People who own historic properties have long struggled to sensitively adapt them to changing times. They have come to terms with wiring and plumbing, once considered too disruptive for old buildings, and moved on to innovations like solar panels. On the theory that the greenest building is the one already built, architects are adapting historic structures to new uses altogether.
But these problems of adaptation pale beside an issue facing more and more historic houses and other properties: flooding from sea-level rise, especially in communities along the eastern seaboard, from Newport, Rhode Island, to St. Augustine, Florida, where the ocean has risen about a foot since the middle of the 20th century, and the rise is accelerating. Colonial-era neighborhoods find themselves awash during and after storms—or even when the moon is full. Scientists predict that, by 2100, seas will be three to six feet higher than they were in 2000.
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