Copyright American Planning Association Mar 2008Real estate and preservation. J. Myrick Howard has put what he has learned from three decades as the executive director of Preservation North Carolina into Buying Time for Heritage: How to Save an Endangered Historic Property (2007; published by Preservation North Carolina, distributed by the University of North Carolina Press; 187 pp.; $25).
As the nation's first statewide revolving fund for preservation, PNC has worked with more than 600 endangered histotic properties worth more than $200 million since the early 1970s.
Howard, who also teaches at the University of North Carolina, attributes the group's success to its focus on saving endangered historic properties, getting directly involved in real estate while avoiding renovations or long-term loans to buyers, and prudent triage-that is, choosing to work with "properties that offer a reasonable prospect for success." The group also avoids fighting, which, he notes "is seldom good for a real estate-otiented preservation organization."
He carries these themes through 19 short chapters and five appendices, adding his own pungent metaphors. He describes PNC as "an animal shelter for endangered buildings and sites." An endangered historic property and a shelter dog have basically the same problem. Each "would be fine if someone would just take it and invest in its continuation."
Hence the fundamental premise of Howard's work and his book: "Historic preservation is an exercise in dealing with real estate." Preservationists getting into real estate isn't j ust an unpleasant necessity, he contends. It's a good idea, because it often works better than regulation, energizes the organization, and gives it expertise, credibility, publicity, and money.
Separate chapters deal with acquisition, marketing, balancing "purity and flexibility," dealing with institutions and with disasters, partnerships, and relocating buildings. It probably goes without saying that Howard's no purist: "A balance must be achieved between architectural and historical authenticity and the need for sustainable use," he writes. "Unless you have a museum, 'restoration' may be an impossible goal." Rehabilitation is PNC's usual goal.
Anyone with the slightest interest in historic preservation will be stimulated and educated by this book's combination of philosophical perspective, detailed experience, and attitude.
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