Hear a conversation about the importance of architectural history with Amanda Herterich, of Historic Tyler. She offers a peek into the five homes showcased this year in the group’s annual tour.
With eyes set on the horizon, gaze into the future of Historic Tyler, its possible projects and the release of “An Invitation to Preservation,” a coffee-table book that has been a labor of love for the organization.
TRANSCRIPT
LANDESS:
Five historic Tyler homes that have been lovingly preserved are the stars of the annual Historic Tyler on Tour fundraiser this year. I’m Mike Landess. The homes are from the 1890s to the 1970s, and UT Tyler Radio Connects with Historic Tyler Director Amanda Herterich to learn more. A 1970s home is historic? That makes boomers feel old.
HERTERICH:
I imagine it does. Yeah, so the official standard for something to be say, something, an architectural feature or a home to be considered old is 50 years. That’s the threshold. So, we have a 1974 Colonial Ranch on tour. So it’s officially historic this year.
LANDESS:
Well, run through those for me. Tell us about the homes — where they are and their significance, please.
HERTERICH:
Sure. So the oldest home is the Wiley-Kessler House. It’s an 1890 Free Classic Queen Anne. It’s in the Charnwood Historic District, so it’s on Fannin street. Cute little pale pink home, very beautiful. The next one is a 1929 Spanish Colonial Revival, the Childers-Wiggins House. It’s on Dobbs street. We have another Spanish Colonial Revival from 1932, the Solowit House at 1208 South College. The fourth one is the Fry-Bracken House, 405 West 8th St. in the Azalea District. It’s a 1937 Colonial Revival. And then we jump to the 1974 Colonial Ranch, the Faulkner House at 1717 South Chilton.
LANDESS:
Now this year, this will not be, they’re not in such close proximity that you can walk from one to the other.
HERTERICH:
Correct. So last year was kind of a, it was many years in the making, and just kind of the perfect storm to make a walking tour, so that was kind of a one-off and a very special year for the tour. Now, with this year, none of them are probably more than like a mile apart at the longest end, and two or three are within walking distance. But yeah, you probably need to plan on driving to the other ones.
LANDESS:
But that’s probably not so bad. Everybody isn’t all gathered at one spot trying to get in, and it kind of evens it out a little bit, right?
HERTERICH:
Yep correct, so there shouldn’t be, we don’t anticipate any issues with parking. I mean, there’s plenty of on-street parking, so if folks want to walk, bike, drive, yeah, we should be able to accommodate it.
LANDESS:
Now, the event is taking place April 6 and 7 right in the middle of the Totality Tyler’s solar eclipse activities. You’ll get to show off Tyler’s heritage to a whole new group of people, I’m guessing.
HERTERICH:
Correct. So we’re hoping to capitalize on the crowds that’ll be in town. And a lot of folks are making it, you know, a long weekend in Tyler to stay through Monday, and we want to have things for them to do. And so, yeah, we deliberately scheduled the tour to coincide with the total eclipse.
LANDESS:
Thank you. Thank you, Heavens above–
HERTERICH: Correct!
LANDESS: –for making this work for us. Now, when you moved back to Tyler, your family bought an historic home in Charnwood, and I believe that’s Charnwood, right?
HERTERICH: We were, we’re in the brick streets.
LANDESS: Brick streets, that’s what you said. OK, in the brick streets area; will it be on the tour one of these years?
HERTERICH:
Not while two toddlers are living in it.
LANDESS:
What year was that house built?
HERTERICH: It was 1893.
LANDESS: 1893. Oh my goodness.
HERTERICH:
No, I’m not opposed to opening it for the tour, but, you know, when you have two toddlers that are resident.
LANDESS:
Three and four. Right, I totally get that. Also, when we last spoke, you were pretty new on your job. You and your husband have been involved in historic preservation for many years. What’s it been like at the helm of Historic Tyler so far?
HERTERICH:
I’m really enjoying it. Yeah, I mean I feel like this job was a blessing, and it was very much, I believe, suited to it. Hopefully the board feels the same way. No, but I’m liking my time there. I mean I get to promote historic preservation in the Rose City and I convince the public of the benefits of saving historic structures and buildings, and yeah, so for me it was kind of a dream come true.
LANDESS:
Well, and then we have been named one of the most desirable places to live in America. That doesn’t hurt anything in terms of your case about saving and preserving the history of our city. So we’ve said this is the largest fundraiser of the year for Historic Tyler. Tell us about the ticket prices and where you can get them.
HERTERICH:
Sure. So if you are a member of Historic Tyler, you can get the reduced ticket price rate of $15. If you’re a non-member, they’re $25 each. And the tickets, right now, you can purchase them online. So if you go to historictyler.org right at the home page or the landing page, you’ll see the trademark hot pink tour logo sign. Click on that and you can buy your tickets there. Online ticket sales will close Wednesday, April 3 at 5 p.m. After that date, if you want to buy a tour ticket, just go to any of the five homes that are on tour, and we’ll accept cash, check or credit. But all tickets will be $25 on the weekend.
LANDESS:
So, as we wrap up the first quarter of 2024, tell me about goals for Historic Tyler and where things are to achieving them.
HERTERICH:
Sure. So after we wrap up the tour, we are anticipating the coffee table book. It’s called, “An Invitation to Preservation.”
LANDESS:
The annual coffee table book. Now this has been in the works for a while, and I know these things aren’t easy to put together.
HERTERICH:
No, no. So there’s been a considerable amount of hard work and effort over the course of 4 years now, and it’s actually at the printer. Last week it went to the printer.
LANDESS:
Yay.
HERTERICH:
And so, yep, now we’re planning on the binding process and the dust jacket and making it absolutely perfect. So, we will be preparing to launch that, you know, ideally in the next couple of months. So we’ll celebrate that major accomplishment, and then we’ll be kind of looking to identify other preservation projects coming up for the rest of the year. So stay tuned.
LANDESS:
Tell me about some of the items that will be featured in the coffee table book.
HERTERICH:
So there are over 50 homes over the, and it features over 50 homes, historic homes in Tyler throughout five different decades, and it’s really just luxurious photography, great historical writing. I mean it’s going to be over 300 pages, so it’s a substantial production. Yeah, so if you’re wanting to know, you know homes from the late 1800s through the, I believe they cut it off around the late ’60s or so. You have the architectural variety, you have the history and the heritage, you have the rich color photography that illustrates the beautiful interiors of these homes. So it’s a great publication.
LANDESS:
So when will it go on sale, do you suppose, and what’s it going to cost?
HERTERICH:
I will say it’ll go on sale in 2024. I can’t give you an exact date, but we are wrapping up the tail end of it. Price — we have not yet come to a decision exactly, but probably around $100, $125. So somewhere in that vicinity.
LANDESS:
I know that this is such a great effort, and a lot of people have had their hand in it trying to get it going.
HERTERICH: Yeah.
LANDESS: Great Christmas gift for sure.
HERTERICH:
Yes, definitely.
LANDESS:
A substantial Christmas gift. Tell me about Historic Tyler and why it’s important for people to care about it. I think that most people would say, and particularly young people, I mean, it’s sort of like, yeah, it’s an old house. But how do you, how are you going to interest the next generation into coming into the fold of Historic Tyler and supporting it and supporting preservation? What is it that? Do you do? Appearances at high schools or Rotary Club? Or how do you get your word out?
HERTERICH:
Right. So I’m certainly open to any groups or organizations if they want to come and have me speak. I welcome that. So reach out to me. As far as the next generation goes, we actually are recruiting high school students to volunteer with the tour. So they’ll be like docents in the homes or taking ticket payments for us, so they get some exposure to kind of history and preservation in that fashion.
HERTERICH:
And I think you know I often realize that I’ve loved history from a young age, and I get that that’s not most people’s cases. But generally, the older people get, the more that they start getting like, nostalgia sets in, and so they start thinking about the people and places of the past that they used to go.
HERTERICH:
And then history starts becoming something they care more about, especially if those people and places have gone away, right? So for me, if you study history, it helps you understand the world and your place in it. And buildings are an actual tangible link to the past. You know it’s one thing to read about events that happened and people and places, but it’s a whole other thing to physically go into the building itself and kind of experience it. So I’m a big proponent, of course, of preservation, and I’m hoping that you know, if you share that love with the younger generations, they’ll care, too, and you bring them into the tour and let them help out.
LANDESS:
Is there a time in which Historic Tyler will actually start taking on projects, starting to restore specific homes or save them to be restored?
HERTERICH:
So, I won’t say too much, but that’s something I’m currently encouraging the board to consider is brick and mortar preservation. So we’ll see if that’s something that we want to take on. I think it would be great, but in the end, you know, the board will have to decide the direction, and for right now, we’re wrapping up the coffee table book, and so we really want to make sure we get that done and done correctly. And then, once that sort of chapter closes, and we have that done, then we can look to the future as what’s next.
LANDESS:
Thanks for listening to UT Tyler Radio Connects with Historic Tyler Executive Director Amanda Herterich.
(Transcripts are automatically generated and may contain phonetic spellings and other spelling and punctuation errors. Grammar errors contained in the original recording are not typically corrected.)
