Sometimes to preserve an important
part of our history, we end up “moving” it someplace else!
I’m not talking London Bridge which moved from London to Lake
Havasu City, Arizona, nor the Temple of Debod, moved from near Aswan Egypt to
Madrid Spain, I am talking less flashy and more local efforts made to move
buildings or structures in order to preserve our history while at the same time
encouraging modern development.
This past week,
another historic house (Crabtree Jones House, c. 1795) in Raleigh was moved to
make way for an apartment complex and a few years ago a house was moved to make
way for a large shopping center (Midway, for which a documentary film was produced by Godfrey Cheshire). These are not the first houses to be moved to make way for “progress” nor will they be the last and what’s key is that there was a dedication to preserve these houses versus just tearing them down.
Unfortunately, all
too often we do hear about historic houses, buildings, or other structures
which are so neglected that they fall apart before our eyes. Or, we hear about situations where the financial resources are not forthcoming and a historic building is destroyed, not for lack of interest and for lack of money (e.g. Catalono House).
And, this is not
new. There are many buildings which had
already disappeared from the landscape before I was born or soon after (e.g Meredith College building).
As with everything
else, in some regards we would like to preserve it all! Is that realistic? Probably not. If not, how do we decide what to preserve
assuming limited resources? Are the
oldest buildings a priority? Unique buildings?
I don’t have an
answer to those questions. I do know
that I do appreciate any piece of history which is preserved. Many would argue that we shouldn’t even “move”
these historic buildings. On the other hand,
if the choice is to move or preserve, I think moving has value!
What are your thoughts?
Has your community preserved buildings by moving them?
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