Speaker Date: March 08, 2022
Hear from Jack Thomson, Executive Director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, about the various tools and layers that can be employed to preserve important historic places in your community while also spurring creative economic development and managed change within the built environment.
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Jack Thomson
Executive Director, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission
BIOGRAPHY & RESOURCES
Preservation nonprofits:
Preserve Mecklenburg
Preservation North Carolina
National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Preservation Partners Network
Preservation government agencies:
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission
North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office
The National Park Service & Historic Preservation
Books, other resources:
A Field Guide to American Architecture, Virginia McAlester, 2020
A Guide to Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina, Bishir, 2003
North Carolina Architecture, Bishir, 1990
Buying Time for Heritage, Howard, 2007
YouTube: “The Revolving Fund”, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1772 Foundation and SCAD
Jack Thomson is a native of Western North Carolina and attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After college, Jack excelled as a third generation home builder and real estate agent, eventually working as a project manager for Lee Morgan Inc., a historic restoration general contractor in Charlotte, N.C.
His projects there included a log barn reconstruction for the Charlotte Museum of History, stabilization of structures at Historic Brattonsville, SC and work on several landmark properties in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. In 2004, Jack became the Director of Historic Salisbury Foundation where he stayed for 6 years. There he managed a robust historic properties redevelopment program and revolving fund, along with museum sites and advocacy campaigns.
Jack was selected as the Executive Director of the Preservation Society of Asheville & Buncombe County in 2010 worked to expand the capacity of the organization in education and on-the-ground preservation advocacy. Over the past 18 years in preservation, Jack has worked to save nearly 100 buildings primarily through the use of real estate transactions, protective covenants and preservation easements.
In December of 2019, Jack was selected to succeed the long-term and successful career of Dr. Dan Morrill as the Executive Director of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.