The Value of Preservation

Preserving Waco Logo

There may be some obvious reasons to promote the safekeeping of historic properties. They help to preserve public memory and history for specific areas, provide cultural resources, and represent the important aspects of the past that have significantly contributed to the development of the present. Any serious losses can be a grave detriment to the community’s heritage and collective identity. For many municipalities, older structures contribute to the character and visual aesthetic of a district or neighborhood and provide recognizable icons that draw many to the area.

“Austin Avenue, Waco, Texas, after ALICO building completion, 1910s” by The Texas Collection, Baylor University is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

According to the definitions given by the Technical Preservation Services of the National Park Service, there are four main ways to deal with historic properties. Each can affect the methodology for changes being made to a site and may be appropriate in various circumstances. These definitions will directly inform the evaluation criteria for the Waco case studies found on this website.

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 acknowledges the need to alter or add to a historic property to meet continuing or changing uses while retaining the property’s historic character.

Restoration depicts a property at a particular period of time in its history, while removing evidence of other periods.

Reconstruction re-creates vanished or non-surviving portions of a property for interpretive purposes.