i+D - July/August 2018 - 45

Redesigning History - By Brian Libby

For its work to restore and
rehabilitate the Elgin County
Courthouse in St. Thomas,
Ontario, Canada, EVOQ
received an Award of Merit for
the Conservation of Buildings
from the Canadian Association
of Heritage Professionals.

Creativity Within Guidelines
When restoring historic buildings, designers must negotiate a web of
local, state/provincial, and national regulations, but they also can look
to government for guidance on how to proceed, as well as for financial
assistance. "We need laws where buildings can't be torn down, but there
has to be carefully managed flexibility," explains Ashley R. Wilson, who
oversees national historic sites for the Washington, D.C.-based National Trust
for Historic Preservation, a former U.S. government entity now acting as an
independent nonprofit. "You're saving the character-defining features, but
you're acknowledging there are lots of little things that can't be saved. It's
more about saving a feel and the place."

(Image: EVOQ)

Wilson recommends consulting key guidelines, such as the Secretary of
the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. "Basically,
if your building is in a designated historic district or it's listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, then you always end up referencing
that," she says. "They're really the best practices." The Secretary's
Standards divides the field into four categories: preservation, rehabilitation,
restoration, and reconstruction. But within those confines, Wilson says,
there is still plenty of room for interior creativity that is not necessarily
a slave to the past.
"For many of us, working with a historic building is a huge bonus,"
she notes. "You have this historic character that's already there. And, your
work can set it off. It's so rare as a designer that you have a blank slate,
without context. Preservation is just one of those contexts. There are
limitations set up for new buildings, too: the size of the windows or the
materials you can use. Interior designers can come to understand a building's
history so they can weave it, play with it, and even be ironic with it, within
the fabric of the building."

Not every restoration move should ape a historic interior, however.
In fact, a well-established tenet of historic preservation is to make a
clear distinction between old and new. On the Elgin County Courthouse
in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, for example, EVOQ was charged with
incorporating a security checkpoint into a Palladian-style courthouse
dating to 1852. "There was discussion with the client about [whether]
the screening machines should be outfitted with Victorian decoration and
woodwork," Gersovitz recalls. "We felt that was not going to be a good
idea. You didn't need to make it look like a Victorian scanning machine.
Not everything will look like it's designed into the original building,
but you can make sure it fits its new role and its new era."

"For many of us, working with a historic
building is a huge bonus. You have this historic
character that's already there. And, your
work can set it off. It's so rare as a designer
that you have a blank slate, without context.
Preservation is just one of those contexts."

i+D - July/August 2018

-ASHLEY R. WILSON, NATIONAL TRUST
FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION

45
i+D - July/August 2018

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