There are myriad reasons to save the Burnham House. Unfortunately, there is considerable misinformation surrounding the Burnham House in light of the Central High School Renovation/Expansion. Below please find some Frequently Asked Questions and Answers.
Q: Don't teachers and staff need a place to park their cars?
A: The School Board is doubling the amount of parking spaces that currently exist at Central (even without the Burnham).
Q: I thought that the Burnham house was run down and not worth saving?
A: Absolutely not! See for yourself on the Interior Details page. Photos are very recent, taken by Cary Frye in 2017. The Burnham house was fully occupied and operating at a profit until 2017 when the School Board bought it and everyone was then evicted. The Burnham is in very good condition with many period details intact. The Burnham can be adaptively reused, and yes the building remains historic even if it is not the original use. See repurposing. A grandson (Dodds) of the original owner's family stood up more than once at city council meetings and said that the place was not worth saving because "window air conditioners were falling out of the window". Yes you read that right. It should be clear that Dodd's ancestors relinquished the house in the early 1930s after the depression (before Dodds was born) and the house may be a constant indelible reminder of this loss to the family. It was purchased by the Hursts in the 1930s and they happily owned and profited from the Burnham for the last 80 years until summer 2017. This may give more context as to why Dodd's could care less about the house and is outspoken about it being not worth saving. Too bad the whole city council ate every word of his and decided the mansion was not historic and not worth saving.
Q: Nobody wanted to buy the Burnham so it was a lost cause anyway, no?
A: No. The Burnham was never on the open market. The previous owner offered the School board the option to purchase it, which the school board did in 2016, along with 3 other properties for a total of $1.7 M. The school board purchased with tax dollars these four properties for well over market value. The Burnham was valued at $389,618 by the county assessor.
Q: It's an either/or situation: the High School or the Burnham, yes? We need to tear down the Burnham so Central High School can move forward, right?
A: The high school itself including a very expanded footprint does not impact the Burnham. The school expansion can proceed without disturbing the Burnham. The school board wants to tear the Burnham down so it can provide ~20 more parking spaces. Parking can be moved. There are ways that both the HS and the Burnham can coexist with a little creative thinking and problem solving.
If more parking is needed, parking can go in many other places, and more cheaply, including on lots the School Board already owns or by building up (e.g. a parking garage). The school itself could be built up, not out. Sprawl is 1970s. The School Board didn't have to purchase Burnham. There were so many other options. They could have purchased the clinic on the northeast corner of Lynn and Park, the 1960s apartment buildings at the southeast corner of Lynn and Church, the 1970s apartments west of Burnham (which Green Street Realty purchased this year). Champaign school district owns many acres of land thanks to the prior school board purchase. These acres have restrictions on them and cannot easily be resold. Why not put all of Central Maroons' athletics there rather than spread out all over town? The historic downtown could remain intact and Central students would have one place to go after school.
Q: The Burnham House represents power and privilege, no?
A: The Burnhams were major public servants and benefactors to all citizens in the Champaign community. They gifted the building to house the town's first public library (the Burnham Athenaeum) and public hospital (the Burnham Hospital which was demolished in 2004). Julia Burnham served as secretary of the State Board of Charities, the Champaign public school board, and was also a member of the Champaign Art Club for many years. They gave much to our community.
The Burnham has housed thousands of people over the last 134 years, principally many lower income families, couples, students, artists, and musicians. It has served as a pleasant place to live, close to downtown, schools, and work for many individuals who were not in a position to own their own home. Many residents were evicted when the school board purchased the Burnham in 2017. Rather than housing individuals and families and maintaining the residential feel of the neighborhood, the School Board's plans would reduce the Burnham to asphalt to park a few students' cars.
The house was made by working people with great talent who took pride in that work. Saving Burnham is not about returning the house to the Burnhams. The goal is to put the home to a use that benefits the community--even if only in generating tax revenue, though the potentials are so much larger. These historic buildings have great value for the town with all of the ways in which people in the present and future can put it to use.
However, let's talk about privilege:
Q: Won't it cost too much to renovate the Burnham?
A: The ADA considers historic preservation and "Congress established alternative requirements for properties that cannot be made accessible without "threatening or destroying" their significance."
Q: If Burnham is so historic, why didn't the city (or PACA) put the Burnham on its Historic Preservation list?
A: Any building built by the famous architects Burnham and Root is historic and nationally important. See About Burnham and Root page. Burnham and Root built very few residential homes. Only 10 exist in the world, one of which is Champaign's Burnham House.
Champaign's Historic Preservation Ordinance:
Sec. 37-452. - Purpose.
The purpose and intent of this article is:
(a) To identify properties and provide a mechanism to designate, protect, preserve, and encourage the restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptation for continued use of those properties and structures which represent or reflect the historic, cultural, artistic, social, economic, ethnic, or political heritage of the nation, state, and community. Those properties may also have a special community or aesthetic interest of value to the City of Champaign, or may be representative of an architectural or engineering type inherently valuable for the study of style, period, craftsmanship, method of construction, or use of indigenous materials.
(b) To preserve and expand the supply of adequate, safe, and sanitary housing through the preservation of older residential structures with historic and/or architectural value, and neighborhoods in which such structures are located.
(c) To stabilize and improve the economic vitality and value of designated properties; to promote economic development through the restoration, rehabilitation, and maintenance of historic and architecturally significant structures; and to strengthen the City's tax base.
(d) To preserve and protect the character and vitality of neighborhoods from the adverse effects of development that could detract from or have a negative effect on overall neighborhood character.
(e) To protect and enhance the attractiveness of the City to home buyers, homeowners, residents, tourists, visitors, and shoppers, and thereby support and promote business, commerce, industry, and provide economic benefit to the City.
(f) To foster civic pride in the beauty and noble accomplishments of the past as represented in designated landmarks and districts; and to promote education of the general public concerning the importance of preservation.
(g) To promote and encourage the continued private ownership, maintenance, use of designated properties, and improvements to the maximum extent consistent with the above objectives.
QUESTIONS NEEDING ANSWERS FROM THE SCHOOL BOARD
Q: Don't teachers and staff need a place to park their cars?
A: The School Board is doubling the amount of parking spaces that currently exist at Central (even without the Burnham).
- There are about 110 parking spaces planned and more could be added to the existing space.
- The whole idea to keep Central central was so people do not have to drive to school.
- Few city staff have or expect their own parking space. Carle staff take a shuttle from a peripheral lot. UIUC faculty have no designated parking unless they pay considerably for it.
- Bus service is excellent in C-U.
- Walking and biking is healthy for all.
- The general trend is toward increased walkability and reduced urban blight in the form of asphalt deserts. Many progressive cities are moving that way after realizing their negative effects of parking lots on their cities and downtowns.
- Empty lots in downtown Champaign do not enhance our community. Ask your high school sons or daughters what teenagers do in parking lots.
Q: I thought that the Burnham house was run down and not worth saving?
A: Absolutely not! See for yourself on the Interior Details page. Photos are very recent, taken by Cary Frye in 2017. The Burnham house was fully occupied and operating at a profit until 2017 when the School Board bought it and everyone was then evicted. The Burnham is in very good condition with many period details intact. The Burnham can be adaptively reused, and yes the building remains historic even if it is not the original use. See repurposing. A grandson (Dodds) of the original owner's family stood up more than once at city council meetings and said that the place was not worth saving because "window air conditioners were falling out of the window". Yes you read that right. It should be clear that Dodd's ancestors relinquished the house in the early 1930s after the depression (before Dodds was born) and the house may be a constant indelible reminder of this loss to the family. It was purchased by the Hursts in the 1930s and they happily owned and profited from the Burnham for the last 80 years until summer 2017. This may give more context as to why Dodd's could care less about the house and is outspoken about it being not worth saving. Too bad the whole city council ate every word of his and decided the mansion was not historic and not worth saving.
Q: Nobody wanted to buy the Burnham so it was a lost cause anyway, no?
A: No. The Burnham was never on the open market. The previous owner offered the School board the option to purchase it, which the school board did in 2016, along with 3 other properties for a total of $1.7 M. The school board purchased with tax dollars these four properties for well over market value. The Burnham was valued at $389,618 by the county assessor.
Q: It's an either/or situation: the High School or the Burnham, yes? We need to tear down the Burnham so Central High School can move forward, right?
A: The high school itself including a very expanded footprint does not impact the Burnham. The school expansion can proceed without disturbing the Burnham. The school board wants to tear the Burnham down so it can provide ~20 more parking spaces. Parking can be moved. There are ways that both the HS and the Burnham can coexist with a little creative thinking and problem solving.
If more parking is needed, parking can go in many other places, and more cheaply, including on lots the School Board already owns or by building up (e.g. a parking garage). The school itself could be built up, not out. Sprawl is 1970s. The School Board didn't have to purchase Burnham. There were so many other options. They could have purchased the clinic on the northeast corner of Lynn and Park, the 1960s apartment buildings at the southeast corner of Lynn and Church, the 1970s apartments west of Burnham (which Green Street Realty purchased this year). Champaign school district owns many acres of land thanks to the prior school board purchase. These acres have restrictions on them and cannot easily be resold. Why not put all of Central Maroons' athletics there rather than spread out all over town? The historic downtown could remain intact and Central students would have one place to go after school.
Q: The Burnham House represents power and privilege, no?
A: The Burnhams were major public servants and benefactors to all citizens in the Champaign community. They gifted the building to house the town's first public library (the Burnham Athenaeum) and public hospital (the Burnham Hospital which was demolished in 2004). Julia Burnham served as secretary of the State Board of Charities, the Champaign public school board, and was also a member of the Champaign Art Club for many years. They gave much to our community.
The Burnham has housed thousands of people over the last 134 years, principally many lower income families, couples, students, artists, and musicians. It has served as a pleasant place to live, close to downtown, schools, and work for many individuals who were not in a position to own their own home. Many residents were evicted when the school board purchased the Burnham in 2017. Rather than housing individuals and families and maintaining the residential feel of the neighborhood, the School Board's plans would reduce the Burnham to asphalt to park a few students' cars.
The house was made by working people with great talent who took pride in that work. Saving Burnham is not about returning the house to the Burnhams. The goal is to put the home to a use that benefits the community--even if only in generating tax revenue, though the potentials are so much larger. These historic buildings have great value for the town with all of the ways in which people in the present and future can put it to use.
However, let's talk about privilege:
- "It is a view from the great heights of privilege that the fabric of the school’s neighborhood are incidental. And eventually it may backfire."
- The school board wants to provide parking for every single teacher/staff who works at Central. This is a school in the center of the city. Many faculty and staff do not drive to school and many more do are only on campus briefly. There is no need for every person to have their own parking spot. Carle + UIUC certainly do not have that. That is for the very privileged and comes at very great cost to the very historical downtown Champaign neighborhood.
- The sports fields planned for Spalding Park include a baseball field, tennis courts, and a swimming facility. Basketball courts frequently in use by the neighborhood will be removed to make way for these HS sports facilities. Moreover, these HS facilities come at a cost to North Champaign's very few and most accessible green spaces. Other neighborhoods e.g. around South Side School rejected plans because the neighborhood did not want the noise, lights, and cars. Was Spalding neighborhood consulted and are they in favor of these plans? Will these facilities be open to all?
Q: Won't it cost too much to renovate the Burnham?
A: The ADA considers historic preservation and "Congress established alternative requirements for properties that cannot be made accessible without "threatening or destroying" their significance."
- If the school board is not interested in using the Burnham for classrooms or office space or to teach High School students useful life skills like a shop class in carpentry, woodworking, restoration, etc, then sell it. NO costs would be born by tax payers. The School Board could use the proceeds to offset other costs.
- In contrast, demolishing the Burnham would cost taxpayers about 1 million dollars (and up to about 3 million dollars when demolition of the Captain Bailey house and the old YMCA across the street is included). This is in addition to the millions already spent (and overspent) on purchasing these buildings. e.g. The School Board purchased the old YMCA for $1.2 million over market value.
- Added to the cost to the community, are landfill costs, road wear costs transporting demolition materials from the site and bringing new materials to the site, and costs in terms of traffic jams and detours while demolition is underway. Then add in costs to build the extended parking lot.
- Until the school board bought it, the Burnham provided considerable property taxes to the city of Champaign over the years. The city loses any and all property taxes from the Burnham in its new role as a parking lot.
Q: If Burnham is so historic, why didn't the city (or PACA) put the Burnham on its Historic Preservation list?
A: Any building built by the famous architects Burnham and Root is historic and nationally important. See About Burnham and Root page. Burnham and Root built very few residential homes. Only 10 exist in the world, one of which is Champaign's Burnham House.
- The Burnham House is recognized on the Heitzman Survey of notable historic buildings in Champaign Urbana. According to the survey, the 300-1200 blocks of West Church Street contain the most historic homes and buildings in the whole of Champaign and Urbana. This is an highly historic neighborhood.
- Champaign has been remiss in following its own ordinance to inventory the historic properties as required under Federal law as a Certified Local Government (CLG). That is not the Historic Preservation Commission's duty, but the city's. Virtually every Burnham designed building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Champaign's Historic Preservation Ordinance:
Sec. 37-452. - Purpose.
The purpose and intent of this article is:
(a) To identify properties and provide a mechanism to designate, protect, preserve, and encourage the restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptation for continued use of those properties and structures which represent or reflect the historic, cultural, artistic, social, economic, ethnic, or political heritage of the nation, state, and community. Those properties may also have a special community or aesthetic interest of value to the City of Champaign, or may be representative of an architectural or engineering type inherently valuable for the study of style, period, craftsmanship, method of construction, or use of indigenous materials.
(b) To preserve and expand the supply of adequate, safe, and sanitary housing through the preservation of older residential structures with historic and/or architectural value, and neighborhoods in which such structures are located.
(c) To stabilize and improve the economic vitality and value of designated properties; to promote economic development through the restoration, rehabilitation, and maintenance of historic and architecturally significant structures; and to strengthen the City's tax base.
(d) To preserve and protect the character and vitality of neighborhoods from the adverse effects of development that could detract from or have a negative effect on overall neighborhood character.
(e) To protect and enhance the attractiveness of the City to home buyers, homeowners, residents, tourists, visitors, and shoppers, and thereby support and promote business, commerce, industry, and provide economic benefit to the City.
(f) To foster civic pride in the beauty and noble accomplishments of the past as represented in designated landmarks and districts; and to promote education of the general public concerning the importance of preservation.
(g) To promote and encourage the continued private ownership, maintenance, use of designated properties, and improvements to the maximum extent consistent with the above objectives.
QUESTIONS NEEDING ANSWERS FROM THE SCHOOL BOARD
- Why when Landmarks Illinois informed the School Board back in April 2016 about the historic nature of the school, houses, and entire neighborhood would the School Board still pursue purchasing them?
- Why did the School Board chose to purchase the Burnham Mansion and the three other buildings on that property for $1,745,461 (for $700,000 more than its market value)?
- After spending so much, why is it that the only use that the School Board has for that property is a parking lot?
- If Central HS needs more parking, why are non-historic properties not purchased elsewhere in the neighborhood instead of wasting $1.7 million on buildings only to demolish them?
- Why doesn't the School Board understand the benefits of historic preservation and how it can benefit students instead of demolition? and a parking lot?
- Why did the city, whose duty it is under national law and their own historic preservation ordinance to inventory properties for historic importance, fail to do so for these properties?