Historic preservation is a development strategy that secures a community’s unique architectural heritage. It means reusing buildings of significant architectural quality or historic importance.
Not every old building is historic. But if an old building is architecturally, culturally or historically important, new development should preserve the fabric of that building. It is a way of ensuring that our cities grow more beautiful, and that the past achievements of architects and developers are respected.
We support the City’s policy that buildings built more than fifty years ago are at least potentially historic, and must be evaluated before demolition can be approved.
PAC*SJ especially supports preserving and reusing city landmarks, candidate city landmarks, California Register-eligible and National Register-eligible properties.
Concerned about global warming? Read Sustainability and Historic Preservation, by Don Rypkema. Don believes "The best green building is an historic building" and that "historic preservation is the ultimate in recycling." Demolition of a historic building wastes the valuable the materials and energy spent bulding it. The EPA has noted that building construction debris constitutes around a third of all waste generated in this country. Preserving historic buildings fits well with Mayor Chuck Reed’s Green Vision environmental plan to make San Jose a sustainable city.
Top Ten Myths about Historic Preservation Why preservation is good for business, the economy and the environment.