Ellen Uguccioni – Fighting for Historic Preservation
Ellen Uguccioni, an early fighter in the historic preservation movement, served as a Florida Trust trustee during the exciting mid-1980s. During her tenure, the Florida Trust was deeded the 1910 Queen Anne Victorian Hays Hood House, a much-needed command post in the capital city. She and fellow trustees were building a state organization with the political clout in the legislature necessary to raise awareness of historic preservation. She was made a Trustee Emerita in 2013.
Uguccioni said she believes “the never-ending battle to preserve our remarkable historic treasures depends on our ability to innovate, legislate and educate others as to its value based on a continuing reappraisal of history.”
Uguccioni had a parallel career in historic preservation while serving 21 years in the Marine Corps, predominantly as a Reserve Officer, and retired with the terminal rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In the preservation field, she held positions as Historic Preservation
Officer for the cities of Coral Gables and Miami and consulted for the Cities of Ft. Lauderdale and Sunny Isles Beach, among others. In 1995, Uguccioni moved into academia, lecturing at the University of Miami’s School of Architecture for ten years. At the start of each semester, she paraphrased Victorian Renaissance man John Ruskin — saying “When we build we build forever,” inspiring her students to embrace adaptive use. Appointed by both the Secretary of State and the Governor to the Florida Historical Preservation Commission, Uguccioni served as the Architectural Historian member for 12 years.
Her preservation journey began as she studied art and architecture at both University of Hartford and University of Missouri at Kansas City, where she earned a B.A. in 1972 and master’s degree in 1982. While in grad school her professor assigned her the task of cataloguing rolls and rolls of parchment and linen architectural drawings. The collection was from the firm of Van Brunt and Howe, late 19th century architects who relocated to Kansas City, Missouri from Boston in 1887, and designed major commissions including railroad stations, hotels, commercial buildings and civic monuments. She would unravel a given scroll to reveal a beautiful, full-scale drawing of a chandelier in color. Uguccioni was spellbound – and historic preservation became her calling.
An early opportunity to provide input on Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act led to a career-long practice writing historic preservation ordinances. For Uguccioni the questions were how much and what can an ordinance enforce on a private property? She said she felt there was a real prejudice against historic preservation at that time. The scholarship was young and preservationists were finding their way in the late 1960s and 1970s.
When Uguccioni was hired as the City of Coral Gables historic preservation officer in 1983, she was in the right place at the right time, embarking on a love affair with the Biltmore Hotel one year later. The City of Coral Gables owned the decaying monolith and wanted to be rid of it. Saved from demolition by just one vote in the city commission meeting, developers committed 28 million dollars to rehabilitate and retrofit the structure. Uguccioni was on-site daily in her official role to witness the transformation. The project earned a Certificate of Occupancy just in time to receive the 25% Federal Tax Credit before it decreased, though you wouldn’t have found faucets in all the rooms. This experience culminated in “The Biltmore Hotel: An Enduring Legacy,” one of multiple books Uguccioni authored.
The Biltmore Hotel resurrection remains the highlight of Uguccioni career, yet she’s most proud of establishing the first municipal historic preservation department in the country. Focused on the need to save Coral Gables historic places, she knew preservation had an important role to play in large City projects. Historic preservation needed to be integrated into the municipal governance structure. She pushed for her three-person section of the planning department to become its own department. The city manager pushed back. Local support rallied and Uguccioni prevailed.
Though now retired in Mystic, Connecticut, Uguccioni hasn’t veered from her mission. Her focus has shifted to colonial and 19th century architecture while she serves on the New London Landmarks Board of Directors. She continues to carry the preservation banner in her community, knowing the battle never ends to educate others on historic preservation.
Thank you, Ellen!