Eric Dray

For the last 25 years, I worked as a Preservation Consultant in Massachusetts with a focus on MHC Inventory work, National Register nominations, town planning documents, and local historic districts including design review guidelines.  I am also the Preservation Consultant to Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and have worked with non-profits and private individuals.

Prior to consulting, I worked for six years at the Boston Landmarks Commission as a Preservation Planner. For more information on my work, please visit: https://ericdrayconsulting.com/ 

What have you been doing since you graduated from BU? Details about your current and past employement? Accomplishments you’re proud of? Challenges you’ve encountered? 

I greatly enjoyed being an adjunct professor of preservation planning at BU’s Preservation Studies Program from 2006-2013. I’ve presented at numerous local, county, state and national preservation conferences.

In 2010, I was named a Paul E. Tsongas Profile in Preservation Honoree by Preservation Massachusetts. I was also the Preservation Consultant to Oudens Ello Architecture who was awarded both the Robert H. Keuhn, Jr. Award for Adaptive Reuse and the People’s Preservation Choice Award in 2020 from Preservation Massachusetts for the rehabilitation of the 1895 Vineyard Haven Marine Hospital into the new Martha’s Vineyard Museum.

I also served as Chair of the Provincetown Historical Commission from 2005-2014, and Vice-Chair of the town’s Community Preservation Committee. I also served as Chair of the Historic District Study Committee which led to the adoption of Provincetown’s Ch. 40C district, and served for a time on the HDC in Provincetown and a Neighborhood Conservation District in Cambridge.

How has your time in the Preservation Studies Program shaped your professional and personal lives? 

I greatly enjoyed my time as a student both in the law school and preservation program. Professors Richard Candee and Keith Morgan greatly influenced me, and I felt fortunate to consider them friends thereafter.

After a misguided, and fortunately brief, experience working for a large Boston law firm, I have spent my life working in the Preservation Field, and have devoted considerable personal time volunteering on local historical commissions and historic district commissions. I was also fortunate enough to follow my mentor, colleague, and friend Gretchen Schuler as an Adjunct Professor teaching the Preservation Planning Course in BU’s Masters’ Program as well as planning colloquia.

What advice would you give to students in the program looking for careers in Preservation? What do you wish you had known when you were first entering the field? 

I have always advised that students go to a grad school in the city and/or region where they want to work. I think that is particularly true with BU’s Preservation Studies Masters Program. Grads of our program are spread throughout New England in positions of leadership and expertise in every sub-field of Preservation.