Broad Street Station
Philadelphia, PA
Considered an engineering marvel during its era.
Demolished in 1953
Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
[Reproduction number, HABS, PA, 51-PHILA, 341-7].

Protecting our nation's historic resources is a continual challenge, requiring local, state and federal protections. A common misconception is that local ordinances provide sufficient protections. However, this has not proven to be the case which is why Federal legislation was passed to further protect America's architectural heritage.

Ordinances Change, but Easements are Forever

Easements are perpetual agreements; local ordinances, however, can be revoked at any time in response to changing government priorities. Local protections may seem strong today, but the same is not always true in the future. The protection offered by a historic preservation easement also goes beyond limiting changes to the property which is where local ordinances normally focus. Easements prohibit demolition by neglect and require that the structural integrity of the entire building be maintained. Easements remain independent of local politics or local budget pressures.

Budget Constraints

Historic commissions do not often have the necessary funding to achieve their mission and rarely exist without coming under political and further economic pressures. National studies reveal that 40 percent of preservation commissions chartered to protect their local historic communities lack sufficient funding or staff to monitor the properties they are charged with overseeing, much less fight their destruction in court when necessary. Even the strongest historic preservation commissions often have their autonomy put at risk due to budgetary concerns of the municipality. Cost-cutting proposals that threaten to disband preservation commissions as independent bodies are commonplace. These proposals effectively reduce these commissions' budgets to zero and attribute their responsibilities to the city's commissioners or planning commissions.

Federal and Local Protections Not Always Aligned

Properties within historic district boundaries, as defined by the Federal government in the National Register of Historic Places, can vary greatly from those defined boundaries protected by local ordinances. Two examples include Baltimore, Maryland, and Salem, Massachusetts, where maps of the historic districts regulated by local ordinances contain 30 to 50 percent fewer properties than those defined by maps defining the historic districts listed on the National Register. In other cities, such as Brooklyn, New York, entire districts as defined by the National Register are excluded from the list of historic districts protected by the local commission. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service has defined the required protections in a conservation easement agreement and the Department of Interior has defined standards for the preservation and rehabilitation of historic properties. Local preservation ordinances have no uniform protections and vary significantly from one municipality to the next. Some local preservation commissions have definitive powers, while others can be overruled and still others are strictly advisory. Even where the local preservation commissions do have the authority to approve changes, they do not always align with those standards set by the Department of Interior.