Historic Preservation

Aerial view of a city block of houses in West Philly.

With OurPlan, Weitzman team pilots new data tool for neighborhood democracy

A team of Weitzman scholars designed OurPlan to give residents of West Philadelphia a voice in planning and preservation.

Protecting and celebrating civil rights heritage and Black histories

Launched last fall, Penn’s Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights sites is fostering new and ongoing partnerships while preserving the legacy of civil rights in the U.S.

Woman in a fur coat sings before several microphones; one says 'NBC'

Historic preservation of Black Philadelphia

Preserving Black history in Philadelphia is an evolving dynamic of the city’s legacy.

A building at Tuskegee University on a green hill in daylight.

A new initiative to preserve African American civil rights heritage sites

The Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites will be led by Faculty Director Randall Mason, an associate professor in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, alongside renowned preservationist Brent Leggs, who is named senior adviser and adjunct associate professor.

Lincoln Memorial illuminated at dusk overlooking the Potomac River.

Weitzman team takes on preservation work at Lincoln Memorial

PennPraxis is continuing its partnership with the National Park Service on a cultural inventory and landscape project at the Lincoln Memorial, its most high-profile project to date.

a brick building with white detailing and in front is a green field with a statue surrounded by yellow flowers

Conserving the nation’s first chartered hospital

The Stuart Weitzman School of Design’s PennPraxis and the Center for Architectural Conservation will examine, assess, and prioritize the conservation of the buildings, grounds, and collections of the Pennsylvania Hospital.

George Nakashima’s Arts Building, the facade of the house with a portico and a small pond surrounded by stones.

Protecting historic places at various life stages

A new Master of Science in Design with a concentration in Historic Preservation degree program kicked off at the Weitzman School in the fall of 2018. Now, members of the inaugural class are working on a capstone project on the George Nakashima House.

piles of soiled clothing and sheets on church pews and floor

Twenty-five years after the Rwandan genocide, memorials remember the 800,000 who died

Penn historic preservation professor Randall Mason has been working with the country’s government since 2016 to protect and conserve such monuments.

booklet questionnaire about a home's history

PennPraxis launches toolkit for neighborhood preservation

In the past decade, Philadelphia’s building boom has been accompanied by a string of demolitions touching almost every corner of the city, and resulting in the loss of everything from iconic churches to vernacular row houses. But even as a growing number of Philadelphians lament these losses, advocates for historic preservation have sometimes struggled to make a case for keeping Philadelphia’s built fabric intact.

Iconic preservation: A plan for the O’Keeffe home and studio

A balance of science and critical thinking, plus reverence for the artist’s work and devotion to her space, makes the conservation assessment by a PennDesign team especially meaningful.

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