Welcome

Historic preservation is wide-ranging, spanning the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Its essential nature is multidisciplinary, requiring cooperation across many fields, architecture, the humanities, social sciences, the building trades, law, economics and art history.

Within this environment, the historic preservationist is chartered to care for material culture represented by landscapes and monuments, as well as architecture in both its high styles and vernacular forms. To be effective, a historic preservationist must be able to work within a broad framework. The foundation of this effort is a clear understanding of the project area's history. Knowledge of history, however, must be supported by an understanding of contributing disciplines and, importantly, tempered by sensitivity to the social needs of the local community, which owns the material remnants and memories of that history...read more

Historic Preservation News

• Preservation Alum Raises Awareness of Threatened American Legion Post in Virginia

  HISP graduate Sonja Ingram describes the history of this Legion Post, one of few to admit African-American soldiers in the segregation era, on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Preservation Nation blog. 

• Fall 2009 Lecture Series

  Next Lecture: Wednesday, December 2, 6:15pm
  Adèle Naudè Santos, FAIA
  MIT School of Architecture and Planning | Professor and Dean

• Join Team Maryland To Compete And Win The 2010 Uli-Hines Prize

  Want to be on a winning team and take home $50,000 your trouble? Faculty in all the disciplines are committed to working with one or more teams to earn Maryland the $50,000 top prize in the 2010 National ULI-Hines Competition-- the largest Design and Development Competition in the country.

• New Graduate Student Wins Minnesota Preservation Alliance Award

  Sarina Otaibi, a new graduate student in the preservation program, is recognized for her rescue and restoration of a historic house that was threatened by demolition.