6
BCD Special Report on
Historic Churches
17th annual edition
Historic Church
PREservation
in the US
Tuomi Joshua Forrest
C
omparing the
conservation of
historic religious properties in the US
and the UK one notes some broad
similarities and some signifcant diferences.
Te general trend of historic churches having
smaller worshipping congregations, and
consequently fewer fnancial and human
resources on which to draw exists on both
sides of the pond, as does the ongoing need for
these volunteer-led organisations to use proper
maintenance and restoration procedures and
professionals. In the US, one fnds a society in
which the majority of citizens regularly attends
religious services; where the government funds
heritage projects to a much lesser extent, and
in a less coordinated way, than in Britain. In
general, the private donor is the engine that
drives the majority of preservation projects
– individuals provide 85 per cent of the total
giving in the US. And the twin guarantees of
religious freedom (begetting an astounding
diversity of faiths) and the formal separation
of church and state further complicates the
public’s role in supporting church preservation.
Consequently, to understand the critical
issues facing historic churches in the US, one
must attempt to fathom the current dynamic
of the owners of the vast majority of these
churches – religious congregations or parishes
and their regional administrative bodies.
Working to preserve church buildings involves
both serious research into understanding
their ‘public value’ (including, but extending
beyond the architectural and historical
value of a church building) and working to
help build the organisational capacity of a
congregation to maintain its buildings and
fund conservation through a diversity of
funding sources. From a preservationist’s
point of view it also requires an ongoing
advocacy campaign toward all potential
funding sources – individuals, government,
business, organised philanthropy – to become
more open to supporting these places.
Te US is a remarkably religious country
in terms of the number of people who
regularly attend religious services as well as
the number and diversity of congregations.
Two hundred years of (relative) religious
St Mark’s Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (John Notman, 1847-49): the church participated in the Partners
for Sacred Places ‘New Dollars/New Partners’ programme in 2007. (Photo: Tom Crane Photography Inc, all other
photos: Photos for Sacred Places)