CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE
May 24, 1966
Page 11245
PLAN NEEDED TO RESCUE MANY HISTORIC BUILDINGS
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I was most pleased recently to read an article in the April 28, 1966 issue of the Virginia Law Weekly, published at the Law School of the University of Virginia, entitled "Plan Needed To Rescue Many Historic Buildings." This article was written by a distinguished. former member of. the House of Representatives from Alabama, the Honorable Albert W. Rains, who for years was chairman of the Housing Subcommittee of the Banking and Currency Committee. He floor managed in the House a major portion of the housing legislation that we have in effect today
Mr. Rains writes that there is great need for an awakening of interest in the preservation of our cultural and architectural heritage and for Federal assistance in this field. Too often the bulldozer or human neglect erase forever precious and glorious landmarks of the past, which, upon reflection, we would not allow to happen.
I could not agree more thoroughly with Mr. Rains. On March 17, 1966, I introduced in the Senate for myself and several Senators, S. 3097, which would provide financial and other aids, under the Housing Act of 1949 and related Federal programs, to encourage and assist in the preservation and maintenance of historic structures.
It is my firm hope that this bill receives favorable consideration by the Housing Subcommittee and the Banking and Currency Committee, and that it is passed by Congress before adjournment.
I ask unanimous consent, Mr. President, that this article be printed in the RECORD.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows,
REAL PROPERTY IN THE URBAN SOCIETY PLAN NEEDED TO RESCUE MANY HISTORIC BUILDINGS
(By Albert M. Rains)
(Albert Rains was a member of the House of Representatives from 1943 until 1985. For fifteen years, he served as chairman of the Housing Subcommittee which wrote many of the present housing and urban development statutes. He is now in private practice in Gadsden, Alabama, and serves as Counsel for the Joint Council on Housing and Urban Development. During the past year he served as chairman of the Special Committee on Historic Preservation, a task force that included three Cabinet officers. The proposals made by Mr. Rains in this article have been incorporated in legislation now under consideration in Congress.)
If it can be said that there is a new awakening of interest in the preservation of our cultural and architectural heritage, it must be added that never was the need for it greater.
Since World War II, a great wave of urbanization has been sweeping across the Nation, and such is the rate of growth that is the next forty years the United States will have to build more homes, more schools, more stores, more factories, more public facilities of all kinds than in the entire previous history of the country.
Out of the turbulence of building, tearing down and rebuilding the face of America, more and more Americans have come to realize that as the future replaces the past, it destroys much of the physical evidence of the past.
Our Nation began with migrations, grew with migrations and remains a nation of people on the move. Few of us have had close ties with the land and with places and buildings. The natural result in too many cases, has been a neglect of starting points and an indifference to our cultural trail of buildings and places. This is what we are trying to correct.
NATIONAL PLAN URGED
The current pace of preservation effort is not enough. It is as though the preservation movement were trying to travel up a down escalator. The time has come for bold new measures and a national plan of action to insure that we, our children and future generations may have a genuine opportunity to appreciate and to enjoy our rich heritage.
The United States, with a short history and an emphasis on its economic growth, has left historic preservation primarily to private interests and efforts. In the older; history conscious countries of Europe, preservation leadership has been provided primarily by government.
As is apparent from a study of various laws and programs, governmental concern for historic preservation in the United States has been limited at all levels, with some notable exceptions.
At the Federal level, the laws now in effect which mention preservation directly include the Antiquities Act of 1906, written to protect historic monuments on Government property; an act establishing the National Park Service in 1916; the Historic Sites Act of1935, which defines the national policy of preservation for public use; the act of 1949, which established and defined the powers of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Housing Acts of 1961 and 1965, which gave to the Department of Housing and Urban Development powers to use Federal funds to acquire open space and to move historic structures in urban renewal areas.
HISTORIC VALUES PRESERVED
If the preservation movement is to be successful it must go beyond saving bricks and mortar. It must go beyond saving occasional historic houses and opening museums. It must be more than a cult of antiquarians. It must do more than revere a few precious national shrines. It must attempt to give a sense of orientation to our society, using structures and objects of the past to establish values of time and place.
This means a reorientation of outlook and effort in several ways.,
First, the preservation movement must recognize the importance of architecture, design and esthetics as well as historic and cultural values. Those who treasure a building for its pleasing appearance or local sentiment do not find it less important because it lacks proper historic credentials.
Second, the new preservation must look beyond the individual building and individ ual landmark and concern itself with the historic and architecturally valued areas and districts which contain a special meaning for the community. A historic neighborhood, a fine old street of houses, a village green, a colorful marketplace, a courthouse square, an esthetic quality of the town-scape -- all must fall within the concern of the preservation movement. It makes little sense to fight for the preservation of a historic house set between two service stations, and at the same time to ignore an entire area of special charm or importance in the community which is being nibbled away by incompatible uses or slow decay.
Third, if the effort to preserve historic and architecturally significant areas as well as individual buildings is to succeed, intensive thought and study must be given to economic conditions and tax policies which will affect our efforts to preserve such areas as living parts of the community.,
TOTAL HERITAGE CONSIDERED
In sum, if we wish to have a future with greater meaning, we must concern ourselves not only with the historic highlights, but we must be concerned with the total heritage of the Nation and all that is worth preserving from our past as a living part of the present.
To carry out the goals of historic preservation a comprehensive national plan of action is imperative. Such a plan will encourage, improve and reinforce public and private leadership.
Many individuals and private organizations have worked long and hard to preserve the physical evidences of our heritage which we are privileged to enjoy today. Public agencies have also made a substantial contribution. But to meet the current crisis and to accelerate the pace of historic preservation we need to increase the amount of Government support and joint public and private efforts.
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES SUCCESSFUL
Our traditions differ from those of European countries, but we have much to learn from European experience. The weight which European governments give to historic preservation has resulted in successful programs for saving, restoring and reconstructing many different types of buildings for viable uses. There is an excellent object lesson in the European achievement in maintaining historic buildings and areas as living parts of communities and as successful economic ventures.
A national plan of action for historic preservation should include the following elements:
1. A comprehensive statement of national policy to guide the activities and programs of all Federal agencies.
2. The establishment of an Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to provide leadership and guidance for the direction of interagency actions and to provide liaison with State and local governments, public and private groups, and the general public.
3. A greatly expanded national register program to inventory and to catalog communities, areas, structures, sites and objects; a Federal program of assistance to States and localities for companion programs; and a strong Federal public information program based on the material in the Register.
4. Added authority and sufficient funds for Federal acquisition of threatened buildings and sites of national historic importance, and expansion of the urban renewal program to permit local noncash contributions to include acquisition of historic buildings on the national register, both within and outside the project area.
5. Provision for Federal loans and grants and other financial aid to facilities and expansion of State and local programs of historic preservation.
6. Federal financial aid to and through the National Trust for Historic Preservation to assist private interest and activity in the preservation field, for educational purposes and for direct assistance to private property holders.