LEWISTON – New restaurants, downtown business centers and historic clocks are all proof that saving the city’s history not only is possible, it looks good.

“I know you can’t save every building, but it’s the unique ones that give a city like Lewiston our character,” said Fredda Wolf, outgoing member of the city’s Historic Preservation Board.

Members of the board honored four recent projects they say helped retain Lewiston’s history. They ranged from private renovations at the old Lyceum Hall at 49 Lisbon St. to resurrecting Lewiston City Hall’s historic tower clock, refurbishing it and putting it on display.

But preserving Lewiston’s history isn’t easy.

“Often, work like this leads to conflict,” board member Jack Milo said. “There are questions of why preserve this building, why not that one?”

Developers and preservation advocates often disagree about what must be preserved and what doesn’t matter.

“But you cannot get a finished building that looks as good as these do if you’re not allowed to replace all the windows, for example,” he said. “There must be compromise to move forward.”

These kinds of historic buildings have made Lewiston unique, and Board Chairman Bill Clifford said they make the city more attractive.

“We have to get away from the strip-mall mentality in this country,” Clifford said.

The projects recognized by the board Thursday were:

• The Lyceum Hall on Lisbon Street, which was built in 1872 but renovated last year by Eric and Carrie Agren. It was once home to a popular hall and theater as well as a series of shops. The Agrens’ renovated building includes the restaurant Fuel, an L-A Arts gallery and residential units.

• The Pontiac Building at 415 Lisbon St., designed in 1911 and renovated last year to become the Business Service Center at KeyBank Plaza. At one time the building housed agricultural supply companies and a garage. It was later home to LA United Grocers. It’s now home to the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council, the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce, the Maine International Trade Center and Coastal Enterprises.

• Bates Mill No. 6, 70 Lincoln St., was built in 1892 to hold the Bates Mill’s Jacquard looms and was in use as a packing and shipping center until the mill closed. Developer Platz Associates renovated the building, and it’s currently home to Fish Bones Restaurant, Barnie’s Coffee and Tea Co., a dermatologist and Androscoggin Bank.

• The city of Lewiston’s 1891 E. Howard clock was removed from a tower atop City Hall in 2001 and refurbished. Work was finished in 2002. Rather than put the clock back in its tower, city officials asked the Lewiston Youth Advisory Council to lead a fundraising effort to pay for a display booth for the public’s viewing in City Hall. The clock now sits in the hallway between the second and third floors in a Plexiglas case. A 15-foot-long pendulum hangs down through the floor to a matching display case in front of City Hall’s Pine Street entrance.