IS THERE SUCH A THING as a “Hero of Rome Preservation” medal? If so it should go to Wes Walraven and Brian Moore who, just because they love the historic downtown and Between the Rivers area so much, are in the process of buying a huge old mansion — The Columns at 206 E. Fourth Ave. — that most recently was a fraying-around-the-edges apartment building with a plan to repair and restore it to its single-family glory days.

And not even because they want to live there — they already dwell (when not working in Manhattan) in another historic home only a block away — but rather, as Walraven (a hometown boy) explained: “This is just basically a great old historic house with the potential to be one of the prettier houses in downtown Rome. We were worried that somebody would buy it and leave it like it is now, which affects everybody in the neighborhood.”

So they’re buying it and then investing in bringing it back, which plainly involves a considerable up-front investment on the hopes of then selling and recouping at a later date in what is not exactly a hot real-estate market. They’re not in it for the money but for helping to save the “looks” of the place where they love to live.

That is hero stuff akin to rushing into a burning museum in order to save a Michelangelo before the flames can get to it.