Preserving our Built Heritage in the 21st Century:  Addressing Contemporary Challenges

Brian Goeken, Chief, Technical Preservation Services
National Park Service, Washington, D.C.

Goeken has more twenty-five years of experience in historic preservation, urban planning, architecture, economic development, and urban design and has led historic preservation programs in the cities of New York, Chicago and Pasadena before assuming a leadership role in Washington, D.C.  One of his most memorable projects was ensuring Historic Landmark protection for Chicago’s Wrigley Field.  He oversees the nation’s largest, most successful and most cost-effective community revitalization program as the chief of the National Park Service’s Technical Preservation Services Office.  Goeken’s division administers the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program, the largest federal program specifically supporting historic preservation.  The program generates over $4 billion a year in private investment in historic rehabilitation; since its inception in 1976, the program has leveraged more than $78 billion in the rehabilitation of income-producing properties involving over 41,000 completed projects.