Personal Statement

Background: Mr. Bluestone is a specialist in nineteenth century American architecture and urbanism. He directs the School's historic preservation program that offers specialized preservation work in a student's field of study as well as courses that scrutinize the general principles and ethics of historic preservation. Mr. Bluestone’s Buildings, Landscapes, and Memory: Case Studies in Historic Preservation (W.W. Norton, 2011) explores the changing history, nature, and politics of historic preservation in the United States between the early 19th century and today. His book Constructing Chicago (1991) was awarded the American Institute of Architects International Book Award and the National Historic Preservation book prize.

Mr. Bluestone teaches courses that survey the methods of site-specific architectural and landscape history and preservation. A highly regarded advocate of community preservation and public history, Mr. Bluestone has worked on numerous building and neighborhood revitalization projects. Working as part of the Historic Chicago Bungalow Initiative he developed the thematic nomination for listing up to 80,000 Chicago bungalows on the National Register of Historic Places, an effort directed at interpreting, preserving, and revitalizing Chicago bungalow neighborhoods. In 2005, working with students from the University of Virginia, he took the lead in the National Register designation the 5000 building Pilsen Historic District in Chicago; built in the late 19th and early 20th century by Chicago’s Bohemian immigrants, Pilsen is now the center of a vital Mexican American community.

In 2007 Mr. Bluestone shared in the National Trust/HUD Secretary's Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation. The award recognized the rehabilitation of the Raymond M. Hilliard Center, a five building Chicago Public Housing Project designed between 1962 and 1966 by renowned modern architect Bertrand Goldberg. Mr. Bluestone conducted the historical research and employed the challenging Category G criterion (for historic properties of less than 50 years old) in obtaining National Register of Historic Places listing for Hilliard. This work made possible the $100 million dollar rehabilitation of the Hilliard Center as a historic renovation directed by the Secretary of the Interior guidelines on rehabilitation and supported by federal tax credits. Mr. Bluestone shared in the 2009 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation/Landmarks Illinois Preservation Award for the Rehabilitation of Pacesetter Gardens, in Riverdale, Illinois, another case of Category G designation that steered considerable resources toward an affordable housing project made possible with historic preservation tax credits. In 2006 Mr. Bluestone was honored among the “C-Ville 20” for his historic preservation work in the Charlottesville region. He was recognized in particular for his leadership of Charlottesville Legal Aid Justice Center’s successful adaptive reuse of the Charles B. Holt Rock House for use as a pro bono legal aid clinic and to develop the Charles B. Holt African American Heritage Path. Mr. Bluestone was awarded the 2011 Virginia Design Medal, making possible a collaboration with the Hanbury, Evans, Wright, Vlattas firm of Norfolk on issues of campus design and historic preservation.

In 2009-2010 the community history workshop joined the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Virginia, and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in charting the history and the future of Belmead-St. Emma-St. Francis located in Powhatan County, Virginia. This richly layered 2,300 acre site includes an 1840s mansion designed by Alexander Jackson Davis for Philip St. George Cocke. The site also has the extraordinary remains of two schools operated between the 1890s and the 1970s to educate African American children modeled on Booker T. Washington’s pedagogical and social vision. The challenge now is to find a future use of the site that respects the history, the land, and projects a sustainable future.