Why is historic preservation so important

Historic preservation provides a link to the roots of the community and its people. Overall, historic preservation adds to the quality of life making for a more livable community. Historic preservation involves much more than simply saving and restoring old buildings and sites of historic importance; there are economic, cultural, environmental, and educational benefits of historic preservation, all of which are inextricably connected to one another and to the living memory of involved communities.

Historic preservation is an important investment in the present and future. For many preservationists, safeguarding the past through its physical remains is reason enough to justify preservation efforts. However, for those without prior involvement with such efforts, there are many other more tangible reasons why historic preservation matters. Historic preservation is a powerful economic engine. In an overwhelming number of economic development studies, historic preservation is a demonstrated tool for providing jobs, increasing household income, increasing the tax base and increasing tourism dollars.

Preservation is an effective tool to revitalize neighborhoods, older communities and commercial districts. Reinvestment and revitalizing main streets is the most significant economic-development program most communities can undertake. In examples across the world, it is shown that substantive, sustainable and successful city revitalization results from activities that are preservation-based.

Preservation creates jobs. Because rehabilitation and restoration activities work with existing materials, projects are labor intensive and create more jobs than new construction. While the overall cost of projects is often comparable to building new, the economic benefit is much greater from preservation activities through the creation of well-paying local jobs. Another important economic benefit is heritage tourism.

Many people enjoy a deep fascination with the sites where history took place, as well as with the stories they can directly experience by visiting these historic sites. The preservation of historic buildings is a one-way street. And we can never be certain what will be valued in the future. Julia Rocchi is the senior director of digital marketing at the National Trust. By day she wrangles content; by night and weekends , she shops local, travels to story-rich places, and gawks at buildings.

Letters of Intent are due November 12, November 10, Old buildings have intrinsic value. Buildings of a certain era, namely pre-World War II, tend to be built with higher-quality materials such as rare hardwoods especially heart pine and wood from old-growth forests that no longer exist.

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