Historic Windsor and the Preservation Institute

Post Office Box 1777, Windsor, Vermont 05089

In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), sweeping civil rights legislation for people with disabilities with broad implications for the nation's historic buildings. Title III of the ADA requires all new and existing buildings open to the public to meet basic levels of accessibility for people with disabilities. Additional requirements in Title II cover governmentally owned buildings and certain employers. Paradoxically, the features that distinguish historic buildings architecturally -- porches, steps, doorways -- and that historic preservation laws protect, are often the elements that prevent full access. Achieving a balance between protecting the historic properties and ensuring that every citizen can enjoy them, is a challenge. The ADA attempts to address this challenge through its Accessibility Guidelines, which state that when compliance with accessibility requirements would threaten or destroy the historic significance of a building, the property owner may use special alternative requirements for historic structures.

But what does all this mean?

Interpreting the complexities of the ADA regulations can be a time-consuming and frustrating exercise for design professionals, historic site administrators, and other owners and users of historic buildings. In 1992 and 1993, several preservation organizations sponsored four regional workshops to introduce attendees to the legal requiremcnts and implementation of the ADA in historic properties. Participants received a compendium of legal requirements and instructional articles to guide them through planning and implementation of accessibility projects.

Now this resource guide, Accessibility and Historic Preservation: Legal Requirements, Planning Issues, Design Solutions, is available to the general public for $50. For only $5 more - a $13 value purchased separately - you can also receive "Accessibility and Historic Preservation: Entrances to the Past" a 30minute video summarizing the legal requirements and successful applications of the ADA to historic structures and sites. If you're looking for a straightforward introduction to accessibility in historic structures, you'll find it in this video.

Here's what the video covers:

Plain talk from wheelchair users, architects, and historians about the importance of enabling all people to enjoy our architectural heritage while protecting historic 0 materials and features that convey significance.

Easy to understand graphic explanations of ADA and host it is applied to making accessibility and preservation decisions.

Guidance on how to assemble an effective committee to review accessibility needs and their impact on historic buildings.

A comprehensive look at accessibility products on the market today, with design "ideas," including ramps, lifts, paths, stair tower additions, and even a stair climber.

A four-step planning process for successfully integrating accessibility for people with disabilities into historic structures.

"Real life" case studies of successful accessibility solutions for buildings similar to those found in your community.

Here's what the Resource Guide covers:

Section 1. Laws and Regulations. A reprint of the ADA legislation and related regulations governing its implementation, plus supplemental materials to help historic property owners determine whether they fall under Jurisdiction of the law and what the implications of compliance are. Summaries of relevant preservation legislation affecting compliance in historic properties.

Section 2. Design Guidelines. Includes the ADA Accessibility Guidelines, which detail standards for accessibility to be applied during design, construction, and alteration of properties covered by ADA, as well as the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings, which provide general design and technical recommendations to guide property owners making accessibility modifications.

Section 3. Planning and Self-Evaluation Strategies. A step-by-step approach to identifying the features that distinguish an historic property, evaluating the property for compliance with accessibility requirements and accessibility options, and implementing appropriate solutions.

Section 4. Accessibility Solutions: Implementation. Highlights typical problems and recommended solutions to accessibility in historic properties for a wide range of building types.

Section 5. Resource Organizations and Agencies. A listing of state and federal government agencies and non-government organizations equipped to assist you with interpretation and implementation of the accessibility requirements.

Section 6. Products. A list of harrier-free products to assist people making historic buildings and sites more accessibility.

Section 7. Articles. An assortment of articles on topics related to barrier-free access and the rights of the disabled.

Section 8. Bibliography. A listing of books and articles compiled by the Preservation Assistance Division of the National Park Service, plus useful excerpts from the Americans smith Disabilities Act Handbook.

Who should order?

• preservation commission members and staff
• accessibility specialists from non-profit organizations and accessibility boards
• Centers for Independent Living
• ADA technical assistance centers
• Historic building and site managers, administrators and owners
• National Park Service sites
• architects and consultants
• building contractors and inspectors
• State Historic Preservation Officers and staff
• physical plant administrators
• public officials
• government officials from cultural agencies and offices
• Chambers of Commerce or other groups assisting businesses located in historic downtowns such as Main Street programs.
  

The Resource Guide, compiled by Thomas C. Jester, Jr. and Judy Hayward, was developed by the National Park Service's Preservation Assistance Division and Of fice on Accessibility, Historic Windsor, Inc., National Conference of State Historic Preservation Of ficers, and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

The video, Entrances to the Past, was written be Kay Weeks, Preservation Assistance Division, with the assistance of David C. Park and Kay Ellis, Of fice on Accessibility. Jim Boyd, television production specialist. Horace M. Albright Center, Grand Canyon, was the filmmaker.

H. Ward Jandl, Deputy Chief, Preservation Assistance Division, National Park Service, in Washington, D.C. supervised both resource guide and video. Funding for the videowas provided by the 1992 Cultural Resource Training Initiative, National Park Service. The dissemination of both items is funded in part by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Critical Issues Fund.