Preservation
What exactly does “Historic Preservation” mean anyway?
Stated simply it is having the good sense to keep something – an older building, neighborhood or landscape – because it is important to us as individuals and as a society as a whole.
Some older buildings are important because they are wonderful to look at, they are “a gift to the street” whose styles, textures materials, charm and perhaps eccentricity enrich and enliven their surroundings. These buildings are worth saving because our communities would be less interesting, less attractive, without them.
Many places are worth preserving because they link us with our past and remind us of the struggles, triumphs and the everyday details of those who went before us. By protecting our past, we are helped to remember how we came to be where we are and what we ought to do now. Preservation cares about giving future generations the same opportunities to enjoy beautiful buildings, interesting landscapes and structural icons that we have today.
Others are worth saving because there is plenty of life left in them, or embodied energy – which is the amount of energy required to harvest, extract, ship, process, transport materials to construct a building. Through adaptive re-use new life is breathed into older buildings that can be seen every where: train depots reborn as restaurants; mills converted into shopping centers; derelict industrial space converted to artist space and so on. We think of it as ULTIMATE RECYCLING because sustainability begins with preservation.
Re-building green is an innovative approach to traditional historic preservation. We provide:
- Resources for local, state and national register status
- Resources for tax credits, incentives, architects,
- Marketing through statewide and national historic preservation organizations
- Referrals for architects and skilled craftspeople
- Information for melding historic restoration with emerging technologies.
Washington Trust for Historic Preservation