Historic preservation

This article is about the preservation of cultural heritage. For cultural heritage as a concept, see Cultural heritage. For vocation and practice of managing cultural heritage, see Cultural heritage management.
Today, historic preservation often concerns itself with everyday, vernacular landscapes associated with marginalized communities, such as Barry Farm in Washington, DC (pictured here), as much as it does monumental properties.

Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philosophical concept that became popular in the twentieth century, which maintains that cities as products of centuries' development should be obligated to protect their patrimonial legacy.[1] The term refers specifically to the preservation of the built environment, and not to preservation of, for example, primeval forests or wilderness.[2]

  1. ^ Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 345.
  2. ^ Maryland Association of Historic District Commissions, Handbook Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine (1997).