character home

We do not regret preservation. We regret building and erasing. The past persists as unpredictably as the future unfolds.

Preservation, Inc. is my working practice. I help people and communities understand their historic places, plan next steps, and use Idaho preservation tools in a lossless way, holding local character while change occurs.

My days currently center on fieldwork. This year’s surveys of more than four hundred early twentieth century houses have become a working laboratory for the practice. I am refining how character defining features are identified on site, how integrity is written with specifics rather than generalizations, and how documentation standards can move across projects and jurisdictions without losing rigor or clarity.

Accuracy anchors the work. Care, collaboration, and curiosity allow buildings and landscapes to speak beyond a single report or funding cycle.

From this work, I bring experience in:

• Historic resource surveying across public and private contexts, including Section 106, SHPO, CLG, and state and local programs
   
• National Register research, grant funded documentation, and archival and digital workflows
   
• Advisory work for bespoke architecture, interiors, and family offices
   
• Urban, suburban, and rural analysis, from vernacular building stock to high style design
   
• Cultural narratives shaped by identity, gender, labor, and exclusion
   
• Public history, publishing, and education
   

If something nearby needs care or clarity, reach me at jeff@characterhome.com and jeff@preservation.ltd I am usually close.

jeffery holley

principal | architectural historian, Preservation, Inc.

Architectural History + Historic Preservation - MArH, BArH

415.776.5333 + 208.481.7194 Anytime

www.linkedin.com/in/preservation

I’m deeply grateful for the generous support that made my University of Virginia journey possible. My sincere thanks go to the Colonial Dames of America Scholarship, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Henry J. Javor Bicentennial Scholarship, the Peter R. Kutscha Endowed Memorial Scholarship, the Peter L. Page Scholarship and Grant, the Frederick Doveton Nichols Award, the UVA Society of Architectural Historians, and the UVA Architecture School’s Center for Cultural Landscapes, the City of Charlottesville, and the Darden School of Business. Their investment in my education means I pay it forward to the emerging historian community.

23-Jan-2026 Friday