During a year marked by upheaval, isolation, and sweeping assessments of how the built environment can better serve a diverse and engaged 21st-century populace, historic preservation played a front-and-center-role in many of AN’s top-trafficked stories.
Over the past 12 months, old and problematic statues have come down and new forms of public art, generated as part of a historic push against social injustice and systemic racism, have gone up; one of the world’s most revered religious structures began to rise from the literal ashes and an international beacon of science and technology came crumbling down; a Prairie-style home was saved in the Chicago ’burbs and a hulking Brutalist civic building was lost in downtown San Jose; meticulous restoration projects were both launched and completed amid a backdrop of high anxiety and financial distress; drag bars and ballparks alike…
