By RICHARD MOE

Almost 2,000 preservationists from all parts of the country have come to Tulsa this week for the National Preservation Conference. I am pleased that conference attendees — plenty of whom, no doubt, are first-time visitors — will have a chance to see many of the historic Route 66 structures, art deco buildings, and neighborhoods that make this such a special place. Last spring, the National Trust for Historic Preservation shined a national spotlight on Tulsa’s world-class collection of art deco buildings with a cover story in Preservation magazine — and I know that many of our readers are eager to see these spectacular places for themselves.

 

Unfortunately, visitors may also notice something else that’s happening here in Tulsa, and it’s not good. Residents who care about Tulsa have every right to pat themselves on the back for their preservation achievements in recent years. But they must also see that big, important chunks of their heritage are still in danger of being spoiled or lost altogether.

Take downtown, for example. The alarming number of surface parking lots in downtown Tulsa — by some estimates, more than half of downtown’s land area is devoted to surface parking — means that for far too many of the city’s historic buildings, it’s too late.

The loss of some buildings should also inspire people to save those that remain, adapting them to new uses while also focusing on the kind of sensitive infill construction that complements existing buildings.

One of the best tools available to commercial real estate developers is the rehab tax credit. Thanks to forward-looking legislators, Oklahoma has one of the best rehab tax credit programs in the nation, providing a 20 percent tax credit for the rehabilitation of historic income-producing buildings. Particularly when it is combined with federal tax credits, this program allows developers to realize a significant tax savings that is simply not available for new construction.

Cities across the country have taken advantage of these tax credits to reinvigorate historic portions of their downtowns: Over the past 30 years, we’ve seen $45 billion in private investment that has put almost 35,000 historic buildings back into active use. Tulsa’s underused and abandoned historic buildings are prime candidates for this type of redevelopment. For evidence of this fact look no further than the Atlas Life Building, which is being converted into a new use as a hotel.

As Tulsans know well, the demolition of historic structures is not a problem confined to the city’s downtown. Neighborhoods across the city — from Midtown to Lortondale — are experiencing teardowns. This practice of demolishing an existing house and replacing it with a bigger one is the most serious threat faced by urban neighborhoods since the heyday of Urban Renewal, and it has hit Tulsa especially hard. Groups like Preserve Midtown have sprung up to combat teardowns in Tulsa, and no wonder: Mini-mansions have been shoehorned into older neighborhoods where they just don’t fit. As bulky new structures get built right up to the property lines, trees disappear, yards shrink and neighbors find their sunlight and views blocked.

No one says that older homes or communities should be frozen in time like museum exhibits. A neighborhood is a living thing, and change is both inevitable and desirable. The goal should be not to stop it, but to manage it. New ordinances and zoning laws could help stem the spread of so-called “monster houses” in Tulsa ensuring that neighborhoods can grow and evolve without losing the historic character that made them desirable in the first place.

These issues remind us that being thoughtful, vigilant stewards of the places that matter is hard, unending work. The job of preservation is never done. But it’s a job worth doing, because we’re not just hanging on to yesterday, we’re building tomorrow. That’s the message that National Preservation Conference attendees will hear again and again over the next few days. And it’s a message that Tulsa residents should take to heart as well.

Richard Moe is president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

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