Preservationists
can be a particular bunch when it comes to historic building repairs. There’s a
reason we have organizations like the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc.
and the Fredericksburg Architectural Review Board to encourage and enforce rules
about how our older buildings should be treated. But where do preservationists
take a stand when it comes to new buildings which are made to look old? Well,
that would probably depend on who you ask. Reverend Brown Morton is one of the
men who helped to develop the Interior Department’s Standards for Historic
Preservation, and is arguably one of the leading authorities on all things preservation.
His opinion when it came to new additions to old buildings was that the
addition should be built in a style of its time. He encouraged that form of
building design so that there was a clear and distinct difference between the old
and new parts of the structure.
To a person who hasn’t had training
in detecting historic building materials, there isn’t much difference between
something that looks old and
something that actually is old. This
can be misleading when it comes to determining things like eligibility for
historic registries, both state and federal. Style and authenticity is a fine
line to walk, with a famous example being the ‘historic’ town of Williamsburg.
While now old in its own right, Williamsburg was a more modern rebuilding and interpretation
of colonial life, designed to look historic for guests. This misleads many
people into assuming all of the buildings there are actually from colonial
times.
Here at Habalis we are busy
constructing a new-build storehouse that is specifically designed to look old,
with a few modern exceptions such as stainless steel screws for joining the
doors and windows, as well as electrical receptacles and exterior light
fixtures. This building is on private property, so it isn’t intended for public
consumption, but it does lead to some interesting questions. Is it our duty as
preservationists to keep the past in the past? Or should we honor the styles
and building techniques that came before by recreating them? Give us your opinion in the comment section below.
