
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 16, 1990                   TAG: 9003162729
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RESEARCH NEEDED FOR HISTORIC BUILDINGS

I WAS EXTREMELY disappointed to see myself quoted in a March 5 editorial, "Explore confronts history's high price," as saying, "If a property is to be lost by development, it's better to move it without research."

In a detailed telephone interview on Explore with a Roanoke Times & World-News editorial writer, I began by explaining that buildings which have been moved are considered ineligible for listing in the National Register because they have lost their integrity of setting and their archaeological context. I repeatedly stated that the more that is known about a building's historical and archaeological context, the better it can be interpreted for public benefit.

I explained that the extent of historical and archaeological research to be conducted on any building is always constrained by time and budget, and that if a building is threatened by development, it is better to move that building than have it destroyed. In no instance did I say that it is better to move a building without research than to move it with appropriate research on its historical and archaeological context.

The entire discipline of historic preservation rests on a responsible concern for the significance of context in the interpretation of cultural properties.\ JOHN R. KERN, Ph.D.\ Director, Roanoke Regional Preservation Office ROANOKE

Editor's note: We did not intend to imply that, in our view or Kern's, moving a historic building without appropriate research is good. We intended to suggest only that it is better than razing the building.

by CNB