The Preservation Principles of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation Projects David W. Look, FAIA, FAPT National Park Service Pacific West Region Oakland, California

Approach  Better to Maintain than Repair  Better to Repair than to Replace  Better to Replace than to Restore  Better to Restore than to Reconstruct

Approach of Historic Architects  “If all historic buildings and sites were well maintained, there would seldom be a need to restore, rehabilitate, or reconstruct except for the updating of systems.”  You are only a success as an Historical Architect if no one knows you were there after you finish working on a historic building. Lee H. Nelson, FAIA

Approach of Modern Architects  “All great architecture is unique and the only great architects are those that create unique buildings.”  “It is impossible to know and meet the clients needs 20 to 30 years from now so architects are wasting the clients money if they construct monumental buildings with materials that will last forever.” Prof. Claude Winkelhack

Best Approach Maintenance is the Best Form of Preservation and the Least Expensive

Why Does This Building Have a Water Problem?

Deferred Maintenance Costs 3-5 Times More Than Preventative Maintenance. If Maintenance is Deferred Too Long, the Resource May be Lost Forever.

What Principles Guide Work in Historic Preservation?

Fundamental Principles  Research & Documentation  Authenticity & Integrity  Compatibility  Minimal Intervention  Reversibility

Research & Documentation  Research is investigation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, the revision of accepted theories in light of new facts, or the development of practical applications of such new revised theories [National Park Service].

Research

Documentation  Documentation is compilation of both graphic and written records that explain and illustrate the significant characteristics of a historic building, site, structure, or object. During research and treatment further documentation is made to record what was done and why.

Documentation

Authenticity  Authentic is defined as having an undisputed origin; genuine [The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language].  Authenticity is the condition or quality of being authentic, trustworthy, or genuine [The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language].

Authenticity

Integrity  Integrity is the authenticity of a property's historic identity, evidenced by the survival of physical characteristics that existed during its historic or prehistoric period; the extent to which a property retains its historic appearance.

Integrity “Do You Still Have Your Grandfather’s Ax If It Has Had 3 New Handles and 3 New Blades?” Lee H. Nelson

Seven Qualities of Integrity  Location  Design  Setting  Materials  Workmanship  Feeling  Association

Location Quality of integrity retained by a historic property existing in the same place as it did during the period of its significance Historic Building and Cultural Landscape have Never Been Moved

Design Quality of integrity applying to the elements that create the physical form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property

Setting Quality of integrity applying to the physical environment of a historic property

Materials Quality of integrity applying to the physical elements that were combined to or deposited in a particular pattern of configuration to form a historic property Building with 95+% Integrity and Mature Specimen Trees that are years old

Workmanship Quality of integrity applying to the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture, people, or artisan

Feeling Quality of integrity through which a historic property evokes the aesthetic or historic sense of past time and place

Association Link of a historic property with a historic event, activity or person. Also the quality of integrity through which a historic property is linked to a particular past time and place Will always be associated with the Agronomist Hoshino Shūtarô, the Luther Burbank of the Pacific, and the research done here during the Japanese and American Periods; the Art Deco Engineer/Designer, Yamashita Yasaburô, who also designed the Saipan Hospital & the Palau Courthouse in the Art Deco Style; and the early history of the FSM

Integrity of Material &/or Design

Compatibility  Compatibility is the principle that no treatment shall detract from or cause damage to a cultural resource. This includes both visual and physical compatibility. Treatments and new work shall be visually compatible in terms of design, color, texture, massing, size, scale, and other visual qualities to protect the historic integrity of the property and its environment. Likewise, the treatments and new work shall be physically compatible with the historic materials in terms of coefficients of expansion and contraction with changes in temperature, shrinking and swelling with changes in moisture, hardness, etc..

Visual Compatibility  Treatments and new work shall be visually compatible in terms of design, color, texture, massing, size, scale, and other visual qualities to protect the historic integrity of the property and its environment.

Visual Compatibility

Physical Compatibility  Treatments and new work shall be physically compatible with the historic materials in terms of coefficients of expansion and contraction with changes in temperature, shrinking and swelling with changes in moisture, hardness, etc.

Physical Compatibility

Minimal Intervention  Minimal intervention is the principle that usually the less change or alteration done to a cultural resource the more integrity the resource retains. If each generation makes major changes or alterations to a resource, sooner or later there is little or no resource left to preserve and pass on to future generations.

Minimal Intervention

Reversibility  Reversibility is the principle that nothing should be done to a cultural resource that cannot be reversed or undone without permanent damage to the resource. In the future there may be better treatments. If irreversible treatments are undertaken, the cultural resource may have permanent damage and may be prevented from better treatments developed in the future.

Reversibility Simone Rodia Towers NHL, Watts, CA

Reversibility

Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation David W. Look, FAIA National Park Service Pacific West Region Oakland, California

Preservation Work, including preliminary measures to protect and stabilize the property, generally focuses upon the ongoing maintenance and repair of historic materials and features rather than extensive replacement and new construction.

Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation Projects  Preservation  Restoration  Rehabilitation  Reconstruction

Standards are based on:  Research & Documentation  Authenticity & Integrity  Compatibility  Minimal Intervention  Reversibility

Preservation is defined as the act or process of applying measures necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and materials of an historic property. Work, including preliminary measures to protect and stabilize the property, generally focuses upon the ongoing maintenance and repair of historic materials and features rather than extensive replacement and new construction. New exterior additions are not within the scope of this treatment; however, the limited and sensitive upgrading of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and other code-required work to make properties functional is appropriate within a preservation project [NPS].

Preservation is defined as the act or process of applying measures necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and materials of an historic property.

Preservation New exterior additions are not within the scope of this treatment; however, the limited and sensitive upgrading of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and other code- required work to make properties functional is appropriate within a preservation project [NPS].

Preserve

Preservation Focuses on the Maintenance and Repair of Existing Historic Materials and Retention of a Property’s form as it has Evolved Over Time

Rehabilitation is defined as the act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values [NPS].

Rehabilitation Acknowledges the Need to Alter or Add to a Historic Property to Meet Continuing or Changing Uses While Retaining the Property’ Historic Character