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On occasion there are buildings torn down which have some historic value. In the past ten years there have been several historic structures in the Wallenpaupack area that were razed. Unfortunately, the condition of those buildings had deteriorated to the point where they could no longer be restored in a safe condition. The time to save an historic building is long before it falls into ruin.
The other relatively new threat is the Pennsylvania building code. Many other states allow specific exemptions for aspects of building codes to facilitate repairs to historic buildings. For example, ceiling heights in many very old buildings do not meet modern codes. An "all or nothing" code requires that all aspects of the building be brought up to code when any renovations are done.. Since that may be impossible for some buildings, there is real pressure for building owners to delay renovations, or favor demolition and reconstruction over repair.
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