Transcript The National Register

Federal Preservation Activities:
Part 1
What did With Heritage So Rich (1965) and the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 provide to
administer a Federal program of Preservation?
An expansive inventory of properties reflecting the full range of
the national heritage. (National Register)
A mechanism to protect those properties from unnecessary harm
caused by federal activities. (Section 106 review)
A program of financial incentives, embracing both grants and tax
incentives, to encourage the preservation of non-federally
owned historic properties. (tax incentives begun in Tax
Reform Act of 1976)
An independent federal preservation body to coordinate the
actions of federal agencies affecting historic preservation.
(The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation)
The bi-polar nature of Federal Preservation Efforts
Historic Preservation at the Federal level involves two distinct
domains of activity that are necessary to distinguish because
the goals are so distinct as to create different writing styles,
information needs, and skill levels.
Regulatory (created with the NHPA of 1966)
Assessment and planning most important (the National
Register) comparison of cultural properties
2. Celebratory (created through the Historic Sites Act of 1935 and
continuing) site specific documentation
Documentation standards and best practices (Heritage
Documentation Programs)
The National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is authorized by Section 101
(a)(1)(A)of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to expand and maintain a
National Register of Historic Place composed of districts, sites,
buildings, structures, and objects of state and local importance
significant in American history, architecture, archaeology,
engineering, and culture that possess integrity of location, design
setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, association.
Listing on the National Register certifies that a property possesses
significance, mandates its consideration in the planning of federal or
federally assisted projects, and qualifies it for federal tax benefits
and preservation grant assistance.
Property Types on the National Register include districts, sites,
buildings, structures, and objects.
The National Register website has images, explanations, and links to
publications to explain the process and the properties listed.
How the criteria for the National Register may
change
For Legislation to become policy the agency interpretation of the legislative
mandate is published in the Federal Register. The National Register criteria
as applied is published as 36CFR60.
In order for properties to be listed on the National Register they must meet
four conditions: They must
(1) possess a significance that
(2) meets at least one of the criteria of the national register and the
significance must
(3) be developed from an understanding of the historic context, and
(4) retain integrity of location and materials.
Though not complete the Register has become the most comprehensive set of
documents about the built environment available in the United States.
How do properties become listed on the national
register?
Properties are nominated to the National Register by the State Historic
Preservation officer (SHPO) of the State in which the property is located,
by the Federal Preservation Officer (FPO) for properties under Federal
ownership or control, or by the Tribal Preservation Officer (TPO) if the
property is on tribal lands. Any one may nominate a property. The
nomination is prepared under one or more criteria:
a. Structures associated with events that have made a significant contribution
to the broad patterns of our history; or
b. That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or
c. That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of
construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high
artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity
whose components may lack individual distinction; or
d. Have yielded or likely to yield, information important in prehistory or
history.
What buildings, sites, or structures would not be
appropriate for the national register?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Buildings completed within the past fifty years
Commemorative properties.
Structures moved from their original sites.
Religious buildings, properties owned by religious
organizations
5. Cemeteries
6. Reconstructed buildings.
What are the exceptions to the exceptions?
1. Religious properties that have aesthetic or historic significance.
2. A relocated buildings significant for architecture, or historic
association.
3. A birthplace or grave of a figure of outstanding importance
4. Cemetery with transcendent corpses, distinctive design, or
associative value.
5. A reconstructed building the only associated structure with a person
of transcendent importance.
6. A commemorative property significant for its own age, design, or
history
7. A property achieving significance under 50 yrs old of exceptional
importance.
Historic Context
HISTORIC CONTEXT. The historic context is a comparative
evaluation of the property nominated that compares the facts
discoverable about a property with the stages of development for that
particular region or activity.
The context statement for the nomination breaks down the question of “Is
it appropriate to the National Register?” into three questions:
1. Under what theme of historical development was this building
significant?
2.
In what place is the property significant?
3.
During what time was the property significant?
After describing the evidence for the significance of the property, it is
necessary to describe the remaining historic fabric, to describe the
historic integrity of the building.
Concept of Property Types
property type. A grouping of individual properties based on a set of
shared physical or associative characteristics. These may be physical
[structural, stylistic, materials of construction, or site type] or
associative [associated activities, associated with particular groups,
category of information which a property might yield information.
The preferred method of developing historic context is to first establish
what the significant historic contexts are and then to survey locales
for building relating to that activity and time frame. White Paper on
Historic Context April 2009.
The information provided in the historic context should directly relate
to the criteria under which the site is being nominated.
Contributing and non-contributing resources
A contributing building, site, structure, or object adds to the historic associations, historic architectural
qualities, or archeological values for which a property is significant because:
a. it was present during the period of significance, relates to the documented significance of the
property, and possesses historic integrity or is capable of yielding important information about the
period; or
b. it independently meets the National Register criteria (Identify contributing resources of this type
and explain their significance in section 8).
A non-contributing building, site, structure, or object does not add to the historic associations, historic
architectural qualities, or archeological values for which a property is significant because:
a. it was not present during the period of significance, or does not relate to the documented
significance of the property due to alterations, disturbances, additions, or other changes, it no longer
possesses historic integrity or is capable of yielding important information about the period; or
b. it does not independently meet the National Register criteria
Parts of the National Register nomination
1. Name of Property
2. Location
3. State/Federal Agency Certification
4. National Park Service Certification
5. Classification
6. Function or Use
7. Description
8. Statement of Significance
9. Major Bibliographical References
10. Geographical Data
11. Form Prepared By
12. Additional Documentation
What are the challenges for the National
Register?
The register has not fulfilled the original goal of becoming the all-inclusive list
of what is significant in the nation’s history.
Although the number of listings is impressive, so is the number of properties
that have not been identified, evaluated, and formally listed.
There is a growing concern that too much is on the National Register and that
the criteria for eligibility are too loosely applied. White Paper on Common
Resources April 2009.
a. This opinion is most often heard from agencies and organizations required to
follow the protective procedures that attach to listing or eligibility for
listing.
Failure to meet the challenges posed can erode the political support for
preservation.
What do national register nominations and sites
look like?
View some recent properties listed on the national register in
Virginia
View nominations of properties in Virginia to the national
register.
View the nomination process in Virginia.
When is national register consideration
mandatory?
Federal agencies are required by the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and
other provisions of Federal law to consider historic resources in the planning and execution of their projects.
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and its implementing regulations at 36 CFR Part 800
requires Federal agencies to
clearly define the scope of their undertaking;
develop a statement of the Area of Potential Effects
make a reasonable and good-faith effort to identify and evaluate historic properties;
and assess the project's effects when historic properties are present.
If adverse effects are identified, the Federal agency must consult on ways to avoid, minimize, or mitigate those effects.
The process is consultative and there is no prescribed outcome.
Consultation takes place with DHR, which serves as the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)in Virginia, the
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), Indian tribes that attach religious or cultural significance to
historic properties that may be affected by an undertaking, local governments, interested public, and other
stakeholders.
DHR’s role in the process is advisory. More information on Section 106 is available on the ACHP website
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires Federal agencies to consider the human environment, including
cultural resources, in evaluating a project’s impacts. Under certain circumstances, NEPA may be used to satisfy the
requirements of Section 106.