When Preservation Becomes Decay
- Steve Quillian
- May 3
- 2 min read
How the systems meant to save our historic homes may be silently letting them rot.
In the world of historic preservation, good intentions have often led to slow failure.
When tradition becomes more about protecting systems than saving homes, preservation turns into decay. This post explores how we got here—and what must rise from the ashes.
There’s a strange thing that happens when the spirit is lost, but the form remains.
At first, it looks like reverence—like tradition.
A noble attempt to protect what once mattered.
But left long enough, it begins to harden.
The very thing meant to preserve life begins to choke it.
Preservation, without power, becomes decay.
Not because the people are bad.
Not because the motives are wrong.
But because the spark that once gave it life was replaced by routine.
Preserving the Wrong Things
We save paint colors, but lose the craftsmen.
We argue over muntin profiles while whole neighborhoods are gutted.
We host conferences about restoration while the next generation doesn’t even know how to hold a chisel.
It’s not that no one cares.
It’s that the system has grown too heavy to move.
When the System Preserves Itself Instead of the Home
We’ve built preservation offices that preserve influence, rules, and reputations—but can’t lift a hammer anymore.
So as policies multiply and meetings drag on,
decay creeps in through the sills, the seams, and the silence.
And the very culture we hoped to protect quietly disappears.
Outside the Gate, Something New Is Stirring
Meanwhile, there are those the old guard overlooks—
People with dirt on their hands and fire in their spirit.
They’re rebuilding.
They’re training.
They’re doing.
Not a museum. A movement.
Not bureaucracy. Brotherhood.
Not control. Calling.
They’re not preserving what once was.
They’re awakening what could be again.
Because true preservation doesn’t come from fear of loss—it comes from love of life.
And where that love burns, decay cannot stand.
Window Craft is a movement of resurrection—not regulation.
Join the Artisan Army and learn how we’re rebuilding our homes, our trades, and our people—one window at a time.
Sound bites in a blog format designed to enrage the "establishment" by telling them what they're doing wrong isn't nearly as helpful as picking up tools and volunteering where it matters. We have volunteers that teach kids how to play basketball and football, but rarely do we have a craftsman teach a shop class. The rules and regulations and policies give empowerment to the profession and encourage participation of recognized craftepersons to lead the monster-drinking power-nailing typical framer that's used to slapping together OSB and foam into the world of craft. Recognize the pride in workmanship, not the speed at which some fence gets stapled together. Stop racing to the bottom of the industry, and race to the top instead.