Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philosophical concept that became popular in the twentieth century, which maintains that cities as products of centuries' development should be obligated to protect their patrimonial legacy. The term refers specifically to the preservation of the built environment, and not to preservation of, for example, primeval forests or wilderness.
Today, historic preservation often concerns itself with everyday, vernacular landscapes associated with marginalized communities, such as Barry Farm in Washington, DC (pictured here), as much as it does monumental properties.
The Basilica of Saint-Denis, which was among the first buildings to be registered by the conseil des bâtiments civils and subsequently among the first to be registered as a monument historique.
John Lubbock, MP was a moving force behind the implementation of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882.
Tattershall Castle, preserved at personal expense by Lord Curzon and a catalyst for broader heritage protection laws
Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site, also called Hasbrouck House, is located in Newburgh, New York, United States, overlooking the Hudson River. George Washington and his staff were headquartered in the house while commanding the Continental Army during the final year and a half of the American Revolutionary War; at 16 months and 19 days it was his longest tenure at any of his headquarters during the war.
West (front) elevation, 2006
Washington at Verplanck's Point, by John Trumbull
Engraving of Hasbrouck House
1907 postcard of Washington's Headquarters SHS