Heritage Ohio Workshop
The Old West End Association will host Heritage Ohio's next Preservation Assessment Workshop on August 4-5 in the Old West End.
The public workshop is on Monday, August 4 at 6 p.m. and will be presented by national preservation expert Professor Emeritus David R. Mertz at the Kent Branch of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library at 3101 Collingwood Boulevard, Toledo. The lecture is open to the public, but seating will be limited. Prof. Mertz will spend Tuesday, August 5 in the Old West End neighborhood, conducting one-on-one building assessments with building owners. Tuesday's activities are closed to the public.
Prof. Mertz will present "Pay Me Now or Pay Me MUCH MORE Later: Helpful Hints on Maintaining Historic Buildings" at Monday's workshop. Prof. Mertz is the former director of Belmont College’s renowned Building Preservation/Restoration program, served four years as Chair of the National Council for Preservation Education, and is a highly-respected lecturer on building pathology and American architectural history. At his presentation he will review common issues that plague old and historic buildings, from the basics of being a good steward and planning your maintenance routine, to spotting water infiltration and masonry issues. Prof. Mertz will instruct building owners on carefully evaluating little problems now before they have the chance to become big problems in the future.
On Tuesday, Prof. Mertz will conduct one-on-one building assessments with Old West End building owners pre-selected by the workshop sponsor, the Old West End Association. He will evaluate the current conditions of each owner’s building and provide advice to address maintenance issues, active deterioration, or future trouble spots. Heritage Ohio staff will follow up on any assessment recommendations or contacts provided during the assessment to insure building owners have clear next steps to address priority actions.
The OWEA recently adopted their 2025-2030 Strategic Plan with a focus on "Prevention as Preservation," so this workshop comes as a timely support to the neighborhood. "Thank you to Heritage Ohio for the sponsorship and partnership in doing this work," Laure Hammond, OWEA President, said. "Looking forward to hearing, learning, and doing the necessary work to make our neighborhood sustainable . . . congratulations to Chuck Madrigal and the entire OWEA Preservation Committee on the monumental achievement."
We invite you to join us in the Old West End for Monday's important and exciting lecture, and are grateful we have the opportunity to learn and share from this nationally-recognized expert.
Heritage Ohio's press release about this event may be found here. Prof. Mertz's bio and lecture agenda may be found here.
For questions regarding this event, please contact the OWEA at OWEA@toledooldwestend.com. Like this event on Facebook to stay alert for any updates.
