Modernist buildings fit National Register criteria, experts say, but many municipalities don't have ordinances to help save them
Humans are not the only creations that age. A handful of both distinguished and lesser-known creations of mid-century modernism turn 50 this year (Virginia’s Dulles Airport, Des Moines’ American Federal Building, L.A.’s Design Center). Because of their half-century age, such structures are eligible for protection under the National Register of Historic Places.
As these Modernist buildings move into the spotlight, the NRHP is receiving more and more applications for their protection, but conflicting attitudes about their historical worth are also boiling.