Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: dennis.l.erlich@support.com
Subject: RE: Big Suprise
Message-ID: <9509221708.0O2S102@support.com>
References: <43v6vj$m0i@utopia.hacktic.nl>
Organization: L.A. Valley College Public BBS (818)985-7150
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Distribution: world
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 95 17:08:19 -0700
Lines: 136


    * It's amazing what can be done with RPF slave labor. *

              +---------------------------------+

nobody@REPLAY.COM (Anonymous)

>Renovation undoes sins of the '60s
>St. Petersburg Times
>Thursday September 21, 1995
>By Thomas C. Tobin
>
>Had today's urban planners been around in the 1960s to witness a
>major "improvement" of the old Bank of Clearwater Building, they
>might have cringed.
>
>Large concrete panels were bolted into the rare antique brick
>facade. Windows were torn out and filled in with concrete blocks.
>Ceilings were lowered. And two impressive limestone pillars were
>painted white.
>
>The result was a flat-looking, seamless, uniquely '60s building
>that violated most of today's common wisdom when it comes to design
>in a downtown area. Flat facades now are shunned because they
>deaden pedestrian interest. Windows and high ceilings are in.
>Textures like brick and limestone are highlighted, not covered.
>
>In the 1990s, you preserve old buildings, you don't modernize them.
>
>With this in mind, the Church of Scientology, which bought the old
>bank building in 1975, has undone the sins of the '60s during a
>seven-month project that is nearing completion this week.
>
>Large scaffolds came down over the weekend, exposing the result of
>a $750,000 preservation. The building, constructed in 1918, is at
>Cleveland Street and N Fort Harrison Avenue.
>
>Its large open lobby and adjacent conference room will be offered
>to community groups for meetings, social events and public
>displays, church spokesman Brian Anderson said.
>
>The rest of the building houses dining halls and a sprawling new
>kitchen to serve members of the church's Sea Organization or "Sea
>Org." Sea Org members, who did some of the renovation work, are
>church staffers who are seen in large numbers on the streets of
>downtown Clearwater dressed in maritime uniforms. Clearwater is the
>controversial organization's international spiritual headquarters.
>
>The dining rooms will seat about 1,300 Sea Org members for
>family-style meals served three times a day. The building also will
>house a few offices, including the public affairs division headed
>by Anderson.
>
>During a tour of the building this week, long tables in the dining
>halls already were set with blue, white and gold china decorated
>with the Sea Org logo.
>
>Nautical artifacts and memorabilia adorned the walls, a reference
>to 1967, when, according to the church's media guide, Scientology
>founder L. Ron Hubbard "set out to sea with a handful of veteran
>Scientologists to continue his research into the upper levels of
>spiritual awareness and ability."
>
>In the new industrial-sized kitchen, staffers were testing the
>equipment and preparing practice meals. Roasts were browning in the
>ovens, gravies and soups simmered in large vats and lettuce was
>being tossed.
>
>At the front of the building, workers were completing details in
>the lobby, which is flooded with light from tall, paned-glass
>windows that were part of the building's original design.
>
>Reflecting the light is the original marble tile floor, which was
>only partly in place when the renovation began. There were large
>swatches of bare concrete after the bank's original teller windows
>were removed.
>
>To solve the problem, Martha Kras, a staff designer for the church,
>traveled to the quarry in Tennessee where the original tiles had
>been purchased. There, she worked with the quarry to match the
>original color.
>
>Workers also found that the 1960s remodeling had significantly
>damaged the original facade.
>
>"There were only a few pieces of the original architectural
>detailing left," said Carol Stein, another church designer who
>worked on the project.
>
>Materials to match those elements were hard to come by.
>
>Kras traveled to Vermont for granite that would match that found at
>the base of the facade. She went to New Hampshire to match portions
>of the building's crown and cornice.
>
>A Virginia craftsman was hired to make the plaques on the building.
>
>Workers took yellow brick from spots at the rear of the building to
>patch spots on the facade. To make them go farther, many bricks
>were spliced lengthwise and attached to the facade to create the
>effect of a whole brick.
>
>Under the lowered ceiling in the lobby, designers found an
>attractively detailed ceiling. The limestone pillars were cleaned
>and stripped of paint.
>
>Much of the detail was re-created through old photographs of the
>building, Kras said.
>
>Anderson said the church has a track record of restoring its old
>buildings, including its signature building in Clearwater, the Fort
>Harrison Hotel.
>
>The church also wanted to mirror the renovation of the old downtown
>post office, which recently was completed, he said. "We wanted to
>do whatever it would take to return this building as closely as
>possible - within reason - to its original state."
>
>The church did, however, remove one original element - the old
>"Bank of Clearwater" stone header that hovered over the doorway. It
>was donated to the Clearwater Historical Society.
>
>Mike Sanders, a local historian, said it appeared the church was
>willing to spend a significant amount of money to undo the
>"insensitive" changes wrought by the bank.
>
>"I think some integrity went into the building," he said.
>
>The building will open sometime this week and a grand opening will
>be held in October.

            +--------------------------------------+
           Rev. Dennis L Erlich  * * the inFormer * *
      dennis.l.erlich@support.com  +  inForm@primenet.com
                           "tar baby"