Ten Myths About Historic Preservation Prepared for the Historic Glenwood Preservation Initiative, March 2008


Historic Preservation is often misunderstood. The misperceptions can range from an owner afraid of limitations it might impose on a particular property while others will have unrealistic expectations about free government money paying for every conceivable expense. To clear up some of the more common misconception the following list tackles some of the bigger “myths” that tend to be out there.

Myth #1: "If a property gets designated as a historic landmark, it's protected forever and can never be demolished."

Fact: Landmark designation does not prohibit demolition outright. In some larger cities, designation as a historic landmark allows the City to delay demolition by objecting to the issuance of a demolition permit, but only for a short time.

Here in Glenwood, that designation would not prohibit demolition, nor would it require specific work to be executed.

Myth #2: "Historic designation will reduce my property values."

Fact: Study after study across the nation has conclusively demonstrated that historic designation and the creation of historic districts actually increase property values. Why? In part, historic designation gives a neighborhood or an individual historic site a cache that sets it apart from ordinary properties. Many businesses or buyers seek out the unique qualities and ambiance of a historic property.

Myth #3: "If my property is designated as a historic site, I won't be able to change it in any way, and I don't want my property to become like a museum."

Fact: Owners of designated historic structures may make very significant changes to their structures. Historic preservation laws, at their essence, are not meant to prevent change, but, rather, to manage change. The tool to manage change is the Secretary of Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, the nationally accepted benchmark for evaluating changes to historic structures.

The Standards don't require that every element of a historic site remain intact: you need not keep every doorknob! However, the most significant, or "character-defining", historic elements of a property should be retained. New additions to the historic property are allowed, but should be compatible with the site's historic architecture. The Standards urge the repair of deteriorated historic features, but do allow for replacement where deterioration leaves no other option.

Myth #4: "Historic Preservation is only for the rich and elite, and for high-style buildings.”

Fact: Historic preservation isn't just about house museums anymore. Today's preservation movement is increasingly diverse. Preservation today also focuses not just on grandiose architectural landmarks, but on more modest sites of social and cultural significance. Such sites underscore that preservation can be about the "power of place" found at sites containing rich social and cultural meaning.

Myth #5: “Historic Preservation is bad for business.”

Fact: Historic preservation is at the very heart of our nation's most vibrant economic development and business attraction programs. From local examples like Omaha’s Old Market District, to traditional, historic southern cities such as Charleston or Savannah, to the recent boom in "heritage tourism," today's economic development strategies no longer see preservation and business development as competing values.

The National Main Street Center, a program that uses historic preservation to revitalize town centers and neighborhood commercial districts, has actually tracked economic results in 1,700 Main Street communities nationally. These preservation-based programs have created over 231,000 new jobs and resulted in over $17 billion in reinvestment to date, with every dollar spent on a Main Street program yielding $40 in economic reinvestment.

Myth #6: “Preservation is more expensive than new construction.”

This is certainly true at times, but, in fact, historic preservation is typically more cost effective than new construction. Why? Historic buildings certainly do sometimes need upgrades, but these are usually less expensive than the costs of building all-new foundations, structural systems, roofs and building finishes.

Myth #7: If l buy a historic property, there's lots of government money available to help me fix it up

While it doesn't necessarily cost more to renovate a historic structure than to build anew, few large government or foundation grants are available to owners of historic properties, and even those few typically limit eligibility to government agencies or non-profits.

What is available tends to be tax incentives for private owners of historic buildings. Tax credit programs exist at the federal level and at the state level in Iowa. These programs can be used together. Owners of sites listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places may take advantage of a Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit that provides a 20% tax offset for the cost of rehabilitation.

Iowa Statewide Historic Projects Tax Credit Programs:
Description: 25% of qualified rehabilitation costs are available as a credit against the owner(s) state income taxes. Properties do not need to be income-producing. The SHPO (State Historic Preservation Office) cannot reserve credits for more than three years into the future. For a residential property or barn constructed before 1937 before rehabilitation, the cost of a qualified rehabilitation project must exceed either $25,000 or 25% of the fair market value (less the land value) - whichever is less. For commercial properties, the rehabilitation project must exceed 50% of the fair market value of the property (less the land value) before rehabilitation. Rehabilitation work must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.
Eligibility Requirements: Properties must be listed on or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places or be barns constructed before 1937.

Small Projects under $500,000
Description: This program uses the same description, eligibility requirements and regulations as the statewide program described above although the funding is from a separate allocation reserved for small projects which have qualified rehabilitation costs less than $500,000.
Eligibility Requirements: In addition to the eligibility requirements for the state wide program above, properties must have qualified rehabilitation costs that do not exceed $500,000. The entire rehabilitation project must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings.
Additional information on Iowa’s programs can be found at:
http://www.iowahistory.org/preservation/financial_assistance/financial_assistance.html

Myth #8: Old buildings are less safe

Although historic structures do sometimes require structural retrofits or the addition of fire sprinklers to enhance their safety, historic buildings typically perform better than newer construction in earthquakes and other natural disasters. What determines the safety of buildings is the quality of construction, not age, and, in many ways, "they just don't build 'em like they used to."

Myth #9: preservation is an un-American violation of property rights.

Historic preservation laws no more infringe on property rights than do many other laws and private rules that Americans have long accepted. Though everyone likes to believe "my home is my castle and I can do whatever I want," this statement simply doesn't reflect reality. Locally and nationally, zoning laws prevent you from replacing your single-family home with an apartment building or a five-story vertical mansion. We should all be happy that such laws prevent our neighbor from putting a landfill or a factory behind our back fence.

Myth #10: Preservationists are always fighting new development and only care about the past

Historic preservationists do care deeply about the past -- generally not just to wallow sentimentally in a bygone era, but as a way of anchoring ourselves as we move forward confidently into the future. Historic preservation is not about stopping change and is certainly not about squeezing out creative and exciting new architecture and development. Preservation allows us to retain the best of shared heritage to preserve sites of unique quality and beauty, revitalize neighborhoods, spur economic revitalization, and, quite simply, create better communities.

Much of the above was borrowed from City of Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources Publication
http://www.preservation.lacity.org/top-myths