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  In environmental abatement, we're doing some structural
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  repairs and then we're going to do a complete exterior
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  restoration. We are not going to do the
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  interior that is going to be we're going to sell the property
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  to somebody that we hope will be a good steward to the home, but
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  allow them the freedom to decide what they want to do on the
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  interior. And so our goal is to sell it.
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  And hopefully any net proceeds that we make, we'll go into a
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  future preservation project here in the city.
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  That's great. Yeah.
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  So we're excited about it. Now, has the foundation done
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  projects like this in other parts of the city?
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  We have. It's been a very long time since
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  we've done one. We were involved with 117 Grand
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  Ave. It was the former DNH railroad
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  station most of people would maybe think of it being sort of
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  Kitty corner from. West Side Stadium and we also in
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  the early 80s, one of the row houses on Clinton St. the number
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  5, the sidewall was going to collapse and the city was going
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  to demolish that last one on Clinton row house in the city,
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  the foundation acquired it from the city for not very much
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  money. Perhaps a dollar.
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  Apologize. I don't have that number right
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  off the top of my head. And we did a similar thing.
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  Yeah, that's very good. So we've done it before.
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  We just haven't done it very often.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  It's not your primary methodology of preserving
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  Saratoga, you would say. No, but we I think when we have
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  an opportunity to step in, we have we've done other
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  restoration projects like one of our most visible ones was the
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  partnership to restore the spirit of life.
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  And Spencer Trust Memorial in Congress Park which was a five
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  year project and a three quarter of $1,000,000 project that that
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  we did with the city and we've have helped the First Baptist
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  Church on Washington Street raise funds to restore their
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  most endangered stained glass windows.
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  So those are just more of the more recent like restoration
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  quote projects we've been involved with.
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  But this is the first building that we've owned in some time.
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  Yeah. And.
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  And so how does that work with just something I always wonder,
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  right? Like, you know, do you guys just
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  kind of sit around waiting for something cool to come along?
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  You know what I mean? Like, how does that happen where
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  all of a sudden you're like, hey, we're going to go help
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  rescue these stained glass windows or we're going to help
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  rescue this monument or we're going to rescue this house?
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  Like, how does that work for you?
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  Well, for example, with the spirit of life.
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  Many of you may remember it had these very tall white Pines that
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  stood as a backdrop to the spirit of life, and several
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  concerned citizens came forward with the fear that those trees
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  could possibly, because of their condition, fall on the spirit of
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  life in the memorial and do irreparable damage.
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  And so we stepped in, and we decided to.
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  To assess the trees and assess the sculpture and its
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  architectural surround and landscape.
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  And from there it ballooned into a very large project, but one
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  that's been it's been my most gratifying project out of all.
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  Of the things we've done, although who knows, maybe after
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  65 file I'll change my mind. But so that was one where you
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  know people came to us again with First Baptist Church.
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  They're very small congregation. They reached out to us for some
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  assistance or guidance I would say and we decided, you know we
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  could potentially help them secure a grant at which which we
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  did two grants as well as. Do some fund raising efforts
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  ourselves and so we've been a partner with them on that
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  project. Gotcha.
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  What a great thing that you get to kind of do some of this stuff
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  right, Like must be a very fulfilling and rewarding job.
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  I love my job. You have to say I love my job.
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  It's different. No day is the same, you know.
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  Just this week I was hauling windows out of a building to get
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  them loaded to go to a, to get restored to.
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  Speaking out this week, I'll be speaking in a planning board
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  meeting. So, you know, I do a little bit
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  of everything, yeah. Yeah, for sure.
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  What's now, I know that you, you have an event coming up.
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  Yes, yes. Tell us a little bit about that.
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  So our largest annual fundraiser is the Historic Homes Tour and
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  that takes place on Saturday of Mother's Day weekend and it is
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  an opportunity for people to see the interior of private homes
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  that they otherwise would not be able to see.
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  And this year we have a nice array of houses and a couple of
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  buildings, I guess you would say, to highlight.
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  Okay. And so is it a surprise of what
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  buildings are on the list or? I could.
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  I could actually share. Well, and I just and I and I
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  would ask you know like so like how does that happen like do you
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  is it like? I don't want to spoil you.
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  Tell us how does it? How does it go down?
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  How does it go down? Well, we we try to target an
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  area in in the city. So this year we're again
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  focusing at the east side neighborhood and we try to
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  identify an area that will be walkable ideally and we often
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  are in the enviable position of approaching homeowners to see if
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  they are willing to open their home to benefit.
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  Our organization and to help underwrite our mission.
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  OK, that sounds you have to be quite brave I would imagine to
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  approach strangers and ask them like can we come in here like,
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  is that, is that a comfortable process?
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  Well, I think often times either somebody on our board or
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  somebody we know we or we may even know the owner, there's a
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  connection there. There have been times when we've
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  asked homeowners that we do not know and.
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  And sometimes you just have to be prepared for rejection.
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  But overall, I don't think I've ever had a homeowner that was
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  disappointed or frustrated or not happy they did it.
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  They're a little stressed before the tour because they're
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  thinking of all the things that they want to get done, but
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  they're always sort of happy when they've gotten everything
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  that they've been wanting to do for a long time.
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  But this was the motivation to get it done, and it's done right
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  before the summer season. And so people actually
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  ultimately are very happy with it.
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  Very nice. And And does everyone go as a
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  group for the tour or is it like there's a list and you kind of
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  go through at your leisure? How does that work?
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  It's the second you have a ticket.
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  We have three different starting point tickets where we have
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  different starting points just so not everybody goes to the
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  same house at the same time. And you're encouraged to follow
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  that route. But if you want to go into your
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  own route, we do not. You can do that on your own and
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  you can do it at your own pace and and just take in what you
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  want. Like if some people want to go
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  through the houses slowly and take it all in while other
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  people kind of zip through and just want to peek and move on,
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  you can do it either way. And and how do you choose the
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  houses? Part of the building, say, Is it
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  architecturally based? Is it historically based?
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  I mean, I would say both architecturally.
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  I'm this year's tour, we have a really great diversity of what's
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  being featured. We have some homes that were
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  built in the early 1850s that have actually changed over time,
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  which is pretty common with some of the houses in Saratoga.
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  Then we have some beautiful Queen Anne's.
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  And we have the stone. We have a condo and the Stone
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  Abbey, which is the former church at the corner of Caroline
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  and Circular St. OK with it, features some
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  beautiful stained glass window. Building, that is, I'm not
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  driven by it a zillion times. So this is your opportunity to
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  see one of the. Condos see like what it looks
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  like inside, cuz I've always wondered if it's.
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  Just, I mean this is just one condo and years past we've had
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  other condos. So this this is the first time
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  this condo. During my tenure, which is is a
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  bit long, has ever been featured, so we're excited about
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  that. We have Circular Manor Bed and
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  Breakfast, which is Kitty corner or Catty corner depending on
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  what part of the country you're from, which is a beautiful Queen
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  Anne. And a lot of people have always
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  wondered what the guest rooms and what that house looks like
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  from the inside and several other fantastic houses.
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  That's awesome. So we should probably tell
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  people where they can find more information, buy tickets, all
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  that fun stuff. Oh yeah, we So you can buy
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  tickets on our website, which is Saratoga preservation.org.
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  You can call our office, which is 518-587-5030.
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  If you buy your tickets before the day of the event, which is
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  Saturday, May 13th, you get a discount.
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  If you're a member or you become a member, you get a discount.
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  The tickets are $35 if you're a member and $45 if you're not a
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  member before the tour and then the day of the tour they're $40
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  and $50.00 for members and non members.
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  And if you become a member you can buy several tickets and get
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  that discount. Very nice and and so become a
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  member. What?
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  What does membership look like? You can join as an individual
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  for as little as $35, and with that you get discounts to not
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  only this event, but to our summer Sunday strolls, which
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  throughout the summer we have tours every Sunday of different
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  areas of the city. Like guided tours?
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  Yeah. Oh, that's so cool.
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  I had no idea. Yeah.
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  Guided walking tours We do lots. Yeah, well, I mean, I did know
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  that, but that you do a lot. But I didn't know that you did
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  like guided tours. That's really cool.
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  Yeah, so we so and then let's see you get invitations to
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  members only events if you become a member as as well as
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  you're just helping to support our mission and help us to be a
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  strong voice for preserving what our great community.
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  Yeah, that's amazing. And you're on social media, I
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  would imagine. Yes, but one thing I want to say
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  about the house tour is it's a great Mother's Day gift.
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  Oh. I haven't met a mom that doesn't
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  like to go through and see some great interiors of some
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  historical. You know, that's a really good
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  sell right there, Samantha, because I hadn't thought about
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  that being the day before Mother's Day.
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  So, so and it's a great activity to do with your mom or buy her a
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  ticket and a friend of hers a ticket and send them on their
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  way. Very.
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  Good or go with them. I well, I know.
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  Yeah, that's that's also obviously an option.
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  Depends on who you are. That's that's right.
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  That's right. Or if they even want you to go
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  with them from. That I was just giving options.
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  I was just giving options. And then we have actually two
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  other programs that day. We have a lunch and learn where
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  Charlie Kunzel's going to speak about the history of Madame
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  Jamal. Charlie's great and he's such a
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  great presenter and we're always so fortunate to have him speak
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  for us. And so he's going to do that.
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  Presentation at Cafe Lena. And then we have a breakfast,
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  breakfast and buildings program with Carol Gadette and she's
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  going to talk about the history of the headquarters of Death
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  Wish Coffee, which is a really cool space.
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  It was has a really interesting history and I would encourage
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  people to check that out. But we serve breakfast and lunch
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  with both of those programs and so.
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  But those those have limited capacity, so if people are
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  interested right, they better check it out soon.
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  Get while the getting's good. Right, that's right.
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  I feel like I missed something. Do we miss something?
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  You've got the 13th, we've. Got that?
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  All the great stuff that you do around the community.
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  We got that. I'm now super excited to know
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  that you do guided tours because I think that's really cool.
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  Yeah, and we couldn't do. We couldn't do the house tour or
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  our We do our summer Sunday strolls every Sunday at 10:00 AM
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  and like I said, we do a different neighborhood each
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  Sunday. And and rain or shine or.
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  Typically, unless it's like a downpour where there's
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  lightning, we will not be doing a tour then.
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  But we do them from our tour. First tour is Sunday, June 11th
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  and it will run through Labor Day.
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  Awesome. Yeah, that's amazing.
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  Well, thank you so much for coming in.
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  Well, thank you. I appreciate it and appreciate.
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  You having us? Yeah, absolutely.
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  And if you're listening to this, you know, make sure you get
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  tickets or even better, sign up for membership.
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  Or do both. Or do both.
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  That's right. And you can always find
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  this@saratogabusinessreport.com and saratogatoday.com in the
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  podcast section. And thanks everybody for
• 18:24
  listening. Thank you.
• 18:26
  Thank you. The superpower that every
• 18:28
  citizen has is the ability to control where they spend their
• 18:31
  time, money and attention by focusing these on supporting
• 18:34
  local businesses who are having a profound impact on your
• 18:38
  friends, your family and your local community.
• 18:41
  So if you want to change the world, you can start with buying
• 18:44
  local.