Examples of exterior additions include new roofs and new adjoining buildings. Illustrated with color photographs of rehabilitated historic buildings.

Provides guidance to historic building owners and building managers, preservation consultants, architects, contractors, and project reviewers prior to treatment of historic buildings.

The National Park Service's official advice on preserving and restoring historic buildings.

This Preservation Brief provides information on how earthquakes affect historic buildings, how a historic preservation ethic can guide responsible retrofit decisions, and how various methods of seismic rehabilitation can protect human lives and historic structures. The Brief provides a description of the most common vulnerabilities of various building construction types and the seismic strengthening methods most often needed to remedy them. A glossary of technical terms is also provided at the end of the Brief. Undertaking the seismic rehabilitation of a historic building is a process that requires careful planning and execution, and the coordinated work of architects, engineers, code officials, contractors, and agency administrators. Project personnel working together can ensure that the architectural, structural, financial, programmatic, cultural, and social values of historic buildings are preserved, while rendering them safe for continued use.

Provides guidance to owners, architects, and developers of historic buildings with information on: cleaning and waterproof coating for historic masonry; repointing mortar joints; conserving energy; roofing for historic buildings; historic adobe buildings; dangers of abrasive cleaning; historic glazed architectural terra-cotta; aluminum and vinyl siding on wood frame buildings; repairing historic wooden windows; exterior paint problems on historic woodwork; and rehabilitating historic storefronts.

It is clear that working with historic structures is both more environmentally sustainable and cost effective than new architecture and construction—and many believe that the best design occurs at the intersection of old and new. Françoise Astorg Bollack presents 28 examples gathered in the United States and throughout Europe and the Middle East. Some are well known—Mass MOCA, Market Santa Caterina in Barcelona, Neues Museum in Berlin—and others are almost anonymous. But all demonstrate a unique and appropriate solution to the problem of adapting historic structures to contemporary uses. This survey of contemporary additions to older buildings is an essential addition to the architectural literature. “I have always loved old buildings. An old building is not an obstacle but instead a foundation for continued action. Designing with them is an exhilarating enterprise; adding to them, grafting, inserting, knitting new pieces into the existing built fabric is endlessly stimulating.” —Françoise Astorg Bollack

A non-technical guide about caring for, adapting, expanding, and preserving older buildings.