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? "
Note: Some links to articles might only be valid for a short period of time depending on the publisher and others might require registration. Please let us know of any errors you find. Thanks!
William Self Associates, Inc. WSA, Inc. since 1988 has conducted large infrastructure projects (pipelines, transportation, mining, land development) throughout the U.S. WSA currently has 4 regional offices conducting historic, prehistoric, maritime and architectural research, assessm
Arizona -
04-28-09
Logan Simpson Design Inc. LSD is an environmental planning and landscape architecture firm that offers a full range of cultural resources services throughout the Intermountain West. In addition to historic and prehistoric archaeologists, our staff includes professional historic p
Arizona -
11-06-08
Daly & Associates Qualified Architectural Historian with Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation.
California -
04-22-05
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Cultural resource industry events and announcements
ARCHAEOLOGISTS WANTED FOR HISTORY CHANNEL TV SERIES! This expert and the students will be a part of a small team that will travel to several digs in Egypt with the infamous Dr. Zahi Hawass. (If the expert and/or the students have experience in Egyptology even better, but this is not a requirement.)
06-30-09
Statewide Historic Preservation Contractors to Conduct Activity II, III and IV Studies (Kansas) The Kansas Department of Transportation [KDOT] is required by federal and state regulations to identify and document historic/architectural (cultural) and archeological resources which may meet the criteria of significance for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and which may be affected by proposed state and local highway systems improvement projects.
06-05-09
HCN to Tweet From Historic Preservation Projects Heritage Conservation Network, a non profit that offers volunteer vacations at heritage sites, will be tweeting from its projects this summer. You can follow them at www.twitter.com/handsonhistory.
05-12-09
