Judge: NPS Didn’t Follow Law On Cyclorama Center Decision
GETTYSBURG, Pa. — The March 31 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas F. Hogan that the National Park Service (NPS) didn’t follow federal environmental regulations when it decided to demolish the Cyclorama Center isn’t necessarily the end of the matter.
Gettysburg National Military Park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said the NPS is consulting with the Department of Justice about its options. The park’s interpretation, according to its April 15 Operational Update, is that “the NPS prevailed on the National Historic Preservation Act issues, but did not prevail entirely on issues related to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).” The statement continued, “At issue was whether the National Park Service had followed policies in its decision to demolish the Cyclorama Center at Gettysburg National Military Park (NMP), in favor of rehabilitating the historic landscapes of the battle line of the Union Army on Cemetery Ridge.” Prominent architect Richard Neutra designed the 1962 Cyclorama Center. His son, Dion, who worked on the project, was one of the plaintiffs with the Recent Past Preservation Network (RPPN) in the suit. RPPN is a volunteer non-profit that aims to preserve architecture that is less than 50 years old. RPPN President Devin A. Colman said his group was pleased with the ruling. “We are hoping that the park service won’t try to appeal the ruling, not because we fear that we might lose an appeal, but because we are ready to move on and resolve the situation.” Colman noted that two federal judges have now ruled that the park service did not consider alternatives when it decided to demolish the Cyclorama Center, something it intended to do in 2008. “We don’t see the situation as an us against them,” Colman said. “We want to work with the park service and find a solution to the problem that suits everyone’s goals and needs.” Relocation of the building is an option. He said, “We’ve had a building mover look at it and say yes it can be done.” Last year two Gettysburg businessmen offered sites for the building. “We are hoping it will come to a resolution before the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War and the Gettysburg Address,” said Colman. If the park service follows environmental review requirements it could demolish the building which is on the Ziegler’s Grove part of the battlefield the park intends to replant as fields. The former visitor center adjacent to the Cyclorama Center, which housed the Gettysburg Cyclorama painting, was demolished last year. Writing in the December 2001 Civil War News Preservation News column, Dion Neutra pointed out the NPS chose the Cyclorama Center site because it would “facilitate interpretation and appreciation of the importance of this spot on the battlefield to the war.” The building was sited in such a way that after seeing the painting visitors could go to the observation terrace and see the same landscape as in the painting. Neutra wrote: “To say that [building] removal would restore this scene to Civil War days is rank cynicism. No one seriously plans to remove the myriad of other monuments that have sprung up, nor the adjacent highway with its motels in plain view, or the many park roads that allow movement around the area.” Neutra recently told The Philadelphia Inquirer his father had a broader vision than commemorating the battle. He wanted the building to commemorate the Gettysburg Address and reconciliation, as Lincoln tried to do in his 1863 speech. That view was rebutted in a June 27, 2004, Los Angeles Times article quoting then superintendent John A. Latschar saying the park administration never embraced Richard Neutra’s vision. “Mr. Neutra had the idea that this would be his monument to Lincoln and freedom and all that stuff,” he said. “The problem is, he never listened to his clients, because we did not want a monument, we wanted a functional building. And, as a result, we got neither.” The Cyclorama Center was one of 100 modern visitor centers built as part of Mission 66, a 10-year program to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Park Service in 1966. It cost $1 million and opened in 1962 for the Civil War Centennial. The building, a large, drum-shaped mass of concrete that housed the 19th century Cyclorama painting of the battle of Gettysburg, “was their show piece,” Devin Colman told CWN in a 1995 interview. It was Neutra’s only federal commission, according to Colman, and his only public building east of the Mississippi. “Neutra considered this building one of the highlights of his career.”
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