02 May 2009

Save our historic treasures!

Once again, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has announced their list of the nation's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The list has been released just in time for May, which is Preservation month. My favorite on the list is Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple, in Oak Park, IL. I've been looking for my old 35mm slides of it, but you can see perfectly fine photos in the NYTimes slideshow.

The lists are valuable since they attract both national attention and local attention, which contributes to national preservation trends while helping save the specific threatened treasures.

New Jersey's list for 2009 will come out in just a few days. While I liked last year's list with Lake Solitude and Speedwell Dam, the best lists usually included something really outstanding like The Stone Pony or Louis Kahn's Bath Houses in Trenton. Let's hope that this year's NJ list includes some exotics and avoids the lame statewide issues like rural farmsteads and teardowns.

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