Americans preserve old buildings mostly when the pursuit is lucrative, and they often lament the lost opportunities.
"
We’re seemingly unwilling to accept that a building can be historic in a local context or because of its architecture rather than because someone important slept there 150 years ago.
So we shouldn’t be surprised that the annual report from the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation says that the top threat to historic preservation in our country today is the trendy practice of tearing down existing homes to replace them with McMansions.
"The practice of purchasing and demolishing an existing house to make way for a huge new house on the same site is, in my opinion, the single biggest threat to America’s older neighborhoods since the heyday of urban renewal and interstate highway construction during the 1950s and 1960s," wrote Richard Moe, president of the national group that promotes historic preservation.
"When the trust named ‘Teardowns in Historic Neighborhoods’ to its list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2002, we had identified 100 communities in 20 states that were losing their historic character to teardowns," Moe wrote. "Today, by comparison, more than 300 communities in 33 states are affected. The National Association of Home Builders says a whopping 75,000 houses are razed and replaced with larger houses every year."
This year, to track the trend and try to derail it, the trust will compile a national database of houses being torn down for new houses, Moe said. It also will try to explain to real-estate agents and the public why the teardowns are hurting old neighborhoods.
The key reason is the same as what happens when uncaring renovators hack up old houses and cover them with nondescript vinyl siding: It chips away at the character of the old neighborhood. The ham-handed renovators do it one window or door at a time, while the demolishers do it a house or two at a time. The result is the same.
We tear down beautiful old houses and shops for a host of reasons and complain later that the demolition was shortsighted. The realization usually comes after someone completes the dramatic restoration of a similar building or other old buildings in the same neighborhood.
What will allow us to realize the mistake before we make it? What will give more of us the vision to see past peeling paint and sagging porches to the architectural beauty in so many of our old buildings? "
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Cultural Resource Analysts Inc. Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc. (CRA) serves as a specialized consulting firm with headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky. The company became incorporated in 1983 and opened satellite offices in Hurricane, West Virginia, in 1994; Longmont, Colorado, in 2005
Kentucky -
07-06-10
Mitigation Monitor Training Session The Fall 2010 Mitigation Monitoring Class has been scheduled for Sept 4 and /or 5th 2010 in Redlands CA. If you are interested in attending the class please request a application via email and return it to Leslie Irish, 951-681-6531(fax) or Lirish@llenviroinc.com. Class is first come first served and may be canceled at the owner’s discretion. To attend you must have a confirmation in hand at the door. A limited number of seats are available.
08-29-10
International Seminar on Heritage Tourism: Prospects & Challenges The Department of History of our college is organising an International seminar on “Heritage Tourism : Prospects and Challenges” on Sep 1-2, 2010 for which papers are invited from the teaching faculty, researchers, students and above all experts in the field.
07-20-10
HOPI Basketry Collection HOPI culture evident in Basketry Collection at The College of Idaho's Orma J. Smith Museum
05-03-10
