Forum Blog - Preservation Leadership Forum - A Program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

A Strong Demolition Delay Bylaw in Stockbridge

By Special Contributor posted 4 days ago

Be the first person to like this.

By Peter C. Williams Stockbridge, Massachusetts, located in the Berkshire Hills in the western part of the state, is best known as the hometown of Norman Rockwell, who famously painted the town's Main Street, whose historic buildings are largely unchanged in over a century. Stockbridge, however, has an even deeper and richer history. With the land originally inhabited by the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans , the town’s colonial charter was implemented in 1737 as a mission to its Native ...

0 comments

The National Trust Awards Grant Funding for DEIA Initiatives, Preservation Trades, and Pandemic Support

By Lizzy Barringer posted 12 days ago

Be the first person to like this.

The National Trust Preservation Fund, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s small-dollar grant program, offers a timely look at issues preservation organizations are tackling across the country. Applications to the fund’s February 2021 grant round featured a number of new diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives within preservation organizations as well as continued efforts to tell the full American story at historic sites through expanding interpretation and increasing ...

0 comments

Centering Public Health in a Pandemic: A Q&A on the Chelsea District Health Center

By Lizzy Barringer posted 17 days ago

Be the first person to like this.

The Chelsea District Health Center is a 2020 recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards , the highest national recognition bestowed upon a preservation project by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Award recipients represent the best of the best in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and the re-imagining of historic buildings for the future. Built in 1937 and located in Manhattan’s Chelsea Park, the Chelsea District Health Center is one of New Deal-era ...

0 comments

Local Food for the Community: A Q&A on the Fowler Clark Epstein Farm

By Lizzy Barringer posted 25 days ago

Be the first person to like this.

Fowler Clark Epstein Farm is a 2020 recipient of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Awards , the highest national recognition bestowed upon a preservation project by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Award recipients represent the best of the best in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and the re-imagining of historic buildings for the future. In 2015, Historic Boston Inc. (HBI) purchased the designated Boston landmark and federal period farmstead, Fowler ...

0 comments

Surviving an Unexpected Weather Event: Villa Finale and the Texas Storm of 2021

By Special Contributor posted 04-14-2021

Be the first person to like this.

By Farrah Varga When the calendar rolled over to January, we did not expect everything to immediately change for the better, but no one in the path of the almost benignly named “Winter Storm Uri” in February 2021 had anything quite like a “snowpocalypse” in mind. For those of at Villa Finale, a National Trust Historic Site located in San Antonio, Texas, we learned a lesson in resilience. For almost a week in February, temperatures all over Texas dropped well below freezing and stubbornly stayed ...

0 comments

Expanding Preservation in Chattanooga

By Special Contributor posted 04-06-2021

Be the first person to like this.

By Melissa Mortimer Melissa Mortimer was one of the recipients of the 2020 American Express Aspire Award . My first memories of preservation go back to driving to my grandparent’s house in Missouri as a kid. The trip from Tennessee took our woody minivan through Cairo, Illinois, where for 31 years, we watched the slow decay and demolition of the commercial district, as well as its historic homes. Every trip, my mom would pull down a side street to go look at her favorite school building, ...

0 comments

Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act

By Special Contributor posted 04-05-2021

Be the first person to like this.

By Shaw Sprague, Ross Bradford, and Raina Regan Introduced in both the 115 th and 116 th Congress, the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act has gained considerable support to address specific ongoing abuses in donations of preservation and conservation easements. This legislation addresses egregious syndicated conservation easement transactions which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) described in IRS Notice 2017-10 . The National Trust supports reintroducing and passage ...

0 comments

Paul R. Williams-Designed Mosaic Realized at UCLA 60 Years Later

By Special Contributor posted 04-01-2021

Be the first person to like this.

By Lois Lee Pioneering Black architect Paul Revere Williams, FAIA (1894-1980), is finally receiving well-deserved, national recognition 40 years after his death. Williams’ extensive portfolio transcends the racial boundaries of the architecture profession during his time , and his story continues to be told today. The recent acquisition of Williams’ archives—previously thought lost in a fire—by the Getty Institute and the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture has heightened ...

0 comments

Fifty Years of Preservation Excellence from Preservation Dallas

By Special Contributor posted 03-25-2021

Be the first person to like this.

By David Preziosi, FAICP Preservation Dallas is the recipient of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2020 Trustee’s Award for Organizational Excellence . From its early days, newer, better, bigger has been the attitude in Dallas, Texas. As a result, a constant tearing down and rebuilding led to countless historic buildings being lost over time in the pursuit of the shiny and new. Against tremendous odds, Preservation Dallas has fought for nearly 50 years to change the philosophy ...

0 comments

Forum Journal: Relevance and Resilience, Proceedings from PastForward Online 2020

By Forum Online posted 03-17-2021

Be the first person to like this.

The latest issue of Forum Journal captures the proceedings from PastForward Online 2020, the historic preservation movement’s first-ever all-virtual national conference which drew more than 4,000 registrants. Like the national conference, Forum Journal opens with introductory remarks by President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Paul Edmondson. Paul’s remarks are followed with insightful keynotes by national thought leaders like Darren Walker, President of the ...

0 comments

Remembering Nellie Longsworth

By Susan West Montgomery posted 03-08-2021

Be the first person to like this.

“If you go to Capitol Hill with Nellie Longsworth, be sure to wear comfortable shoes.” A generation or more of historic preservation advocates heeded that advice and earned the chance to walk the halls of Congress with Nellie as she championed laws and incentives that define how we save historic places. Nellie died March 1, 2021, at the age of 87. She leaves behind her beloved children Jennifer, Jeff, and Mark, and a community of historic preservation activists who adored her. Courtesy of ...

0 comments

Preserving my Hood: East New York

By Special Contributor posted 03-03-2021

Be the first person to like this.

By Zulmilena Then Zulmilena Then was one of the recipients of the 2020 American Express Aspire Award . One day, I had a dream where I was in danger. Like in a horror movie, I screamed for help, but my voice didn’t come out. I was surprised. I tried again, but I was mute. It felt distressing and exhausting trying to use my voice to be rescued and not heard. In the waking state, this is the same feeling I felt as a Brown woman advocating preservation as a way to protect my Black and Brown childhood ...

0 comments

Moynihan Train Hall: A Conversation with Colin Koop of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

By Priya Chhaya posted 02-24-2021

Be the first person to like this.

Editor's Note: For more on Moynihan Train Hall and its part in the legacy of Pennsylvania Station, read a Q&A between Tom Mayes and Holly Leicht on SavingPlaces.org. A project decades in the making, the new Moynihan Train Hall opened to Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road passengers in January 2021. While it does not fully replace the underground warrens of the present Penn Station below Madison Square Garden, the train hall serves as a symbol of what is possible for adaptive use transportation ...

0 comments

Building on the PastForward Town Halls: Climate Change

By Jim Lindberg posted 02-19-2021

Be the first person to like this.

Last October, more than 500 preservationists participated in the PastForward Online 2020 Town Hall on climate change. This virtual gathering generated a range of opinions, ideas, and suggestions for how the preservation movement can more effectively engage in climate change advocacy and action. What did we learn and how can we build on this important discussion? The Town Hall on Climate Change began with a series of short video commentaries from practitioners around the country. A brief overview ...

0 comments

Greenwich Historical Society: Preserving and Reimagining Bush-Holley Historic Site

By Special Contributor posted 02-05-2021

Be the first person to like this.

By Debra Mecky In 2020, Greenwich Historical Society was awarded the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Trustees Emeritus Award for Historic Site Stewardship . We are now accepting award nominations for 2021 through February 15 . In 2018 Greenwich Historical Society completed a five-year plan to advance its mission and make a greater contribution to the community. At the heart of our $13.5 million dollar capital project was the reimagining of our suburban campus to restore and ...

0 comments

What Does Home Mean to You? Diverse Stories of Victory and Loss from California

By Special Contributor posted 02-05-2021

Be the first person to like this.

By Christine Madrid French When Louisa Bird Cunningham founded the Ladies of Mount Vernon in 1853, she focused on the concept of “home” to save President George Washington’s house in Virginia. That moment, recognized as one of the earliest historic preservation movements in the United States, continues to shape the effort to save significant sites in the twenty-first century. Today, however, the emphasis is on broadening the concept of home and context to include all of the cultures that contributed ...

0 comments

[Q&A] 20 Years of the National Trust Community Investment Corporation

By Special Contributor posted 02-02-2021

Be the first person to like this.

By Mike Palien Twenty years ago, the National Trust for Historic Preservation formed the National Trust Community Investment Corporation ( NTCIC ) as a dedicated subsidiary to finance impactful preservation and community development projects. Today, NTCIC raises money through several state and federal tax incentive programs, such as the Historic Tax Credit (HTC), New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), and Solar Tax Credit (STC); and makes investments in mission-oriented projects. Since its inception, ...

0 comments

James River Transmission Line Update and Advocacy Alert

By Sharee Williamson posted 01-26-2021

Be the first person to like this.

Since including the James River near Jamestown, Virginia, on the annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2013, the National Trust and our partners, including Preservation Virginia, as well as preservation advocates around the country have urged the Army Corps of Engineers to explore alternatives that protect the James River’s cultural landscape from Dominion’s misguided transmission line. During the initial review of the project, almost 30,000 people signed a petition during ...

0 comments

From Trails to Timber: Uncovering Black History in Oregon

By Lawana Holland-Moore posted 01-22-2021

Be the first person to like this.

The West is filled with stories of cowboys, loggers, pioneers, and homesteaders seeking new lives often under uncertain, tough circumstances. Now imagine if the stories and those individuals who forged new paths for themselves and their families on the frontier were Black. In 1857, the state of Oregon’s constitution set exclusion laws that did not allow Black Americans to settle, live, or own property, and over time, this led to an erasure of the state’s Black history. Today, two preservation organizations—both ...

1 comment

National Trust Awards $256,342 in Grant Funding to Organizations Nationwide

By Lizzy Barringer posted 01-21-2021

Be the first person to like this.

The National Trust Preservation Fund , the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s small dollar grant program, offers a timely look at issues preservation organizations are tackling across the country. Applications to the fund’s October 2020 grant round reflected the impact that the pandemic and recent social justice issues are having on the field and on the work that organizations are choosing to do. More than sixty percent of all awarded grant projects had a focus on diversity, equality, inclusion ...

0 comments