To the Editor:

Currently the Garden Theater is showing The Monuments Men, the subject of which is the extraordinary effort by the Allies during World War II to protect, preserve, and restore Europe’s cultural heritage. Ironically, at the same time the building next door, one of the prime artifacts of Princeton’s cultural heritage, faces an uncertain fate. The Historical Society of Princeton, which has occupied Bainbridge House for almost 40 years, has announced its intention to vacate the building, without reference to any plan for its future. A spokesman for its owner, Princeton University, rather reluctantly concludes that the exterior will be preserved because the building is within a historic district covered by a local ordinance. The interior, however, the best-preserved 18th-century interior in Princeton, evidently can be modified or even totally removed to suit whatever use the University plans for the building.

Constance M. Greiff

Windrow Drive