10 Tips for

PRESERVING PLACE FROM THE RECENT PAST

1. Form a volunteer group.Gather fellow residents who care about preserving your community’s recent past places. They can research and nominate buildings for landmark designation, be your community’s advocate for the recent past, create a website, and host tours and other events.

2. Offer tours.Put together a bus tour that takes guests past Modern structures. Create a self-guided driving tour accompanied by a booklet that residents can continue to use. Or set up docent-led tours of noteworthy buildings from the recent past.

3. Host special events.Fundraising events, special exhibits (complete with opening-night parties), or a lecture series about the area’s recent past encourage those interested in mid-century architecture to connect with like-minded people.

4. Submit a nomination to an endangered places list.When a site is threatened by demolition, alteration, or neglect, nominate it to a local organization’s endangered list to generate publicity, raise awareness, and explain to more people why these places are significant.

5. Hold community workshops.Workshops educate audiences about cultural sites from the recent past, teach them the basics of historic preservation, explore the history of post-war architecture, and more.

6. Educate decision makers.It is important to educate state and municipal historic preservation officers, local planning agency staff, and preservation commission members about mid-century resources.

7. Survey resources from the recent past.Identifying which recent past sites merit protection is one of the first steps towards preserving them. But a survey should involve more than just identification—it should also work to establish historic context, educate and involve the community, and identify areas for future research.

8. Evaluate the property.Once surveyed, an area needs to be evaluated to see if it meets the criteria for National Register listing or local designation.

9. Make the case for the site’s importance.Before nominating a recent past property, prepare a clear, compelling, and well-documented case that establishes its importance.

10. Pursue National Register listing.While National Register listing does not provide properties direct protection from privately funded actions, it triggers consideration in the planning for federal or federally funded projects, and can pave the way for tax benefits.

Pursue National Register listing or local historic designation. (Continued)

Many communities follow a “50-year rule,” creating an obstacle for historic designation of recent past resources. If amending the rule is not an option, remember that NRHP listing can raise awareness of the site’s importance and garner public support while the property waits to come of age for local designation.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation works to save America’s historic places. Preservation Tips & Tools helps others do the same in their own communities.

For more information, visit SavingPlaces.org.

Photos courtesy: Joe A. Kunzler/Flickr/CC BY-NC ND 2.0; Alan English CPA/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0; Max Jackson/Flickr/CC BY-NC ND 2.0; Squid Ink/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0; Jan Uy/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0; Thomas Hawk/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0; Richie Diesterheft/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0; joel kabahit/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0; Kerry O’Connor/Flickr/CC BY-ND 2.0; Jasperdo/Flickr/CC BY-NC ND 2.0; Yellowstone National Park/Flickr/CC BY-2.0; C Smith/Fllickr/CC BY-NC ND 2.0