Wapakoneta’s old building owners are now prepared to help preserve the town’s history after a visit from the Building Doctors on Thursday.
The Building Doctors, who are part of Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation Office, came to town to help educate building owners on how to best maintain and preserve both the structures and the historic features of aging properties.
The program, which was co-sponsored by the Downtown Wapakoneta Partnership and Auglaize County Historical Society, is part of an effort by OHC and the SHPO to help old building owners around the state.
“One of our responsibilities at the State Historic Preservation Office is to offer outreach in a public service kind of way,” Scott McIntosh of the SHPO said. “This is our way of doing that.”
During McIntosh and Technical Preservation Services Department Head Mariangela Pfister’s presentation, they discussed some of the differences between restoration and rehabilitation, methods of identifying problems and how to go about fixing them, as well as the main guidelines for working on your old building: The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.
The Standards for Rehabilitation include preserving distinctive features, the historic character, and archeological resources, repairing rather than replacing, and avoiding damaging methods during rehabilitation projects.
And by following those guidelines, building owners are doing more than just giving their old property a facelift.
“Buildings are a tangible representation of our history,” McIntosh said. “History happens and it...
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