A professional architectural historian is a hybrid of professional architect and historian. Like an architect working on a rehabilitation or restoration project, a professional architectural historian documents existing conditions, that is, historic buildings, with a set of conventional methods and tools. For most professional architectural historians, these tools are more precise than a camera and published resources.

Why a Professional?

While a layperson can, ideally, complete a successful landmark nomination with the help of good field guides and direction from helpful web sitesand landmarks staff, trained architectural historians, preservation specialists, or architects educated in history are required for a number of preservation-related, government-recognized procedures, also known as cultural resource management events (CRM events). CRM work helps governments manage and successfully support historic preservation activity at national, state and local levels. Professional services are required, just as they are for other resource management activities such as work related to water, soils, or agricultural products.

Architectural fieldwork conducted by an architectural historian or a similarly trained preservation specialist often involves a combination of precise measurement and documentation (photographic and drawn), accurate verbal description of current conditions and architectural components, graphic and archival research, and careful analysis of clues which suggest change over time, a history of use, and construction methods. These elements of professional evaluation are required for a number of CRM events including SEPA checklists, thorough landmark nominations, Historic American Building Survey documentation, and Historic Structure Reports (HSRs). HSRs are useful when planning upgrades or alterations to historic buildings, because they help direct the architect and contractors around the original and non-historic additions to a historic building.

A professional with experience in this field should be able to bridge some gaps in archival documentation with physical evidence on site. Such expertise requires experience not only within the field, but within the part of the country where the resource was originally built. An expert in colonial American architectural history needs some grounding in archaeology for instance, as well as knowledge of traditional building techniques used in England and other "mother countries" before the time of American settlement. This background does not translate directly to good analysis and interpretation of regional architecture in the Pacific Northwest.

Tools of the Trade

While archival, historical research and a library of pertinent resource books provide some understanding of the significance of buildings, the building itself is a resource often untapped by historians focused on social or cultural history. Evaluating the physical structure can be fascinating and surprising - you may find remnants of the past on site which cast an entirely new spin on your interpretation of the site. Physical evaluation can sometimes be misleading (like finding things much older than your building tucked away inside its walls, or reused materials or historic fabrications which may make the building look older than it really is).

The architectural historian has a number of tools in his or her professional tool chest (or backseat as the case may be) that help evaluate buildings physically. These may vary somewhat depending on the kind of building under scrutiny. Fancier buildings require more and different tools. These include:

A Molding Comb: One of my favorite tools, and not available in local stores. You'll have to go online for one of these. It's a "comb" with adjustable teeth that conform to moldings or other curvy architectural details. Once pressed against a molding, the teeth provide an outline, or profile of the detail being recorded, and aid in helping the investigator factually record the profile without a perspectival distortion. It is very difficult to record curvy moldings in a photograph. Why is this important? Knowing the precise profile of a molding helps determine changes over time, and in some cases, points to the age of the building itself. Certain profile styles were popular during certain periods of time.

Molding combs are also fun for kids and immature adults who enjoy measuring other things, like the shape of their cat's head.

Graph Paper/Clip Board: Using graph paper makes the recording of mostly rectilinear objects, like buildings, much easier. A clipboard is important for obvious reasons.

Mechanical Pencil Better than a pen for site visits. Sometimes lines have to be redrawn to get proportion and details right, even with graph paper. You should also have replacement leads on hand for site visits.

100 Foot Tape Measurer: Buildings tend to be large, which means longer tape measurers are preferable to short ones. For the best readings, be sure to bring along someone else to hold the other end of the tape.

Manual Camera/Black and White Film/Good Tripod: Although digital cameras are a lot better than they used to be, there are still a number of situations in which black and white photography is required. If you are taking professional-grade photographs of buildings, you should acquaint yourself with the basics of a 35mm camera, and assume that light conditions will vary. Flash photography distorts distances and surfaces within buildings, so taking shots with a tripod in low light is often preferable to that alternative. A good tripod is a great investment. Be sure to get 100 speed film rather than faster speed for optimal results. Also, stay away from lenses that distort perspective, such as fisheye or wide angle lenses. Although these help capture a large building in one photograph, and are interesting aesthetically, they compromise the documentation of the building's scale and massing.

Drafting Table with Mayline: Drawings made in the field, on graph paper, tend to be rather rough. It is virtually impossible to draw a building accurately without an adjustable drafting table with a Mayline. This is a good investment for HABS or HAER (Historic American Engineering Reports) level documentation or any work that involves extensive "as built" drawings. CAAD (Computer Aided Architectural Design) drawings are more common within architectural offices, but for architectural historians practicing in home offices, a drafting table can be indispensable. CAAD software programs cost thousands of dollars.

Other Standard Architectural Equipment: This includes a gummy eraser, an architect's scale (a ruler with three sides which helps the draftsperson draw buildings at proper scale), a compass, and protractor.

Station Wagon: Station wagons are ideal vehicles for the architectural historian. Architectural historians who regularly conduct fieldwork carry a lot of equipment in their cars, making extended cabs indispensable. Also good for carrying around .

A Tall Ladder: A thorough investigation of the site may well involve crawling around on top of the building or accessing out-of-the-way cornices.

Steel-tipped Boots: Oftentimes, buildings being evaluated are also deteriorated. Many historic buildings can also be dangerous, just like any other construction site. Nails, broken glass, and other hazards are commonly strewn around the floors of buildings undergoing rehabilitation.

Hard Hat/Good Insurance: Likewise, hard hats are also important, as is good health and car insurance. Vigilance is also key. The field of architectural history is fairly dangerous when field work is involved. It is easy to get preoccupied with getting good photographs, or accessing interesting but dangerous sections of an unstable building. Washington lost one of its best architectural historians because she backed up into a street for a better photograph of a wide building.

Resource Library

Books and professional articles are also an important part of professional research and ongoing development as an architectural historian. Professionals rely on a number of standard resource books on styles, terminologies, and architects. There are a limitless number of published materials that would be helpful for an architectural historian. Here are a few of the basics helpful to local architectural historians:

Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher ed., Preservation Press: New York, 1996.

Twentieth Century Building Materials: History and Conservation, Thomas C. Jester ed., McGraw Hill Professional: New York, 1995.

Shaping Seattle Architecture, Jeffrey Ochsner ed., University of Washington Press: Seattle, 1994.

A Guide to Architecture in Washington State, Sally Woodbridge and Roger Montgomery, University of Washington Press: Seattle, 1980.

Styles and Types of North American Architecture: Social Function and Cultural Expression, Alan Gowans, Harper Collins: New York, 1992. also, Images of American Living: Four Centuries of Architecture and Furniture as Cultural Expression, Alan Gowans, J. B. Lippincott Company: New York, 1964.

Wood, Brick & Stone: The North American Settlement Landscape, Volume 2: Barns and Farm Structures, Allen G. Noble, University of Massachusetts Press; Amherst, 1984.

The Society for Industrial Archaeology http://www.sia-web.org/ is an international group interested in the study of industrial buildings, structures and sites. Given Seattle's and our region's industrial roots, this organization might be a good place for publication or presentation of local research on industrial sites.

The work of a professional architectural historian is engrossing, physical, highly visual, and can be very academic, purely professional and geared toward CRM work, or popular, involving publications in general interest magazines or coffee table books. It often involves travel, and initially at least, little compensation given the amount of education often involved. It's great work, however, for historians who like to crawl around old buildings, or architects with a strong appreciation for the past.

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