WHY Old Places MATTER WHY Old Places MATTER HOW HISTORIC PLACES AFFECT OUR IDENTITY AND WELL-BEING THOMPSON M. MAYES Washington, DC ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • London Published by Rowman & Littlefield An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowman.com Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 National Trust for Historic Preservation. All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data Library of Congress Control Number: 2018949402 ISBN: 978-1-5381-1768-2 (cloth: alk. paper) ISBN: 978-1-5381-1769-9 (electronic) The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America In memory of my sister, Carol Harris Mayes, and my mother, Elizabeth McCord Mayes We do not only inhabit space, we also dwell in time.— Juhani Pallasmaa Contents Contents Acknowledgments Foreword Prologue Introduction 1 Continuity 2 Memory 3 Individual Identity 4 Civic, State, National, and Universal Identity 5 Beauty 6 History 7 Architecture 8 Sacred 9 Creativity 10 Learning 11 Sustainability 12 Ancestors 13 Community 14 Economics Epilogue Bibliography About the Author Acknowledgments W hy Old Places Matter could not have been written without the many people who kindly shared their ideas with me over the course of years, as well as the institutions that supported my research and the publication of these essays. First and foremost, the National Trust for Historic Preservation unhesitatingly supported the project from the beginning, providing me with a sabbatical to research the ideas, publishing the essays as blog posts through Preservation Forum, and supporting the publication of the essays as a book. The American Academy in Rome awarded me not only the National Endowment for the Arts Rome Prize in Historic Preservation, but more importantly, gave me access to the city of Rome and the astonishingly generous and thoughtful community of fellows, fellow travelers, scholars, and artists at the American Academy. The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) championed the publication of the essays as part of its book series shortly after I returned from Rome and pursued it through completion. At the National Trust, a special heartfelt expression of gratitude to Paul Edmondson and particular thanks to Stephanie Meeks, David Brown, Katherine Malone-France, and Lyn Moriarity for their unstinting support of the project. Susan West-Montgomery, Priya Chhaya, Byrd Wood, Julia Rocchi, Germonique Ulmer, Rebecca Bice, Lisa Thompson, and Alison Yue worked with me with thoughtfulness and good humor on the blog posts, articles, communications, and a host of other support; Ross Bradford, Anne Nelson, Sharee Williamson, William Cook, Betsy Merritt, Shantia Anderheggen, and Paul Edmondson took over my regular work while I was in Rome and did it so well and with such pleasure that most of it stayed with them. Thanks also to Raina Regan, Latoya Livingston, Moira Nadal, Elaine Chang, and Georgiana Hale of the law department for their support and goodwill. Many other present and past colleagues at the National Trust, its sites, and related organizations shared their thoughts, ideas, and support, including Kevin Murphy, Margaret O’Neal, James Lindberg, Tabitha Almquist, Mike Powe, Robert Nieweg, Roberta Lane, Rhonda Sincavage, Joseph McGill, Barbara Pahl, John Hildreth, Sheri Freemuth, Kelly Schindler, Brent Leggs, Anthony Veerkamp, Chris Morris, Laurie Ossman, Donna Hassler, Jenny Buddenborg, Rosemarie Rae, Carolyn Brackett, Nancy Tinker, Alicia Leuba, Dennis Hockman, Ashley Wilson, Callie Hawkins, Erin Carlson Mast, David Young, James Schwartz, George McDaniel, Judy Clark, Irv Henderson, Kevin and Mary Daniels, Tim Whalen, Marita Rivero, Jim and Janet Vaughan, Frank Sanchis, Carl Wolf, Tom Cassidy, Marianna Knight, David Field, and Theresa Pasqual. Mary Butler found images and created designs on an impossibly short deadline. Ann Thornton, Kimberly Skelly, and Hilary Baar sought or identified funding for the book. At the American Academy, I was inspired to understand more about old places through experiencing Rome, but I was even more inspired by the generous interdisciplinary cross-fertilization that the academy fosters. I thank Adele Chatfield-Taylor for her friendship and her unwavering support for historic preservation as a discipline at the academy, Cristina Puglisi for understanding the soul of the academy as a preservation philosophy, Christopher and Anna Celenza for their thoughtful leadership and kindness, Kim Bose for the walks and talks, Peter Benson Miller for his intellect, Sebastian Hierl for always helping me obtain articles and books, Mark Robbins for his continuing engagement, Shawn Miller, Gianpaolo Battaglia, and Giulia Barra for all of their help and good cheer, Alessandro Lima, Tiziana Del Grosso, Chris Behr,