Recent Past Architecture and Preservation

When people think of historic preservation or historic architecture they tend to conjure up pictures of saving the Colonial period farmhouse or Victorian style row house. However, there is a growing interest in protecting and preserving our "recent past" which includes building and structures from the twentieth century. This would include drive-in movie theatres, supermarkets, diners, and the dwellings of the postwar suburbs. Buildings such as glass walled office parks and post war schools embody the aspirations, priorities, challenges and successes of our recent history.

In Connecticut buildings and sites from our recent past would include the Merritt Parkway, Wilde Building (Cigna Campus), Veterans Memorial Coliseum (New Haven) and International Styles houses (Fairfield County). "The 20th century's distinctive places need to survive not only for their economic potential, or beauty, or fame, but also because they provide a continuous thread to past lives and times."

Below you will find a number of links to sites that are dedicated to preserving our "recent past." A good place to start is with the National Park Service's Recent Past Initiative and the Recent Past Preservation Network.

National Parks Service, Recent Past Initiative -A site dedicated to fostering an appreciation and preservation of 20th century landmarks. The Recent Past Preservation Network -Promoting preservation, education and advocacy to encourage a contextual understanding of our modern built environment. American Diner Museum -Focused on celebrating and preserving the cultural and historical significance of the American diner, a unique American institution. DOCOMOMO -International working organiztion for Documentation & Conservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the Modern Movement. Society for Commercial Archaeology -Established in 1977, the SCA is the oldest national organization devoted to the buildings, artifacts, structures, signs and symbols of 20th-century commercial landscape. The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy -Facilitating the preservation of the remaining structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright through education, advocacy, preservation easements and technical services. Survival Through Design -Involved with preservation of structures by modernist architect Richard Neutra.