Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. Other names for the discipline or sub-disciplines include urban conservation, landscape preservation, built environment conservation, built heritage conservation, object conservation, and immovable object conservation; within English-speaking countries "historic preservation" is generally used by speakers in the United States to refer to what is known in other dialects as "heritage conservation" or "heritage preservation". As such, this article focuses on the particular movement and regulatory regime that evolved under that term in the United States.
As used by practitioners of the endeavor, "historic preservation" tends to refer to the preservation of the built environment, and not to preservation of, for example, primeval forests or wilderness.[1]
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In England, antiquarian interests were a familiar gentleman's pursuit since the mid 17th century, developing in tandem with the rise in scientific curiosity. Fellows of the Royal Society were often also Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries.
The first Ancient Monuments Protection Act was adopted in 1882. The UK's Ancient Monuments Act (1913) officially preserved certain decayed and obsolete structures of intrinsic historical and associative interest, just as modernism was lending moral authority to destruction of the built heritage in the name of progress. The UK's National Trust began with the preservation of historic houses and has steadily increased its scope. In the UK's subsequent Town and Country Planning Act 1944, and the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, steps were taken toward historic preservation on an unprecedented scale. Concern about the demolition of historic buildings arose in institutions such as the pressure group The Society for the Preservation of Historic Buildings, which appealed against demolition and neglect on a case by case basis.[2]
In the United States one of the first historic preservation efforts was the Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site, in Newburgh, New York. It was the first-ever property designated as a historic site by a U.S. state.
Another early Historic Preservation undertaking was that of George Washington's Mount Vernon in 1858.[3] Founded in 1889, the Richmond, Virginia-based Preservation Virginia (formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities) was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group.[4]
The architectural firm of Simons & Lapham (Albert Simons and Samuel Lapham) was influential in creating the first historic preservation ordinance in Charleston, South Carolina in 1930, affording that city a regulatory means by which to prevent the destruction of its historic building stock. In 1925, efforts to preserve the historic buildings of the French Quarter in New Orleans led to the creation of the Vieux Carré Commission and later, to the adoption of a historic preservation ordinance.[5][6]
The US National Trust for Historic Preservation, another privately funded non-profit organization, began in 1949 with a handful of privileged structures and has developed goals that provide "leadership, education, advocacy, and resources to save America's diverse historic places and revitalize our communities" according to the Trust's mission statement. In 1951 the Trust assumed responsibility for its first museum property, Woodlawn Plantation in northern Virginia. Twenty-eight sites in all have subsequently become part of the National Trust, representing the cultural diversity of American history. In New York City, the destruction of Pennsylvania Station in 1964 shocked many nationwide into supporting preservation. On an international level, the New York-based World Monuments Fund was founded in 1965 to preserve historic sites all over the world.
Under the direction of James Marston Fitch, the first advanced-degree historic preservation program began at Columbia University in 1964.[7] It became the model on which most other graduate historic preservation programs were created.[8] Many other programs were to follow before 1980: M.A. in Preservation Planning from Cornell (1975); M.S. in Historic Preservation from the University of Vermont (1975); M.S. in Historic Preservation Studies from Boston University (1976); M.S. in Historic Preservation from Eastern Michigan University (1979) and M.F.A. in Historic Preservation was one of the original programs at Savannah College of Art & Design. The M.Sc. in Building Conservation degree program is offered by the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. In 2005, Clemson University and the College of Charleston created an M.S. degree program based in Charleston, SC. The first undergraduate programs (B.A.) appeared in 1977 from Goucher College and Roger Williams College, followed by Mary Washington College in 1979.[9] Today there are three community colleges that offer an Associates Degree in Historic Preservation; Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado, College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California, and Belmont Technical College in St. Clairsville, Ohio.
A historic district in the United States is a group of buildings, properties or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided into two categories, contributing and non-contributing. Districts greatly vary in size, some having hundreds of structures while others have just a few.
The U.S. federal government designates historic districts through the U.S. Department of Interior, under the auspices of the National Park Service. Federally designated historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[10] Historic districts allows rural areas to preserve their characters through historic preservation programs. These include "Main Street" programs that can be used to redevelop rural downtowns. Using historic preservation programs as an economic development tool for local governments in rural areas has enabled some of those areas to take advantage of their history and develop a tourism market that in turn provides funds for maintaining an economic stability that these areas would not have seen otherwise.[11][12]
A similar concept exists in the United Kingdom: a Conservation area is designated in accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 in order to protect a zone in which there are buildings of architectural or cultural heritage interest.
The United States led the world in the creation of National Parks, areas of unspoiled natural wilderness, where the intrusion of civilization are intentionally minimal.
The department of the interior designated several areas of Morristown, New Jersey as the first historic park in the United States national park system. It became designated as the Morristown National Historical Park. [1] The community had permanent settlements that date to 1715, is termed the military capital of the American Revolution, and contains many designations of sites and locations. The park includes three major sites in Morristown.
In addition to preserving the natural heritage, the National Park Service also maintains the National Register of Historic Places to recognize significant buildings and places, including historic parks, battlefields, National Historic Landmarks, memorials and monuments.
Landscapes and sites of outstanding universal value can be designated as World Heritage Sites. A requirement of such designation is that the designating nation has appropriate legislation in place to preserve them.
In Canada, the phrase “heritage preservation” is sometimes seen as a specific approach to the treatment of historic places and sites, rather than a general concept of conservation. “Conservation” is taken as the more general term, referring to all actions or processes that are aimed at safeguarding the character-defining elements of a cultural resource so as to retain its heritage value and extend its physical life.
Historic objects in Canada may be granted special designation by any of the three levels of government: the federal government, the provincial governments, or a municipal government. The Heritage Canada Foundation acts as Canada's lead advocacy organization for heritage buildings and landscapes.
Although volunteers continue to play a large role in historic preservation activities, the field has seen an increased level of professionalization. Today, there are many career options in historic preservation in the public, non-profit, and private sectors. Institutes of secondary education (universities, colleges, etc.) in the United States offer both certificate and degree (A.A.S, B.A., B.F.A., B.S., M.A., M.F.A., M.S., and PhD) programs in historic preservation.[14] Some students—at schools with such programs available—choose to enroll in "joint degree" programs, earning a degree in historic preservation along with one in another, related subject, often an MArch, MUP or JD degree.
Possible career fields include:
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