A panel was held in the Merrimon-Wynne house Wednesday to discuss the state of historic preservation in Raleigh. The panel was moderated by City Councilor Bonner Gaylord and included Mary Ruffin Hanbury, an architectural historian who started her own consulting firm, Ed Morris, the chair of the Wake Historic Preservation Commission and Myrick Howard, president of Preservation N.C.

According to the panelists, preservation is coming to the forefront, where it used to be a fringe issue.

“We may have gotten in a little late in the game but Raleigh’s doing a great job [preserving historic sites],” Morris said.

The conversation initially hinged around policy issues. The private sector is often preferable for preservation, in the form of nonprofits, however there are areas where the private sector for one reason or another is unwilling to invest. Sometimes these buildings are ignored, and other times the city buys the properties and takes care of them itself.

The panel unanimously agreed that one of the reasons the public sector does not invest in historic areas is property taxes. Lower property taxes can greatly reduce the burden that nonprofits must bear to protect historic buildings. In the 1970s-80s, the state of preservation was grim. Many properties were purchased by the government, not for preservation, but for demolition and development.

Luckily, the decision was made to protect the historic buildings, and many were spared, including the Merrimon-Wynne house, which is described on the Preservation North Carolina website as “the quintessential southern mansion when it was built in 1876.”

“There are 24 historic registry districts that are unprotected; small houses are in trouble,” Howard said. “Buildings today aren’t built to last. They often have a 40-year lifespan max.” These concerns were echoed by the other panelists, who hastened to comment that the number of historic registry districts in danger is likely to rise substantially in the near future.

There are many neighborhoods with small, older houses, and as Raleigh grows, more people will need inexpensive homes. These homes would fit perfectly but are being torn down in part because of government incentives to build new houses.

The panelists did, however, say that not all buildings need to be saved. Some buildings are simply not useful and lack sufficient historic value to justify their preservation, which can be expensive.

“Some things are historic for their aesthetic appeal, while others are valued for what happened there, and we need to talk to people to find out what they value in these buildings,” Hanbury said.

Preservation of historic buildings is clearly an important issue, and there is significant support for it; however, there are only limited resources available, and there must be a cost-benefit analysis to decide whether or not a building is worth saving.