Historic and Cultural Resource Planning Flashcards
Historic District
a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated either at the local, state, and or national level. Historic designation is provided when the buildings, properties, or site in the area have been determined to be historically or architecturally significant.
According to the National Register of Historic Places definition, a historic district is:
“A geographically definable area, urban or rural, possessing a signiciant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, buildings, strucutres, or objects united by past events or aesthetically by plan or physical development. A district may also comprise individual elements, separated geographically but linked by association or history.”
Districts vary in size form just a few buildings to hundreds of buildings. Both contributing and non-contributing buildings, properties, or sites can be found within a district. The nation’s first historic district was designated in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931.
National Register of Historic Places
The US Department of the Interior’s National Park Service oversees the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register was created in 1966. To be designated on the National Register, the building, property, or site must have historic significance, as determined by set criteria.
Being listed on the Register allows properties to qualify for federal tax incentives. Being listed does not protect properties from demolition, although it does provide some degree of protection (in terms of additional review requirements) if the federal government plans to alter the site.
a 20% income tax credit is available for the rehabilitation of historic, income-producing buildings that are determined by the secretary of the US Department of the Interior, through the NPS, to be certified historic structures.
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded nonprofit organization initially established for acquisition and administration of historic sites. It might be best known to planners for its Main Streets program, which is now managed by a subsidiary, the National Main Street Center.
State and Local Historic Districts
The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 requires that all states have a State Historic Preservation Office. Many state and local governments have their own laws for historic district designation. Historic district designation varies widely- some have no restrictions on property owners, while some require strict adherence to historic rehabilitation standards. When implemented at the local level, a district can provide significant protection by implementing historic district overlay zone requirements through the local zoning code.
