Rethinking Orthodoxy: Preservation, Housing, Climate, and Community

Historic preservation in the United States is often practiced with a strong emphasis on restoring buildings to a fixed moment in time, even when preservation standards arguably allow for more flexibility. Drawing on nearly two decades of practice at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Main Street America, and RePurpose Capital, Patrice Frey (MSHP'07) argues that this tendency is increasingly out of step with the urgent needs cities face. As the housing crisis continues, climate-related catastrophes accelerate, and communities struggle to compete economically, the preservation field has an opportunity to move beyond rigid interpretations of its own standards and toward a more flexible practice — one that welcomes change in service of affordability, decarbonization, equity, and other social goods.

Patrice Frey serves as Senior Executive Advisor to RePurpose Capital, where she was the founder and CEO. RePurpose Capital is the only national nonprofit loan fund in the United States exclusively dedicated to financing the reuse of vacant and underutilized older and historic buildings.

Patrice also served as President & CEO of Main Street America, a national nonprofit focused on fostering resilient local economies and enhancing quality of life through place-based economic development and community preservation in downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts. Prior to her tenure at Main Street America, Patrice was the Director of Sustainability at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where she played a key role in founding the Preservation Green Lab—a program dedicated to promoting the reuse and sustainable retrofitting of older and historic buildings to support environmental health. Before joining the National Trust, Patrice worked in community development.

She holds a master's degree in preservation planning from the University of Pennsylvania, along with a certificate in real estate design and development from the Penn School of Design and Wharton Business School. She earned her B.A. from Scripps College in Claremont, California.

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