LGBTQ Preservation: Focusing on the Present While Honoring the Past

Molly Maguire, M.A.H.P. '23, will talk with program director, Melanie Lytle, M.A.H.P. '11, about how preservationists can support current LGBTQ communities by incorporating sense of place into preservation work and deferring to community values. Many marginalized groups have not historically had access to the stability of property ownership or have lived transient lives shaped by discrimination and displacement that have permanently affected the way they relate to and form attachment to place. Molly explores these ideas through her analysis of Chicago’s LGBTQ Northalsted community and proposes a more flexible approach to historic preservation that doesn’t rely on the strict preservation of historic fabric.