This is fine, I suppose, if we assume that language is not liquid, and that, in time, the word "recover" will not also have those connotations that you are trying to avoid and that we might think such a change would eliminate. But meaning in all languages does shift over time (consider all of the slang and/or sexual entendre present in the English alone), which, as has been mentioned, is why this question is being posed in the first place. I just don't think that word choice alone would solve the problem that you see.
And, there is still always going to be the question: What point in history are we choosing to "recover?" The day after construction was completed? The day after the original designer made his final changes? Others? Whether you are "restoring" or "recovering", that decision will still need to be made, and it is possible (now that I think about the word choice itself) that the inability to make this decision, and to be confident in it, is more than likely a huge contributing factor to the problem that you are addressing.