Buildings from the 20th century are disappearing from the American landscape. While older structures have long been the focus of popular appreciation and preservation efforts, the value of properties from the recent past has not been widely embraced. Those interested in ensuring that 20th century places will still be available to future generations have responded by looking anew at the properties that represent this era and finding new ways to protect them.

What is Recent Past Architecture?
From futuristic coffee shops and soaring airport terminals to the homes of the postwar suburbs, 20th century architecture embodies the aspirations, priorities, challenges and successes of our recent history. They include the libraries and community centers constructed by New Deal agencies to contend with the Great Depression, factories where the World War II generation assembled tanks and planes, schools built for the postwar baby boom, and glass-walled office parks that symbolized American business. Such properties reflect the varied lives that unfolded within them, and contribute to a diverse and dynamic 20th century landscape.

The best-known examples of architecture from the recent past are recognized as works of art and icons of their time. Monuments like the Chrysler Building and the Seattle Space Needle and houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright have won widespread admiration that virtually guarantees their preservation. Buildings associated with milestones in American history such as Martin Luther King’s Ebeneezer Baptist Church may be enshrined as museums, encouraging their continued protection.

But the story of the recent past cannot be told through icons alone. Many other, less prominent, places are important to a community’s sense of identity and memory. Local architectural firms, builders, entrepreneurs, and artists helped shape the 20th century landscape by adapting national and international trends to fit local needs. The buildings and sites left behind have no assurance they will survive.

Preserving the Architecture of the Twentieth Century Presents New Challenges…
Like clothing, cars, and hair styles, architectural trends ebb and flow with the times. Once the height of style, many buildings constructed in the past are now considered dated. Unfashionable structures elicit little sympathy when abandoned or lost. Victorian buildings, for example, were once disparaged as garish and overly ornate, and were eagerly demolished in the name of progress or expediency. Those that survived, however, are today valued elements of countless historic neighborhoods. Similarly, properties from the recent past that we preserve now will be rediscovered over time and broadly appreciated for their historic or artistic importance.

The last century brought forth a whole new vocabulary of building materials and technologies with unknown long-term characteristics. From porcelain enamel to plywood, preservation professionals are developing ways of repairing these once innovative materials. Unlike the artisan-made buildings from earlier centuries, mass-produced elements such as curtain walls and precast concrete pose questions of whether the material is of inherent historic importance. Decommissioned military bases, factory complexes and suburban subdivisions present challenges of scale and repetition that are new to the field of preservation. Architectural surveys are helping to identify the number and nature of surviving 20th century buildings, while shedding light on historic themes, designers, and events that are important to a particular community. As more recent buildings are studied and rehabilitated, the experience gained from working with these materials and issues continues to grow.

…and New Opportunities
Now is the time to reassess the marginal value currently placed on buildings from the recent past, and to work toward their continued use and sensitive rehabilitation. While much has been lost already, a wealth of creative examples survive to remind us of who we were and how we lived during the past century. The characteristics of these buildings, the features and qualities that make them unique to their time, are a benefit not a burden.

Like 19th century main streets, buildings and neighborhoods from the recent past that are preserved encourage further economic development. Historic tax credits and other incentives can assist with these efforts. The 20th century’s distinctive places need to survive not only for their economic potential, or beauty, or fame, but also because they provide a continuous thread to past lives and times. These buildings, from skyscraper to supermarket, deserve our attention.