Sensitivity towards preserving early historical sites linked to the Prophet so that later generations can benefit from them is not a modern phenomenon but can be traced back to the salaf themselves.

The early Sunni hadith scholar Ḥammād b. Isḥāq (d. 267) quotes the famous Mālik b. Anas (d. 179) as saying:

“I found some of the people of knowledge saying: We wished that when they expanded the masjid of Medina and enclosed the grave of the Messenger of Allah with a wall that they would have left the original nine rooms of the Messenger of Allah as they were, so that the people could see that they were made out of palm-leaves and coarse-cloth and take instruction from that and say: ‘This is the most honoured of creatures unto Allah, he is content from the world with this (humble abode)!’”

حَدَّثَنَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ قَالَ: ثنا أَبِي قَالَ: ثنا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ الْمَعْذِلِ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ مَسْلَمَةَ، عَنْ مَالِكِ بْنِ أَنَسٍ، أَنَّهُ قَالَ: رَأَيْتُ بَعْضَ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ: وَدِدْنَا أَنَّهُمْ حَيْثُ كَانُوا بَنَوْا مَسْجِدَ الْمَدِينَةِ وَأَحَاطُوا الْحَائِطَ عَلَى قَبْرِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانُوا تَرَكُوا أَبْيَاتَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ التِّسْعَ حَتَّى يَرَاهَا النَّاسُ قَدِ اتُّخِذَتْ بِالْجَرِيدِ وَالْمُسُوحِ فَيَعْتَبِرُونَ بِذَلِكَ، وَيَقُولُونَ هَذَا أَكْرَمُ الْخَلْقِ عَلَى اللَّهِ رَضِيَ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا بِهَذَا!

Note: The masjid was expanded in the time of the Umayyad Caliph, ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (d. 101).

Reference: Turkat al-Nabī (ed. Akram Ḍiyāʾ al-ʿUmarī), pp. 111-112.