Architecture Commons^™

Conflicts In Stewardship: A Survey Of Historic Preservation Easement Practice, Jonathan Stark-Sachs

Historic Preservation Theses

Historic Preservation Easements are a unique tool for preserving historic resources, with nonprofits holding easements having unique oversight over the resource. A dispute will arise between the property owner and easement holder if the easement's terms are violated, testing the effectiveness of the easement program. There is a lack of information regarding how the practices of non-profit easement holders inform the effective resolution of disputes and what these organization's experiences have been in addressing violations. This study surveyed easement managers around the United States to better understand how their organizations prepare for and respond to easement violations. It further collected …

Citizens Of God's Little Acre: The Lives And Landscapes Of African Americans In Newport During The Colonial Era, Marjorie Drew

Historic Preservation Theses

The purpose of this research is to discover biographical information, community interactions, and property ownership regarding the enslaved and emancipated individuals interred in God’s Little Acre Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island. This research will further the understanding of how the African and African American community contributed to the development and cultural landscape within Newport. God’s Little Acre Cemetery is one of the oldest African American cemeteries in the United States and is the foundation for this research. The history of slavery and the stories of the enslaved Africans and their emancipated descendants within New England have been discussed, but marginally …

Where Do We Go From Here? Best Practices For Adapting Historic Buildings For Climate Resiliency In Newport, Rhode Island, Olivia Katherine Needham

Historic Preservation Theses

When looking to the future, it is hard to ignore the significant effects climate change will have on our historic built environment. Roughly 2,459.32 acres of land throughout the historic City of Newport, Rhode Island fall within the hundred-year floodplain associated with sea level rise. Through examination of precedents in Louisiana and Charleston, South Carolina, this study analyzes best practices and government policies for adapting historic structures to be more climate-change resilient. The goal is to identify best practices from the precedent areas and use them as guidance for the creation of new initiatives to protect historic structures in Newport. …

Preserving Historic Qilou Districts In Southern China: Consideration Of Western Models, Qiming Li

Historic Preservation Theses

The historic qilou buildings are essential to the people in Southern China. Unfortunately, due to some of the urban renewal policies, many of the qilou districts have been either demolished or abandoned. For years, many scholars had written books and articles about how to preserve these significant historic urban elements. However, these studies failed to include examinations of the historic preservation program in other countries or the existing ones in China. This thesis was written in the hope of filling the gap. This study discusses the historical developments of the qilou buildings and their significances in four selected cities: Guangzhou, …

Becoming The Preservation Executive Director: A Journey Through The Educational And Professional Development Of Preservation Nonprofit Leaders, Allison G. Bacon

Historic Preservation Theses

Historic preservation executive directors are tasked with using their preservation skills and knowledge to preserve and protect the built environment. However, they are also responsible for running a business, in the form of nonprofit organization, where they manage people, projects and budgets to keep the organization functioning. This thesis explores the necessary knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOCs) required of historic preservation executive directors to lead preservation nonprofits using the method of job analysis. Preservation graduate programs and educational standards are analyzed to demonstrate the gap in preservation academic programs to prepare professionals to lead nonprofit organizations. Recommendations are …

The Democratic Architecture Of George W. Maher: A Preservation Perspective, Cody Chase

Historic Preservation Theses

As a branch of the international Arts and Crafts Movement, American Prairie Style architecture was a nostalgic ode to the horizontality and natural landscape of the Midwestern prairie and a departure from European design. Today, the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan comprise the most memorable examples of the era, leaving a considerable number of architects largely understudied. One of these architects was the prolific theoretician and designer George W. Maher.

Ambitious from a young age, Maher had his own firm by his mid-twenties and produced over 160 structures in his thirty-eight-year career. During that time he was …

The Andrews Complex Development Feasability Study For Newport Art House’S “Residency 2020” Project, Tracy Jonsson

Historic Preservation Theses

This paper is a needs-driven feasibility study for acquiring and rehabilitating the Andrews Complex, located at 7-10 Fir Street, Newport RI for use in Newport Art House’s Residency 2020 Project.

Newport Art House (NAH) commissioned this study responding to the need for affordable housing and studios within Newport’s artist community in the face of social change resulting from years of municipal economic investment in seasonal tourism. The Residency 2020 Project is one solution addressing equity, sustainability, and community authenticity issues identified by the City of Newport. It is an example of innovation at the intersection of historic preservation, placemaking, and …

The Visitor Experience: Reimagining The 21st Century Visitor, Christina Coleman

Historic Preservation Theses

This thesis explores a challenge that living history museums currently face of being tied to a specific time and place but needing to attract and interact with changing 21st century visitors. One way that museums combat this challenge is through an engaging visitor experience. To explore this issue, Old Sturbridge Village is used as a case study. It is a living history museum, depicting the 1830s, that is located in central Massachusetts. OSV was founded in 1946. The research is coupled with literature on museum visitor experiences. This mixed methods study utilizes interviews of employees at the museum, participant observation …

Values Enhanced Design Guidelines: Balancing Expert Knowledge With Community Values When Regulating New Construction In Historic Districts, Corey B. Pacheco

Historic Preservation Theses

Research Question: This thesis intends to answer if non-professional stakeholder meanings can assess what is appropriate for new construction in historic districts, and whether those meanings coincide with the goals of the design review guidelines for Falmouth’s historic districts.

Results: The meanings extrapolated from the non-professional Informants interviews, suggest new construction should be compatible with the surrounding streetscape, as suggested in the Falmouth’s design review guidelines

Practical Implications: The study highlights that stakeholders with little or no background in the process of historic preservation design review can carefully understand and verbalize design criteria; and in addition, make decisions that are …

Electronic Records Archives, Brian Knowles

Historic Preservation Theses

What are the best practices of electronic records archives the archival field, how can problems be resolved or how to avoid them; and where do we go from here with electronic records archives? First I review practices, policies, and management of electronic records developments. Next I discuss problematic issues archives and research facilities face relating to electronic records. I then discuss and analyze survey results. To conclude, I discuss ideas, and challenges, and offer suggestions for electronic records archives.

Looking Twice: Identifying And Understanding The Character Defining Features Of Historic Fire Stations, Kathleen M. Wilson

Historic Preservation Theses

The purpose of this study is to identify the character defining features of storefront and red brick fire stations and the necessity of understanding the history of firefighting in order to identify the character defining features. This study also examines the effectiveness of National Park Service Preservation Brief 17 Architectural Character – Identifying the Visual Aspects of Historic Buildings as an Aid to Preserving their Character in regards to identifying the character defining.

A New Focus For The Future: Historic Preservation Practices And Vocational High School Curriculum, A Massachusetts Concentration, Duane D. Houghton

Historic Preservation Theses

Graduates of vocational high schools account for the largest group of trade professionals in the construction and remodeling industry. The various concentrations provide prospective graduates with the skills, knowledge and education they need to succeed in the industry. After graduation former students are prepared to hold several different jobs in the industrial, commercial and residential areas; some work as independent contractors for various clients and projects, while others may be hired by firms on an ongoing basis.

The issue exists that although these types of vocational schools are producing valuable assets to the community they seem to promote construction and …

Visual Harmony In Relation To Camp Santanoni: User's Perceptions And Interpretations Of Visual Harmony Between Historic Rustic Architectural Design And The Natural Environment Based On Recommendations Made By Downing, Olmsted And Wicks, Nina L. Caruso

Historic Preservation Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand how users of Camp Santanoni perceive and interpret the visual harmony between historic rustic architectural design and the natural environment and if these meanings are congruent with the design recommendations from Downing, Olmsted, and Wicks. The main goal is to understand the congruent relationships between how a designer wished to achieve visual harmony between buildings and landscapes, and how people actually perceive this interaction. The meaningful relationships between users (the people) of Camp Santanoni’s buildings and the surrounding landscape (the place) were documented.

Abandoned To Functional: The Search For Historical Integrity In The Adaptive Reuses Of Kirkbride State Mental Hospitals, Caitlin E. Merritt

Historic Preservation Theses

Purpose: This thesis intends to understand historical integrity and how it plays a role in historic rehabilitation and adaptive reuse projects. More importantly, this study allows for a better understanding of the Kirkbride Plan as a particular building type that dominated state mental hospital design in between 1848-1890 and advanced the field of psychiatry. This study examines three adaptively reused Kirkbride hospitals Athens State Hospital, Athens, OH; Weston State Hospital, Weston, WV; and Danvers State Hospital Danvers MA. The three case studies were surveyed using the National Park Service seven aspects of historical integrity, to examine if historical integrity was …

The Ineffectiveness Of The National Programmatic Agreement For Cell Phone Towers, Laura Briggs

Historic Preservation Theses

Since 2004, when the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement was created to help protect and standardize the process of telecommunication tower review within the United States, many installations have been erected that have caused adverse effects on the historic resources that those regulations were intended to protect. This thesis looks at why the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement was enacted and what could be changed to help improve the review and practice of the telecommunication tower process.

The goal was to identify the ways in which the agreement could be improved upon to help minimize adverse effects on historic properties by telecommunication installations that …

What Were School Officials Thinking: The Abandonment Of Historic Schools In Rhode Island, Carolyn Jane Reid

Historic Preservation Theses

This thesis, What were School Officials Thinking: The Abandonment of Historic Schools in Rhode Island, addresses the problem that historic schools are being abandoned in favor of new construction because based on the literature there is the perceived relationship between school facilities design and pedagogical outcomes, there are state and local policies that discourage the use of older or historic schools, and there is uninformed decision making. The purpose of this research was to determine the issues and policies that are most given as to why historic schools are abandoned in Rhode Island through a survey research methodology. This was …

A Return To Manning The Post: The Adaptive Reuse Of Publically Owned Fire Control Stations From The Second World War, Donald J. Sevigny

Historic Preservation Theses

This project examines the adaptive reuse potential of World War II-era fire control stations situated on public lands. The goal was to show the economic feasibility of reusing these derelict structures while simultaneously raising awareness of the scarce resources from our nation’s recent past. This has been done by conducting existing conditions assessments, forming scopes of work, attaining cost estimates, and creating cost analyses on three individual stations within two case studies in the northeastern United States. The cost analyses were based on Donovan Rypkema’s pro forma spreadsheet templates from the Feasibility Assessment Manual for Reusing Historic Buildings. Through this …

Interpreting The Standards: Design Professionals & Historicized Design, Alexandra D. Skerry

Historic Preservation Theses

Research Question: This thesis intends to discover how and why architects make design decisions for projects in historic districts. Subquestions are based on the methods of architects; differing opinions between preservation and architectural professionals; and the inconsistent interpretation of standards and guidelines.

Results: The researcher was able to analyze each informant and position them on a self-defined design spectrum. A visual representation of this spectrum can be found in Appendix D.

Practical Implications: The results of this study show a conflict that prevents Standard 9 from both allowing the progression of contemporary architectural theory in historic areas, and requiring a …

Preservation Without Restoration: The Case For Ruins, Sydney Schoof

Historic Preservation Theses

The ruins are often an overlooked topic in historic preservation. The typical method of treatment is either full restoration or demolition. However, some ruins have gained significance in their own right and this thesis explores appropriate treatment and recognition for these structures. Ruins typically represent a historical trend toward downsizing that would not be otherwise visible and are therefore eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under criterion A, though criterion C may also be applicable as the aesthetics of ruins are often much admired and become the primary reason for local and even national interest in …