• Heritage Science

This thesis examines the role of intact interiors in historic residential buildings in order to determine whether they add significant economic value in the real estate marketplace. The thesis first examines the existing body of knowledge on economics and preserving historic interiors as well as the changes that have taken place in American residential interiors over time. It next explores the concept of "intactness" in privately owned residential historic interiors and considers the various means available to encourage their protection. The thesis then presents a research method for determining whether historic homes that have their interior character-defining features intact are worth more on the market than those which do not retain their key interior elements. This research method is tested in Charleston, South Carolina, and is accompanied by results from interviews of Realtors throughout the United States specializing in the sale of historic properties. The research method includes an aggregate analysis of properties with "intact" versus "altered" interiors on a variety of measures representing value and selling time, as well as a paired-sales analysis which isolates the increment in value ascribed to intact interior features. The analysis revealed a 14% premium in the price of historic homes with intact interiors, and found that, on every measure, historic homes with interior features intact sold for more, sold more quickly, and sold for a higher percentage of their asking prices than did altered properties. The author concludes that a meaningful and positive economic value can be attributed to intact historic residential interiors.

The research begins with an examination of the history and development of the Historic Preservation Act. The motive for the investigation of this history is to contextualize the creation of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and its recommendations as they apply to additions to historic structures. This is to inform the question that the thesis seeks to pose, which is, whether the Standards’ position on appropriateness regarding historic building additions should be reconsidered. The issue is important to the preservation, architectural and development communities because of the outsized impact of the Standards on preservation policy throughout the United States.

A transfer of development rights (TDR) program is a type of incentive zoning mechanism for land management. In its most basic form, a TDR program designates "sending areas," zones in which low-density development is encouraged, and "receiving areas," zones designated for denser development. This thesis research seeks to answer whether transfer of development rights programs effective tools for protecting historic resources in an urban context. The research is based on an extensive literature and the examination of five urban TDR programs located in: Washington, DC; San Francisco, CA; Atlanta, GA; New Orleans, LA; and New York, NY. This thesis research finds that a TDR program can be an effective tool for protecting historic resources in an urban context provided certain locational conditions and program features are present. Factors concerning how a particular TDR program is run, such as appropriate market incentives, the existence of a TDR bank, a consistent administration process, clear zoning regulations with little to no alternatives to TDR for bonus development, are key factors found in successful TDR programs. The foremost factor in a program’s success is whether the targeted urban area has a competitive real estate market with a high demand for additional development. If this condition is not present, a TDR program is sure to fail regardless whether the program is focused on preserving historic properties, providing low-income housing, targeting specific areas for growth, or any other such intention.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the coast of the Gulf Coast of Mexico and devastated broad swathes of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The Hurricane itself was designated a Category 3 Storm at landfall, yet it was the unprecedented extend of its aftermath that marked the event as the costliest natural disaster — and one of the five deadliest hurricanes — in the history of the United States. The storm dealt its most devastating blow indirectly to the City of New Orleans, Louisiana, where it triggered the most significant human tragedy as eighty percent of the city flooded when the engineered levee systems failed. This thesis acknowledges the human dimension of the event by examining the impact of the disaster on the physical built environment of three New Orleans neighborhoods that contribute part of the city's historic landscape. The storm, and its prolonged aftermath, altered the cultural landscape of the city — destroying entire neighborhoods, displacing whole communities, and jarring the city's identity. This thesis uses the event of Hurricane Katrina, and its aftermath, to reflect on how the legal frameworks of preservation have shaped the city of New Orleans and how they continue to reshape the city. The goal of this thesis is three-fold. To examine the preservation frameworks in place before the disaster and to identify New Orleans's particular sense of place. To discuss how these frameworks have been impacted following the disaster. And, to think about how the new and old frameworks reshape the city — engaging new constituencies in preservation, and broadening an understanding of what is "historic" in New Orleans.

The East Durham Historic District residential rehabilitation project, as presented in this report, is a small redevelopment project consisting of 8 to 15 single-family homes. Preservation North Carolina and the Historic Preservation Society of Durham hope to partner on this project, with PNC providing financing and HPSD providing local expertise and housing a full-time project manager. The feasibility of this project has been examined since early 2002, when it was first proposed. Two groups of students from the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one in 2004 and one in 2005, have examined this proposed project and produced reports that I would recommend anyone involved with this project review. In this report I will summarize their findings and describe the experiences I have had researching the project in East Durham. Next, I present sales price and construction budget information, discuss project strategy, and present an implementation schedule.

A prática de preservação patrimonial no Brasil representa um recorte parcial da teoria patrimonial tal como esta foi constituída nas convenções internacionais e nas práticas européias e norte-americanas, com forte ênfase numa teleologia histórica. Partindo desses precedentes, estudaram-se os marcos teóricos que têm informado a preservação do patrimônio material imóvel, com conseqüências para as identidades profissionais que se constituem em torno da prática de preservação e do patrimônio preservado. As cartas patrimoniais, bem como as boas práticas da preservação do patrimônio, devem ser mais amplamente discutidas no que se refere a diferentes graus de deterioração de sítios urbanos e ao conceito de autenticidade histórica. Questiona-se uma interpretação abusiva da Carta de Veneza, contrapondo-se a esta as disposições de outras cartas patrimoniais mais recentes.

Audio interview with Allan Thorne conducted at Vancouver Island Exhibition in Nanaimo, BC. https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/6473/ThorneTranscript.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y

A recent shift in historic preservation theory and practice suggests that the field look at heritage through a holistic approach that broadens the range of values considered in understanding the significance of a site. This values-centered approach to preservation emphasizes the importance of including a wide array of stakeholders in preservation processes while considering the multiple layers of values that they ascribe to sites in decision-making. This implies interaction between field experts and non-experts throughout the significance assessment, planning, management, and conservation processes of historic preservation. Although the importance of this interaction is widely acknowledged, there has been little research on how it is to be done, and the field has developed limited tools for its application. This thesis focuses on the relationship between historic preservation experts and local communities during the early stages of the preservation process, and develops a toolset that aids in their interaction. Through a case-study experiment, this project explores the possibility of using spatial installations as a means of communication between the two parties in order to identify the values that local communities ascribe to their heritage. It proposes that the alteration of space, and its integration with ethnographic methods of interaction, bridges barriers between experts and local communities, producing a richer insight into the significance of historic sites. As a case-study to test this proposal, a spatial installation was built in Jordán Sube, a small town in Colombia. The installation was used to foster a conversation with the town’s inhabitants about their heritage. This experiment concluded in a general strategy for implementing spatial installations as a method for community engagement in historic preservation projects.

Thousands of local historical societies operate throughout the United States and often act as the first or only preservation-related organization with which the public interacts. The multiplicity of historical societies and their analogous missions create the potential for the promotion and practice of preservation to become significantly more wide-spread at a local level. Considering this potential, this treatise explores the efficacy of historical societies as vehicles of preservation of the historic built environment and the effect of their relationships with governmental history and historic preservation agencies on that efficacy. Through an examination of the historical societies in New Jersey and the State’s history and historic preservation agencies, this treatise research examines the capacity and efforts of New Jersey historical societies in promoting and practicing preservation and explores the levels and types of support offered to historical societies by state governmental agencies. This study’s major findings include the need for increased capacity among historical societies and the inequity of preservation-related funding distributed by New Jersey’s history and historic preservation agencies due to a lack of connections between those agencies and historical societies, as well as a lack of professional capacity among societies to apply for and implement that funding. Utilizing the information gathered in this treatise, I lay out a plan for improving the relationship between historical societies and state governmental agencies and for expanding historical societies’ opportunities to lead local preservation. This study’s recommendations include the development of diverse boards and programming by historical societies and the establishment of a Local History Services program in New Jersey like that of the Wisconsin Historical Society. With the implementation of progressive changes made concurrently by local and state level governmental agencies and by historical society organizations, I conclude that the preservation movement throughout New Jersey could develop into a powerful, unified force that strengthens and expands the singular heritage of the State.