Growing up in Chicago, I lived in a Victorian house in a landmark Neighborhood. All the houses had to be painted a certain color, and maintain a certain aesthetic that was appropriate for the area. My parents we obsessed with antiques, and in the main portion of the downstairs of our house was all authentic Victorian furniture. We had a formal sitting room, a piano/music parlor and a dining room. The stove I grew up with was Victorian. The wallpaper was all picked from authentic patterns re-printed today. The bathrooms had authentic fixtures and hard wear. We had an addition put onto the back part of the house and throughout my childhood, I rarely went into the “front” as we called it. I just didn’t go into those rooms. They were not comfortable. They weren’t cozy. They were full of expensive things and breakable things and things I couldn’t use or touch. My family rarely used those areas so in truth it was such wasted space.
However, I have also been to Europe, where there are churches and buildings hundreds of years old where people still walk, touch and use the spaces. It is amazing how something are preserved and held in such high regard and are, in fact, useless. While others which may have more cultural or education value are still being used. It is something that, while attempting to complete this assignment I came to a great conflict with. I feel preservation is necessary I feel it is something we must to maintain important and useful things. However, preservation to the point of atrophy is useless.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a citizen and member run group dedicated to preserving the historic communities, areas, buildings and neighborhoods of America while educating and revitalizing communities. I find the revitalization the most important part of what this group does. During the infancy of the group not only did it provide services to historical places, but also jobs to many an engineer and carpenter and laborer during The Great Depression. Also post WWII the trust aided in helping urban areas find, and save their identified through many forms of urban renewal. It is one thing to save, preserve, maintain, as I said before, but without the life within these spaces, their maintenance is a waste
Interesting perspective on growing up in a Victorian house. I think that your comment on "preservation to the point of atrophy is useless," is an interesting jumping off point. It is something that preservationists struggle with. Is there there a way to preserve and use? Or do we need to continually focus on the ideal of preserving and not touching or using the space so that it remains in tact. I think that the Americans can learn from the Europeans ideas of preservation and use.
ReplyDeleteI think that your summary of the National Trust is spot on with the thought as I'm sure many members of the trust think as well that without the life within these spaces, their maintenance is a waste.
Community building is a really important aspect of preservation.