EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY FIRE STATIONS: THE FEASIBILITY OF CONTINUED OPERATION AS FIRE STATIONS
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Date
2005
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MA in Historic Preservation
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To view a complete copy of this thesis please contact Goucher College Special Collections & Archives at archives@goucher.edu or (410) 337-6075.
Abstract
This thesis has as the underlying premise that historic fire stations are
architecturally and historically significant buildings. With that in mind, it examines the
feasibility of continued operation of historic fire stations by twenty-first-century
municipal fire departments and the ability of historic firehouses to accommodate the
apparatus and personnel of these modem departments.
The thesis is organized into five basic chapters. The first is a brief overview of
the history of the fire service in the United States and the architectural history of fire
stations. In order to accurately evaluate the feasibility of continued operation of historic
fire stations, Chapter ll describes the modem fire department: its personnel, its practices
and its apparatus. With this information, the paper explores where modem needs
coincide or conflict with the realities of working within an existing station in the third
chapter. In Chapter N, these constraints and opportunities are illustrated through a case
study of continuously operating historic stations in Nashville, Tennessee, followed by an
analysis and recommendations for continued use in Chapter V.
The thesis demonstrates that continued operation of historic fire stations is
feasible in communities where fire department officials are willing to work creatively
within the historic firehouse and its site.