Architecture: The preservationist-in-chief

Minnesota native Richard Moe last week announced his retirement as president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C., effective next spring.

During his 17 years at the private, nonprofit organization, Moe, 72, expanded preservation efforts nationwide, doubled the group's budget to $55 million and helped save such iconic sites as President Abraham Lincoln's cottage in Washington and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's modernist Farnsworth House in Plano, Ill.

Moe, who will be in Minneapolis Wednesday to speak at two preservation events, talked by phone last week about the trust's work, his life and plans.

Q What are your Minnesota roots?

A I was born and grew up in Duluth and moved to Minneapolis after graduating from Williams College in Massachusetts [1959] and law school at the University of Minnesota [1966].

Q How did you get involved with Walter Mondale and the Carter administration?

A I was chairman of the Minnesota DFL Party from 1969 to 1972 and then moved to Washington, D.C., as Mondale's chief of staff. I was on President Carter's senior staff from 1977 to 1981.

A When we were not invited back to the White House, I practiced law for 12 years with the Washington office of a New York firm. While that was interesting, I felt a pull back to Minnesota, so I wrote a book about the state's Civil War history: "The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers." That got me involved in Civil War battlefield preservation, and then I found myself at the National Trust. I came in as president in 1993, and it's been the most fulfilling part of my career.

Q Your effort to prevent Disney from building a theme park in northern Virginia must have stirred some personal memories and raised new issues, too.

A Yes. There are great Civil War battlefields there, and we were trying to prevent collateral development from overwhelming the fragile resources of that region. [The problem] wasn't the land where Disney was planning to build its park -- it was the collateral development that would have spread in all directions, overwhelming small towns and African-American burial grounds and other sites. We were trying to protect one of the most historic landscapes in America, the Northern Piedmont of Virginia, where so many of our country's founders were born and Civil War battlefields exist. Vistas and landscapes are very important to our mission, too.

Q How has historic preservation changed in the past 17 years?

A The audience for preservation has broadened. There are a lot of people who don't necessarily think of themselves as preservationists but who really value older sections of towns, and older structures of all kinds. Even developers now don't think first of demolition; they think of adaptation and re-use. Like our society, preservation has evolved and become a tool for community revitalization. Neighborhoods were built better in an earlier era, with places to gather and houses with front porches. People love what's real and genuine, and preservation really adds to the quality of life in many neighborhoods.

A That's a false assumption. Sometimes it is more expensive, but more often it is not. It depends on the structure and the kind of work you're going to do. Sometimes there are tax credits available, too. When you talk about preservation, you have to think of the whole issue. You have to use a whole lot more energy to destroy a building and replace it, and new buildings aren't necessarily more energy-efficient. When it comes to reducing energy costs and consumption, you will almost inevitably do that more effectively by retrofitting an old building. As we say, the greenest building is the building that already exists.

Q What are the new issues in historic preservation?

A Sustainability is the newest. But we're also facing the issue of modernism. We're trying to raise awareness of modernist buildings that are now historic because they're more than 50 years old.

Q What other Minnesota structures concern you?

A We're very focused on the Upper Post at Fort Snelling. Those buildings have been vacant for decades and need a new use. It's a great site, a great location, and those are great buildings. We need a plan that will re-use the buildings for today.

A I'm just going to read, write and figure it out as we go along. My wife and I are going to spend more time in the West, especially Colorado and Minnesota.