Lincoln Center

Using Lincoln Center as its primary case study, this thesis explores how conflicts between preservation, maintenance and redevelopment of the American postwar performing arts center can be reconciled. Confronted with the prospect of significant alterations and new construction, it investigates ways of preserving character-defining elements of cultural centers while employing an expanded criterion based on utility and intent. Using existing regulatory mechanisms previously enacted by federal and state legislation, it demonstrates how the American postwar performing arts center can be protected as an historic resource, the extent to which program justifies change, and alternately, the ways in which change can be introduced without compromising overall significance.