While the movement to preserve historic buildings has widespread support, it also has some sharp critics with well-funded opposition groups springing up in recent years.
Some opponents are linked to the Stand Together Foundation, founded and bankrolled by the Koch family’s conservative philanthropic organization, according to a column in Governing magazine. Many critics see historic preservation as a threat to “precious individual freedoms.”
A Stand Together senior fellow cited some preservation actions to bolster his case: An effort in San Francisco to convert a laundromat into an eight-story apartment building was stalled for eight years while city officials try to determine if the laundromat should be protected. In Denver, preservationists delayed the conversion of a 1960s diner into a new mixed-use retail/residential development.
Other critics, including some academicians, have criticized historic neighborhood preservation as “a stalking horse for gentrification and displacement of impoverished residents,” the column reads. Despite these critiques, the columnist makes a compelling case for preservation.
“Preservation serves the vital purpose of helping people to understand, appreciate and connect with their local history at a time when historical awareness is a missing element in much of America. If preservation has gone too far, it has gone too far in the right direction. We ought to be able to manage it without denigrating the things it has achieved.”
Related Stories
Reconstruction & Renovation | Jan 2, 2019
Rebuild or renovate?
With some facilities, a little creativity can save money and salvage a building worth saving.
University Buildings | Nov 26, 2018
Vacant Dartmouth College building to become faculty and graduate student center
Leers Weinzapfel Associates designed the project.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Aug 22, 2018
Former shopping mall becomes mixed-use urban complex in Beijing
Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects designed the project.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Aug 21, 2018
The massive facelift of New York’s famed Waldorf Astoria moves into Phase Two
The refurbished hotel will feature fewer, but larger, guest rooms.
Codes and Standards | Jul 17, 2018
NIMBYism, generational divide threaten plan for net-zero village in St. Paul, Minn.
The ambitious redevelopment proposal for a former Ford automotive plant creates tension.
Mixed-Use | Jul 17, 2018
Water Street Tampa’s developer reveals details about this project’s public spaces
This $3 billion waterfront neighborhood will also include three hotels.
Urban Planning | Jul 6, 2018
This is Studio Gang's first design project in Canada
The building’s hexagonal façade will provide passive solar heating and cooling.
Reconstruction & Renovation | May 8, 2018
Willis Tower elevators receive upgrade as part of $500 million update
Otis will handle the upgrades.
Reconstruction & Renovation | May 2, 2018
*UPDATED* Is Ford planning to purchase and renovate Detroit’s long-abandoned Michigan Central Station?
The vacant building has been at the center of many renovation proposals since it closed in 1988.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Mar 20, 2018
Former bank in Alabama becomes modern café
The building was originally built in 1955.