Preservation and Restoration of Historical Buildings

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There are a lot of abandoned historical buildings in cities around the state. These buildings can be used for public uses instead of being demolished and replaced with newer buildings. Instead of allowing historical landmarks to become abandoned blights, or destroy them and lose the history forever, steps can be taken to incorporate them into the modern world through reinvention. This preservation will not only preserve the historical sites but turn them into active, valuable sites for the future.

One option to help with saving historical buildings is to turn them into apartments. Doing this is something that will save the history while resolving housing issues. This is an idea that will keep the history of a city without standing in the way of the growth of a city. Research done by the Preservation Massachusetts, a nonprofit historic preservation group, estimated there are more than 25 million square feet of historic structures that are not being used(Tsipis, Y. 2004). These buildings are structurally strong and could be used to grow a city while keeping the historical value.

The increase of rent is something that usually goes along with the restoration of historical buildings. Massachusetts has put a historical tax credit in play to prevent this from happening. With the use of the tax credit it is possible to make the restoration of historical buildings without raising rent. This will help to prevent excluding low income families from being able to have a place to live. This is important in the preservation process, if you cannot keep the rents down than you are creating a problem for a lot of people. This tax credit was a way to make sure that the history could be saved without pushing low income people out of the...

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...e them from being demolished. Instead of allowing historical landmarks to become abandoned blights, or destroy them and lose the history forever, steps can be taken to incorporate them into the modern world through reinvention. This preservation will not only preserve the historical sites but turn them into active, valuable sites for the future.

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References

Geehan, A. (2009). Spalding house in Lowell gets some window dressing. The Sun.

Laidler, J. (2002). No takers yet for the old Salem jail. Boston Globe.

McCabe, K. (2000). Battle rages over armory in Salem museum wants façade razed, but group cites historic value. Boston Globe.

Tsipis, Y. (2004). History and the housing crisis. Boston Globe.

Weir, R. E. (2012) Bewitched and bewilderes: Salem witches, empty factories, and tourist dollars. Historical Journal of Massachusetts, 40(1), 178-XIII

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