History is such a complex and interesting thing. Everything that has happened in the past has worked together to create the world we live in today. Every decision, action, mistake, item, building... everything played a role in getting us here. It's important that we work to preserve all of these different aspects of history. That way every significant piece of history is there to serve as a reminder of the past, whether that be positive to remind us of the struggles we went through or the negative to remind us never to repeat the same mistakes.

One of the most significant parts of preserving history is preserving historic buildings. Buildings like the White House and Independence Hall are locations that we want to make sure stay around as long as possible because they mean something to the United States.

Here at Huber & Associates, we are dedicated to preserving those old roofs on historical buildings. We want to help you protect the history held in your building and its contents.

Importance of Preserving Historical Buildings

What is Historic Preservation?

Let's start off with the basics — what is historic preservation? Historic preservation is working to save the historical characteristics of something. It doesn't have to be a specific item or structure to be preserved or to have historical value. In fact, important historical items could be a building, a home, a cemetery, a farm, a piece of land... the list goes on.

Think about the home of Elvis Presley in Tennessee. It was a home to Mr. Presley until his passing in 1977. The home now serves as more of a museum to celebrate the life of Mr Presley. You can take a tour through his home, view his airplanes and walk through the entire estate. In order to keep the area in great condition for visitors, the buildings and contents have to be preserved. The Graceland organizers had to make sure the character stayed with Mr. Presley's estate for those visitors.

What Needs to be Preserved?

You may be wondering: What should we work toward preserving? Well, there's really no clear answer. Of course things like battlegrounds, famous homes and buildings and major historical artifacts should be memorialized and preserved. But what about other things? What about a place that's only significant to the town or state where it's located?

Luckily, usually whoever owns the historic location will be more than willing to preserve it and its history. But what about those people who just want to sell it to become commercial land? Well, a community can come together to have something named a historic landmark, so it would have to be preserved.

If there's a building or location that you believe should be preserved because of its historic importance, gather with your community.

What Constitutes a Historic Building?

Now that we've talked about the importance of preserving historical buildings, let's talk about what constitutes a historic building. There is so much that has happened in our past that it might be difficult to determine whether a building can be considered historic.

Is Your Home Historic?

When it comes to buying and selling residential homes, ask yourself these questions. If your home meets these criteria, it could be a historic building!

Is your home older than 50 years? This may seem silly. Just because you have an older home doesn't mean it's historic, which is true. But if your home is newly built, it hasn't had the time for anything historic to take place there. The land where it is located may be a different story, but the home probably isn't historic.
Did a significant or historic event take place here? Think about where the home is. Think about history. Is your home connected to an important piece of history?
Is it connected to a significant individual? Did someone of significance have anything to do with this home? Did a historical figure live in the home at some point? Did this home maybe serve as a famous church in history before undergoing renovations? Research the home and ask yourself these types of questions.
Is the home an embodiment of a historic style? Is there something very unique about the way your home is built? Is there something unique about the structure itself? The architecture? If there is, do some research. Those unique styles could hold more importance than you'd think.
Has it provided or can it provide historical information? Is there something in the home that holds something historical?

If you said yes to any of these questions, do some more research on the home. Do some research on the land. See if anything significant has happened there before. Your home could be more valuable than you'd think.

Is Your Building Historic?

Like homes, there are several different factors that can make a building historic. It could be that a historical event took place there (whether that be cultural, political or social), a specific architectural style, a historical individual or maybe just something the building embodies.

Another very important aspect of a historic building is that it still holds its original integrity. If the building has undergone lots of renovations and/or changes, it may have lost its historic value. Keep this in mind when trying to determine whether a building is historic.

The National Park Service puts a stipulation on the age of a building. To be historic, the NPS says a building must be at least 50 years old. This definitely seems unnecessary, but a building has to have had the time to mature and have something significant happen within its walls.

The National Park Service manages the National Register of Historic Places, which is the official list of historic buildings that are worth preservation. According the the NPS, buildings and properties can be listed on the register either individually or as part of a district.

There are also state and local registers. If you believe your building may be historically significant, seek out one of these type of registers, or even all three, to see if it qualifies to be historically preserved.

How Can We Protect Historic Places?

There are a number of things that can threaten a historical place, such as lack of understanding of the significance of the property, neglect of the property, development, weather, etc. While you can't control the weather moving in that could ruin a historic location, you can help in the other areas.

We can easily help to educate others on the importance of something. The only way people will learn is if we share our knowledge. You learn something new everyday, and today could be the day you learn about a historic building.

If you're able, step in and help with the maintenance of the property. Since most historic places aren't usually public property to give you this ability, take a stand. It would be a shame for a historic location to perish just because it wasn't taken care of properly.

As our world continues to grow, homes and businesses are popping up everywhere. Contractors and developers see older homes and buildings and believe that is the perfect spot to build something new. Try to rally your community together against this. Approach your local, state or national register. Make sure the threatened location isn't a historic site before it's too late.

Do your part for your community. Research those old buildings and protect what you can. You could be saving a piece of history.

What is the Historic Preservation Movement?

The Beginnings of the Movement

The restoration and preservation of Mount Vernon, the home of first United States President George Washington, is one of the earliest recognized preservations in our history. The home's condition was getting worse and worse as time went on, and people began to notice how bad it was getting. In the 1850s, a group of prominent women formed the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. This association purchased the home, managed its restoration and turned it into a place where everyone could honor Mr. Washington.

The actions of these women set off a chain of events, as similar groups and associations began to emerge all over the country with similar tasks and goals.

In the 20th Century, the government was brought into the movement. There were problems with the looting of different archaeological sites, which began to worry people. In response, the Antiquities Act of 1906 was passed by Congress, which made the destruction of these kinds of sites a crime. It also gave the President the authority to name certain sites as national monuments. This act gave hope to the people because it showed that the government shared its concern for these historical sites.

Timeline of Major Events for the Historic Preservation Movement

Over time, there have been so many milestones for the United States in terms of this movement. Here are some of the major ones.

1791: Massachusetts Historical Society was established as the first organization to collect and preserve history.
1816: City of Philadelphia purchases Independence Hall to save it from being demolished
1828: The first restoration is taken on in Rhode Island on Tour Synagogue
1836: Thomas Jefferson's home is purchased by Uriah Levy, who renovates and preserves the home
1850: America's first house museum (Hasbrouck House) is purchased by the state of New York to preserve George Washington's headquarters
1856: Ann Pamela Cunningham establishes the Mount Vernon Ladies Association to preserve the home of George Washington. Once the home is purchased, the ladies have the home restored to become a place to honor Mr. Washington. This was the first private preservation group in the US.

Also in 1856, Tennessee legislature allows the purchase of the Heritage (Andrew Jackson's home)

1857: The location of the first Continental Congress (Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia) is restored, opened to the public and becomes the first privately owned historical building to be preserved
1876: Boston's Old South Meeting House becomes another successfully preserved urban location
1888: The first state-wide preservation organization — Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) — is formed
1889: An Act of Congress names Casa Grande near Coolidge, Arizona the first National Monument
1890: An Act on Congress names Chickamauga Battlefield in Georgia the first National Military Park
1895: The Trustees of Scenic and Historic Places and Objects is chartered by New York State Legislature (in 1901, it became the American Scenic Historic Reservation Society)
1896: The United State Supreme Court sees its first historic preservation case (United States vs. Gettysburg Electric Railroad Company)
1906: An Act of Congress passes the Antiquities Act, which is the first major federal preservation legislation and its focus is on archaeological sites
1909: The first outdoor museum of historic buildings opens in Salem, Massachusetts by the Essex Institute
1910: The United States' first regional preservation organization is founded (Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA))
1916: Congress establishes the National Park Service (NPS)

This is just a basic timeline of the events that took place within a little over a one-hundred-year time frame. These are the major events between 1791 and 1916 that helped us achieve milestones in the preservation movement.

Huber & Associates: What Will We Work to Preserve?

There are so many buildings around the world that correlate to something throughout history. But Huber & Associates will do more than protect just the historical buildings. We will also work to preserve buildings that are culturally and architecturally important. We do a lot of work in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia, but we can do work nationally and even internationally.

Huber & Associates also has experience working with many types of materials, such as:

Clay Tile
Copper
Slate
Thatch
Wood

When we are working on a building, we work closely with architects and site managers to make sure we are doing the best for the roof, the building, and the history behind the building.

We have obviously done some work on many historical buildings, but we also have experience with churches, schools/universities, government buildings, national parks, plantations and even large private residences.

Huber & Associates has experience with all different types of roof preservation work. If you have a building you want preserved, fill out our form, and we'll get back to you soon with more information!

Give Huber & Associates a call at (386) 487-1040 or shoot us an email at sales@huberroofing today! We would love to talk to you about your preserving your building!

historic preservation