The Top Six Books Every Preservationist Should Have in Their Library
A Field Guide to American Houses
by Virginia Savage McAlester
Noted by some as the architectural style guidebook, you’d be hard-pressed to find a preservationist without this book in their library. Revised in 2019, it includes every style of building you may find in the United States, from Native American and Postmideval English structures to post-war split levels and Millennial Mansions (aka McMansions). McAlester breaks each building style down by character-defining features to help the viewer quickly identify a structure. She also covers basic preservation and planning theory and includes often delightful and sometimes blunt commentary of her own.
Virginia McAlester wanted to help people walk through their neighborhoods and familiarize themselves with the buildings that made up their community. While she achieved that, she also provided a whole field of study an incredibly accessible and valuable tool.
A Field Guide to American Houses
by Virginia Savage McAlester
Restoring Your Historic House
by Scott T. Hanson
It’s one thing to know what kind of historic house you live in, it’s another to be able to maintain and repair it. Scott Hanson’s award-winning book is 600 pages of everything one would need to help navigate the restoration process: from dealing with local bureaucracy to hiring a contractor, and even how to do many projects yourself. He includes several case studies, gives no-nonsense suggestions, and breaks everything down into digestible bites that any homeowner, whether new to restoration or a seasoned serial restorer, will appreciate.
Restoring Your Historic House
by Scott T. Hanson
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
by Jane Jacobs
In 1961 a name emerged on the scene in opposition to Urban Renewal, a planning practice that gained traction in the 1950s and resulted in the destruction of scores of neighborhoods in America’s cities. Jane Jacobs wrote The Death and Life of Great American Cities as part of a grassroots movement opposing the plan by New York City planner Robert Moses to destroy Greenwich Village. Her argument was that the policies of Urban Renewal destroyed communities and innovative economies by creating isolated, unnatural urban spaces that overlooked and oversimplified the complexity of life in diverse communities. Jacobs advocated against gentrification, for the preservation of existing buildings and communities, for walkable streets, and the “eyes on the street” to help maintain public order.
In the 60 years since its publication, The Death and Life of Great American Cities remains one of the most influential planning books and is credited with helping turn the public against urban renewal and toward community preservation.
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
By Jane Jacobs
The Color of Law
by Richard Rothstein
Urban Renewal in America not only lead to the destruction of many of our country’s historic properties, but also the destruction of long-established communities and the reinforcement of segregation, Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law offers “the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation” (William Julius Wilson).
Rothstein explores how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with obvious racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods. A groundbreaking study, The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past.
The Color of Law
By Richard Rothstein
The Economics of Historic Preservation
by Donovan Rypkema
Cost and ROI are often presented by city leaders and developers as reason enough to be against historic preservation. However real estate consultant Donovan Rypkema of Place Economics has spent his career using data, statistics, and sound numbers to prove just the opposite - Preservation almost always makes more economic sense than demolition and new construction. In this incredibly handy guide, Rypkema provides fact-based answers to 100 common arguments and scenarios that many communities face regarding the economic benefits of historic preservation, each backed up by one or more quotes from a study, paper, publication, speech, or report. A must-read for anyone making planning or community development decisions as well as community advocates.
The Economics of Historic Preservation
by Donovan Rypkema
Historic Preservation
by Norman Tyler
Considered THE intro book to Historic Preservation, Norman Tyler’s book Historic Preservation provides a comprehensive overview to the many facets of the historic preservation profession: the philosophy and history of the movement, the role of government, the documentation and designation of historic properties, sensitive architectural designs and planning, preservation technology, and heritage tourism. He even includes a basic survey of American architectural styles. Thanks in part to Tyler’s approachable style, this book is often required reading for Historic Preservation students for their intro classes and remains heavily used by professionals.
Historic Preservation
By Norman Tyler
