The Importance of Construction Documents to Restoration Architects

The needs of preservation architects for archival architectural records are opposite the needs of historians. While the historian may be more interested in earlier drafts and design concepts for a building, most important to the preservationist is not what might have been, but what actually is. While it is usually not possible to retain all the architectural records for a building, it is possible to distinguish the types of records most useful to preservation architects. The various documents related to a building's construction are reviewed for their value to preservation architects.