Is a Schoolhouse Worth Saving?

by

Bill Sherman & Richard Lewis

CSAA Board of Directors

Before restoring any historic building, in this case a schoolhouse, you should determine the condition of the building by thoroughly inspecting it and determining whether it is “worth it." That is an interesting combination of words “worth it." Let us explore “value” and “worth."

 

If you look at the National Historic Register and/or National Trust guidelines, they concentrate on determining whether the historic character of a building is preserved during the restoration process.  Not too much information is provided on determining  “is it worth restoring” or the quality of the building now.  

 

We have to think of these little school buildings as artifacts like you find  in a museum or you unearth during an archeological dig.  Our artifacts are just found above ground and are a little larger than most. 

In the normal real estate process, they basically try to determine the “quality of a building” based on its “resale” value.  Is it worth investing money in for resale?  This value does not take into account its provenance and intrinsic value, just what it would “sell” for.  In other words, what is the intangible value to a community and its people.  Historic value is usually well above the calculated real estate value.

   

Whether a schoolhouse can be saved somewhat depends on the degree of local support that can be mustered to save it.  Some school buildings in terrible condition, that are thought not worth saving, have been restored because local leaders determined it was important to save them and got enough people involved to make it happened. 

There is no one standard to define "is it worth it?" Also, if you think about the nuts and bolts, there are no more “old growth” trees, to cut lumber from, no more real Cypress, or Redwood to build with today.  Today they are “farm grown”trees with nowhere near the structural strength or bug and weather resistance of an original tree.  Thus the original structure has added value.

If you accept schoolhouses as artifacts, their historic importance, the intrinsic value of a school, the resilience of original building materials, and you can garner community support...our schoolhouses ARE worth saving....even if the restoration costs more than building it from scratch.

Like any artifact, we are not restoring a schoolhouse for resale, we are restoring it to save it for future generations.