How can old buildings serve new purposes? How can preserving old buildings promote social good in communities? Join Isabel Thornton, Executive Director of Restoration Housing, and Alyssa Frystak of PlaceEconomics for a deep dive into historic preservation and affordable housing. During this panel Isabel and Alyssa will discuss combining historic preservation and affordable housing, major challenges to their work, and legal and social changes needed to further that work. Additionally, Isabel and Alyssa will examine a local example of historic preservation and affordable housing coming into conflict. Presentations and panel discussion with be followed by Q and A.
This panel appears in conjunction with the exhibition, Power in Preservation, on view at Dumbarton House through spring 2022.
To join the program please find your Ticketleap confirmation email and click on the button that says “Join Livestream.” This will bring you to the Zoom meeting.
Isabel Thornton
Executive Director, Restoration Housing
Isabel Thornton is the Executive Director of Restoration Housing, which she founded in 2014 out of a passion for historic preservation and affordable housing. She received a BA in Architectural History from the University of Virginia and an MHP in Historic Preservation and Urban Planning from the University of Southern California.
She serves on the Housing Stability Committee for Family Promise of Greater Roanoke and the Blue Ridge Interagency Council on Homelessness. She is also a board member for Carilion Medical Center and the Roanoke Women’s Foundation.
Isabel lives on a farm in Botetourt County, Virginia with her husband and four children.
Alyssa Frystak
Director of Research and Data Analytics, PlaceEconomics
Alyssa Frystak is the Director of Research and Data Analytics at PlaceEconomics, a Washington, D.C. based research firm specializing in the analysis of the economic impacts of historic preservation. There she is responsible for data acquisition and preparation, methodology development, and analysis. Alyssa is well versed in GIS, census data, municipal data, as well as various other data resources. She is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was the inaugural recipient of the Mencoff Family Fellowship in Historic Preservation. Her Master’s thesis, “Small but Mighty: Combatting the Affordable Housing Crisis Through Small-Scale Historic Rehabilitation,” examined the tools, incentives, and policies that help preserve and create subsidized and unsubsidized affordable housing in designated and non designated buildings. She is the Partnership Subcommittee Chair for the Skyline Council of Landmarks Illinois and a member of the national board of directors for Preservation Action Foundation.
