Historic Preservation Student Projects

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/8296

This archive contains a collection of projects generated by students in the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation within the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. These research papers represent a wide variety of topics within the field of historic preservation incorporating subjects as diverse as heritage trails, sustainability practices and industrial and archaeological sites preservation.

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Author: search.filters.author.Gastner, Mary Kate

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    Valuing “Others”: Free African American Neighborhoods in Antebellum Alexandria
    (2011) Gastner, Mary Kate; Linebaugh, Donald W.
    The historic preservation movement over the past thirty years has developed a value-center approach to preservation. The city of Alexandria, VA exemplifies this shift. Cultural resources once considered not of public interest or importance are now essential to the ever-evolving historical narrative of the city. Alexandria, with its overwhelming wealth of cultural resources, has incorporated many examples of social and cultural resources into history, however, most of those resources date back only to the Civil War. The representation of free African Americans, who lived in Alexandria when it was part of the District of Columbia, are largely absent from that narrative. This paper will review the history of the earliest free African American inhabitants in the city, the history of the preservation movement within Alexandria, and assess how preservation values are changing. It will make the argument that Alexandria, though a well preserved city, encounters the same issues that most historic districts encounter, issues of gentrification, interest, and interpretation. This paper will argue that preservationist and Alexandria residents need to reevaluate they preservation motives, moving away from the question “how do we preserve” to the question “what are we preserving and why?”
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    Feasibility study for future use of the Bostwick property
    (2011-12) Bazar, Nancy; Britanik, Kristin L.; Brown, Rachel Elizabeth Hetherington; Demore, Carissa Holly; Gastner, Mary Kate; Hardej, Thomas; Lamprakos, Michele
    Since its construction in 1746, Bostwick has been a constant presence in Bladensburg, Maryland. It has survived as a standing structure with several acres of intact historic landscape, while the built environment of the surrounding area has evolved. The original structure, many of the historic outbuildings, and the landscape remain, but throughout its history Bostwick’s buildings and landscape have changed in appearance, function, and its relationship to the local community. Today, the property is physically deteriorating, and damage from the August 2011 earthquake has only made the situation worse. It has become a problem for both its owner, the Town of Bladensburg, and the greater preservation community. All involved are interested in Bostwick’s survival, and all agree that its potential future use could be the cornerstone in Bladensburg’s continuing development. As part of an ongoing relationship between the University of Maryland and the Town, this studio project was developed to explore recommendations for a new use of Bostwick. The recommended scenario builds upon the strengths of the Bladensburg community and the unique heritage of Bostwick. This report is divided into two parts: (1) Research & Assessment and (2) Recommendations. Part 1 details all of our research, including the past and present context of both Bostwick and greater Bladensburg, previous preservation efforts and studies, stakeholder values, and comparable sites. All of this data informs Part 2 of this report, which contains our recommendations for the future use of Bostwick.