The Preservation Principles of the Secretary of the Interior’s

Standards for Historic Preservation Projects

David W. Look, FAIA, FAPTNational Park ServicePacific West RegionOakland, California

Approach

Better to Maintain than RepairBetter to Repair than to ReplaceBetter to Replace than to RestoreBetter 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 theBest Form of Preservationand the Least Expensive

Why Does This BuildingHave a Water Problem?

Deferred MaintenanceCosts 3-5 Times More

Than PreventativeMaintenance.

If Maintenance is DeferredToo Long, the Resource

May be Lost Forever.

What Principles Guide Work in

Historic Preservation?

Fundamental Principles

Research & DocumentationAuthenticity & IntegrityCompatibilityMinimal InterventionReversibility

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

LocationDesignSettingMaterialsWorkmanshipFeelingAssociation

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

DesignQuality of integrity applying to the elements

that create the physical form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property

SettingQuality of integrity applying to the physical

environment of a historic property

MaterialsQuality 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 75-100 years old

Workmanship

Quality of integrity applying to the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular

culture, people, or artisan

FeelingQuality 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 placeWill always be associated with theAgronomist Hoshino Shūtarô, theLuther Burbank of the Pacific, andthe research done here during theJapanese and American Periods;the Art Deco Engineer/Designer,Yamashita Yasaburô, who alsodesigned the Saipan Hospital & thePalau Courthouse in the Art DecoStyle; 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 & DocumentationAuthenticity & IntegrityCompatibilityMinimal InterventionReversibility

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