1923 Viesko/Neahring House Local Landmark 2016 December 22, 2016 Episode.
Rick Neahring, owner of the historic Viesko/Neahring, talked with us about his passion for the history of his home. He remembers passing this house on his daily commute and thinking how much he liked its style and the surrounding neighborhood. When he saw the For Sale sign go up, he made a point to tour the home and ended up purchasing it almost immediately. The longer he has lived in the home, the more passionate he became about knowing more about the former owners. He became acquainted with Christy Van Heukelem and her research business, and this interest to know more about the former owners took on a life of its own.
Rick Neahring, owner of the historic Viesko/Neahring, talked with us about his passion for the history of his home. He remembers passing this house on his daily commute and thinking how much he liked its style and the surrounding neighborhood. When he saw the For Sale sign go up, he made a point to tour the home and ended up purchasing it almost immediately. The longer he has lived in the home, the more passionate he became about knowing more about the former owners. He became acquainted with Christy Van Heukelem and her research business, and this interest to know more about the former owners took on a life of its own.
Kimberli appearing before City Council Kimberli Fitzgerald, Salem's Historic Preservation Officer and our former co-host, joined in the discussion to tell us more about the Local Historic Landmark program, the benefits and responsibilities of owning a designated resource, and outlining the designation process. One of the major perks of such designation are the financial incentive programs available to help you maintain the resource. She advised that a building can be considered historic for one of several criteria: its architectural significance, in that it's a significant example of a particular architectural style; its human significance, in that it's associated historically with people or organizations who contributed to the local community; or it cultural significance, in that it has contributed to the historic character of the neighborhood, district or city.
Christy submitting the Nomination Application Christy provided us with a summary of Mr. Viesko's contributions to the public building inventory in Salem. She also described the steps she used to obtain the information need to complete the City's application for designation, and remarked that City staff were always available to help point her in the right direction to obtain whatever documentation was required. She advised that the designation process for Rick's house is very near completion. Within the next few weeks, the Salem City Council will hold a public hearing to gather input on the proposed ordinance that designates the Viesko/Neahring house as a Local Landmark. If approved, the home will be designated in statute. [Note: The City Council officially approved his nomination application by time of this publication.]
Rick Neahring speaking to the Historic Landmarks Commission Rick remarked that he did not begin this journey with the goal of designation; it just followed a natural progression. His hope is that by designating his home as a local historic landmark, other property owners within his neighborhood might begin the research into the stories of their even grander homes. Most likely this research will reveal that their former owners were just as important to Salem's history as was Ed Viesko, the builder and owner of his home. For a list of Mr. Viesko's Salem projects, click here.
Salem was built through the foresight and hard work of many, many people, just working to support their families and building a community that could sustain them. There are those historic figures whom the public has officially recognized for their contributions to this effort, but there are so many other significant contibutions made by everyday folks just doing their jobs that will most likelly never be properly recognized. Let's hope that we discover even more of these everyday heroes as we continue to learn more about those who went before us.
Salem was built through the foresight and hard work of many, many people, just working to support their families and building a community that could sustain them. There are those historic figures whom the public has officially recognized for their contributions to this effort, but there are so many other significant contibutions made by everyday folks just doing their jobs that will most likelly never be properly recognized. Let's hope that we discover even more of these everyday heroes as we continue to learn more about those who went before us.
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