Advancing Equity in Historic Preservation: OUR COMMITMENT

THE NEW PRESERVATION
Rethos knows that all places and stories deserve not only to be told and preserved, we also need to find practical uses for these buildings. Telling the stories of diverse communities and finding new, practical uses for historic buildings are the core of The New Preservation.
​• Historic preservation is often understood to tell only the stories of the wealthy and powerful -- the rail barons, the industrialists, and the banking titans. While their stories are essential to our national narrative, they are only a small fraction of the stories that can and must be told.
​
• At Rethos, we also tell the stories of the porters, the factory workers, and the bank tellers. We work to save the modest buildings, the hardware stores, the barns, and the bungalows and brownstones that have been homes and businesses of everyday folks. We know their stories are also worthy of telling, their places also worthy of preserving.
​
• The New Preservation opens doors to broader stories, steps to building reuse, and paths to community engagement.
​
• Rehabilitation fixes up a deteriorated historic property, often for a new use. Rehabilitation and adaptive reuse focus on retaining and repairing important historic features but allow more flexibility for the building to meet the needs and desires of 21st century living.
