Student KiAna Queener photographs historic preservation details about the Joel W. Solomon Federal Courthouse in Chattanooga.
When the phrase “historic preservation” comes up, an image of old buildings often pops into mind.
But historic preservation is more than protecting, repairing and saving buildings, said Dana Moody, professor in the Department of Interior Architecture and Design at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
“It’s not just about chaining yourself to a building,” she said. “The true sense of historic preservation is more than buildings. It’s sites and it’s objects.”
Diving more deeply into the subject is a key part of the Historic Preservation minor that started at UTC in fall semester 2021 and has returned for the new academic year. Although architecture is certainly included, the minor also has courses that delve into history, anthropology and archaeology.
“Historic preservation and archaeology are intimately intertwined,” said Morgan Smith, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology who worked with Moody to design the minor.
“With growth projections for both fields near double digits in the coming decade, there will be great employment options for students in either field,” he said.
Developing the minor was a collaboration between Preserve Chattanooga, a local historical preservation organization, and the UTC departments of Interior Architecture and Design, Anthropology and History.
“We originally were looking at it as an architectural historic preservation minor and, as we began working through a curriculum, we really began to realize we were being shortsighted,” Moody said.
Smith said that sites such as the Chickamauga Battlefield in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, the scene of major battles in the Civil War, fall under the preservation banner.
“Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance,” he said.
Practicing historic preservation also protects the environment, Moody said.
“It actually is cheaper to reuse something than to tear something down and rebuild,” she said. “Whether you’re the owner of the building or you are being hired to work with the building, if you care about sustainability, if you care about saving money, if you care about the fabric of your community, that this is a component of it.”
In a city with as much history as Chattanooga, preservation can drive economic development, Moody said.
“What many people don’t realize is that the two can go hand-in-hand,” she said. “Sometimes when people are looking at tearing down a building and building a new building, what they think about is the jobs that it creates.
“But they’re not thinking about the amount of waste going to the landfill and the cost of the new materials versus being able to do a renovation on a structure that, yes, is going to have some challenges to it. But it’s still creating jobs and it’s still saving that historic fabric of the city.”
