Moravian Preservation Master Plan.indb - Society for College and ...

Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan
Guidelines for Rehabilitation and
Adaptive Use
The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for
Rehabilitation, upon which the recommendations
within this preservation plan are based, were
created specifically to assist in the rehabilitation
and adaptive use of historic buildings. These
Standards are an important guide in good decisionmaking
regarding rehabilitation and adaptive use.
The Standards encourage the study of a historic
building to determine the following:
Historical Development – The building should
be examined to determine how it has changed
over time and which components, additions,
architectural features and materials are significant
and associated with periods of change.
Period of Significance – Based upon the building’s
historical development, a period of historical
significance can be established. This range of years
should include substantial building additions
and modifications. As a general rule, changes
to a building within the past fifty years are not
considered historically significant.
Significant Features – Specific character-defining
features, configurations, and materials that relate
to the building’s period of significance should be
inventoried. In general, entrances, public spaces,
and circulation spaces should receive the highest
level of preservation treatment.
Appropriate Use – The proposed new use for an
historic building should be appropriate to the
character of the building as it relates to the retention
of character-defining features. Inappropriate uses
that require the reconfiguration, disfigurement,
removal, or destruction of character-defining
features should be discouraged. For significant
features, the program, design, and layout for a
permitted use should adapt to the preservation
requirements of the building, not vice versa.
Appropriate uses and levels of change may be
identified for each treatment level identified in a
building.
Retain Historic Building Fabric – Retain existing
historic building fabric and architectural details
whenever possible. The removal or alteration
of historic building fabric and architectural
detailsseverely diminishes the integrity and
aesthetics of historic façades and interiors, especially
those that date from the nineteenth or eighteenth
century.
Replacement In Kind – When deteriorated historic
building fabric cannot be retained, the deteriorated
materials should be replaced in kind. Historic
materials are generally preferred over contemporary
synthetic ones because they reflect authenticity
from the past and their long-term performance is
fully understood.
Damaged or Missing Features – If adequate
physical and documentary evidence is available,
highly deteriorated or missing historic architectural
details may be reproduced. If adequate evidence is
unavailable, missing features should be replaced
with contemporary elements that are physically
and visually compatible with the building and the
landscape. It is especially important to understand
the physical properties of the materials that are being
used. For example, some metals corrode when they
are placed in contact with one another. Size, scale,
material, and color should also be considered.
Synthetic Materials – When natural, historic
materials are unavailable or prohibitively expensive,
the use of synthetic materials may be appropriate.
Today, many synthetic materials are designed to
closely match the appearance and characteristics
of natural materials. These materials should be
researched extensively and chosen carefully,
however, because their weathering characteristics
and longevity may not be known.
False Historicism – Do not construct new features
that attempt to appear historic but are not based
upon actual documentation because it confuses
the understanding of authentic historic buildings
and diminishes the actual legacy of the past. For
example, it is inappropriate to copy the features
of another existing historic building for use in
the rehabilitation of a building that lacks such
features even if it is thought that the building
might have had something similar at some time.
Avoid speculation and conjecture as to what a
building or feature might have looked like. It is
especially inappropriate to create a feature that
appears to predate the actual date of construction
of a building, such as introducing a Federal-style
detail on a Victorian-era building. Authenticity and
the preservation of real historic fabric are primary
goals in the rehabilitation of historic buildings.
Doorways and Entrances – Preserve the existing
doorways and entrances to a building undergoing
John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 10 • New Construction • 321