Elaine Stiles, an assistant professor of historic preservation at Roger Williams University, spoke to the Providence Business News this week about what she teaches and why historical buildings have more value to communities than pure economics.
As a professor, she has expertise in historic preservation theory and practice, the history of U.S. architecture and urbanism, and suburban development of the 20th century. Stiles holds degrees from Smith College and Boston University and is a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley.
PBN: Are you familiar with the Industrial Trust Building, or the “Superman” building? The argument is that it is going to be incredibly expensive to readapt it for new uses. People are worried it will be torn down. Has this happened to skyscrapers previously in the United States?
STILES: We’ve certainly had major building losses throughout the 20th century. One of the most critical battles in preservation history was the demolition of Penn Station, which is where Madison Square Garden is now in New York City. It was a massive complex that covered an entire city block. We’ve had major losses of buildings that certainly are architecturally significant.
PBN: Many of the skyscrapers in Providence were originally built for banks, as almost a symbol of their future. Who is building skyscrapers now and are any of them single-tenant buildings?
STILES: Not so much in urban settings. They’re primarily in suburban settings, where you have these grand headquarters. So, Silicon Valley is the quintessential example, where you have the Googleplex and the new Apple headquarters. So, that continues a trend that started [during] World War II. [They were] farmlands, originally. And it’s very low-rise, very horizontal.
Alternatively, however, Twitter … was the anchor tenant in a massive redevelopment of the old San Francisco Furniture Mart building. It’s in the midmarket district. Their workforce is in the city. In San Francisco, the workforce commutes out to the suburbs, instead of into the city. It’s a different landscape.
PBN: Do people view these historical buildings with emotion when, really, they should be looking at it from a business perspective? The idea that if there is no private interest in a building, why would the state support a redevelopment?
STILES: I would push back on the idea that the only purpose of a building is commercial or economic. We know that buildings have multiple values. I would say that a record of 60 years of historic preservation practice shows that these buildings do contribute to the economy. Oftentimes they are a physical presence as well as their function. It’s what they mean to the community that supports the economy of that place. There is such a record of adaptive reuse of buildings that are challenging to reuse. And oftentimes they do take public investment.
PBN: What is your instruction at Roger Williams University and what are the careers that your students are moving on to?
STILES: I teach the history of the built environment and historical-preservation practice courses. I teach in the graduate program and the undergraduate program, as well. In addition to my students who are getting a degree in preservation, I also teach students who are pursuing a degree in architecture and in art and architectural history. My students who work in preservation often have public-focused careers. So, they’re working in environmental planning for state department of transportation, for local, city and regional planning agencies … or in private practice. Obviously, a lot of my students go on and practice architecture as well.
PBN: Do you have a favorite building that has been reused?
STILES: One of my favorites was an armory in Portland, Ore., that was reused as a theater. It was reused in the 1990s and it was the first LEED Platinum adaptive reuse historic-preservation project. The space was beautifully designed, and it was a contemporary interior. But you got the sense of the massive space, and the masonry, a reflection of the building. That’s always been one of my favorites.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
