I'M A PRESERVATIONIST ARCHIVES Erica Schultz May 7, 2009 Preservation affects my daily life: from the moment I leave my apartment in the morning, walk through a couple of blocks of Mediterranean Revival, stucco-clad houses in the Sunset, board a MUNI train, and catch a glimpse of the elaborate Italianate and Queen Anne homes in Cole Valley before entering the 1928 Sunset Tunnel. After arriving in the Financial District, I am greeted by the Hobart building as I leave the underground station and am reminded that “systematic saving is the key to success” by the former First National Bank building as I walk to my office in a restored 1908 fire station.You don’t need a guidebook or a map. You don’t need a wealth of knowledge about famous architects.  You can simply experience preservation by walking down a street in San Francisco and enjoying the intricate woodwork of a Victorian house, admiring a building because it’s old and quirky, or taking note of a sleek, new building that will someday become a cherished landmark. Preservation continually stretches my knowledge of the built environment: it intersects a variety of disciplines from architecture, history, planning, urban design, landscape architecture, and engineering, among others. The diverse range of styles and innovations in building materials, construction, and technology fascinate me. As an architectural historian, I am constantly thinking on my toes and learning new things—from tank houses to postwar subdivisions to Modern gardens and landscapes—in order to understand how a building or place evolved and to craft an argument about why is should be, or in some cases, why it should not be saved.  Preservation does not mean freezing a building or place in time but ensuring that it’s sympathetically cared for or recycled and put to a new use. It’s a process that leads to debates and negotiations in order to make informed decisions. Historic buildings stand as tangible links to our history and past, and the ability to experience a building would be lost if it’s demolished or unsympathetically rehabilitated.  I am a preservationist, because I value these daily experiences and debates and want future generations to have the ability to enjoy and learn from buildings and landscapes as much as I have. back to top