Historic Real Estate: Market Morality and the Politics of Preservation in the...

Description: Historic Real Estate: Market Morality and the Politics of Preservation in the Early United States (Early American Studies) [Hardcover] Martinko, Whitney Product Overview A detailed study of early historical preservation efforts between the 1780s
and the 1850s In Historic Real Estate, Whitney Martinko shows how Americans in
the fledgling United States pointed to evidence of the past in the world
around them and debated whether, and how, to preserve historic structures as
permanent features of the new nation's landscape. From Indigenous mounds in
the Ohio Valley to Independence Hall in Philadelphia; from Benjamin Franklin's
childhood home in Boston to St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Charleston, South
Carolina; from Dutch colonial manors of the Hudson Valley to Henry Clay's
Kentucky estate, early advocates of preservation strove not only to place
boundaries on competitive real estate markets but also to determine what
should not be for sale, how consumers should behave, and how certain types of
labor should be valued. Before historic preservation existed as we know it
today, many Americans articulated eclectic and sometimes contradictory
definitions of architectural preservation to work out practical strategies for
defining the relationship between public good and private profit. In arguing
for the preservation of houses of worship and Indigenous earthworks, for
example, some invoked the "public interest" of their stewards to strengthen
corporate control of these collective spaces. Meanwhile, businessmen and
political partisans adopted preservation of commercial sites to create
opportunities for, and limits on, individual profit in a growing marketplace
of goods. And owners of old houses and ancestral estates developed methods of
preservation to reconcile competing demands for the seclusion of, and access
to, American homes to shape the ways that capitalism affected family
economies. In these ways, individuals harnessed preservation to garner
political, economic, and social profit from the performance of public service.
Ultimately, Martinko argues, by portraying the problems of the real estate
market as social rather than economic, advocates of preservation affirmed a
capitalist system of land development by promising to make it moral. Read more Details Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Pennsylvania Press (May 15, 2020) Language ‏ : ‎ English Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 328 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812252098 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 95 Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.55 pounds Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 1.25 x 10.25 inches Best Sellers Rank: #475,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #59 in Historic Architectural Preservation #7,186 in U.S. State & Local History #19,787 in Social Sciences (Books) #59 in Historic Architectural Preservation #7,186 in U.S. State & Local History Quality Products This will be shipped securely Returns must be within 30 days - item EXACTLY as it was sent. Must have tracking number. Email us with any issues/questions. Thanks for looking! Fast and Free Shipping Shipping is free for this item. We get your order shipped out and delivered to your doorstep as quickly as possible. Commitment We are committed to making sure that you leave this transaction satisfied. That means having access to real people that get your questions and concerns answered quickly. Give us a shot and we will make sure that you will look to us again!