Inspiring and teaching attendees to become responsible stewards of older properties is the theme for the sixth annual Restore Omaha Conference, Saturday, March 5, 2011 at Metro’s South Campus at 27th and Q Streets in Omaha, Neb.
Keynote speaker is Rudy Christian, executive director of the Preservation Trades Network in Burbank, Ohio. Christian will expand on the theme by speaking on the importance of building for permanence and sustainability by valuing restoration and honoring the place of the trades in our culture.
”People who are stewards of historic properties care, if they realize that maintaining them requires the same skills as building them in the first place,” said Christian.
While in Omaha, Christian will visit area community colleges to explain the importance of training the next generation of craftsmen.
“The world we live in has, for the most part, has become like living in one giant big-box store. We have become accustomed to our manufactured world and have lost our memory of what the world was like when everything we saw or came in contact with was handmade,” Christian wrote in a Dec. 14, 2010 blog post.
An opening reception at the Ambassador Apartments, a 1928 building designed in a Spanish Colonial Revival style at 111 S. 49th Ave. in Omaha, will take place Friday, March 4 from 7 to 10 p.m. The building’s owners are working to bring the historic property back to its original glory. Attendees will view one of the two-story, 2,800 sq ft penthouse suites and tour several of the planned apartments during the evening. Reception cost is $15. Go to www.amabassadordundee.com and visit the gallery page under amenities for a sneak peek inside the building.
At the Conference, attendees can select from 16 sessions to attend. Topics include historic hardware, lead removal, Bradbury and Bradbury wallpapers, researching the history of your house, rehabilitating historic storefronts, roof restoration and high velocity systems for older buildings along with opportunity to hear about the transformation of a 1901 Colonial Revival home overlooking Omaha’s Hanscom Park and the Opera House in Fremont, Neb. Morning and afternoon breaks, live demonstrations by craftsmen along with a Restoration Jam at the end of the day will allow opportunities to network and to gather ideas and solutions from other restoration-minded property owners and from the 25 businesses and organizations exhibiting at the event.
Cost to attend the March 5 conference is $35. Admission includes the keynote lecture, three educational sessions, lunch, demonstrations and the Restoration Jam reception. Save $10 by registering before February 18. Visit www.restoreomaha.org for full details and registration information. For questions call 402-968-3349 or e-mail Nicole Malone at nmalone@thearchitecturaloffices.com.
The conference is made possible with support from Metropolitan Community College, the Omaha Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, B.G. Peterson Co., the City of Omaha Planning Department, The Reader, The Architectural Offices and a grant from the Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.