Want to Preserve Your Property? Learn About Historic Landmark Designation

Let’s say you purchased a gorgeous vintage home and pulled out all the stops to bring it to its former glory. You carefully researched paint colors, meticulously rebuilt existing windows, and perhaps stripped away an ugly fireplace façade to uncovered an original Rookwood. After pouring heart and soul into restoration and renovation, of course, you think about protecting all your hard work. The next logical step is to consider landmark designation for your home.

If you purchased in a historic district, you’re a big step ahead. If not, it’s a process. Thankfully Preservation Dallas Executive Director David Preziosi broke it down for me.

There are 10 criteria for landmark eligibility.

Don’t throw up your hands. You only have to meet three. More is better, but three will do. Here they are, straight from the city website:

• History, heritage, and culture: Represents the historical development, ethnic heritage, or cultural characteristics of the city, state, or county.
• Historic event: Location of or association with the site of a significant historic event.
• Significant persons: Identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the culture and development of the city, state, or county.
• Architecture: Embodiment of distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, landscape design, method of construction, exceptional craftsmanship, architectural innovation, or contains details that represent folk or ethnic art.
• Architect or master builder: Represents the work of an architect, designer, or master builder whose individual work has influenced the development of the city, state, or county.
• Historic context: Relationship to other distinctive buildings, sites, or areas that are eligible for preservation based on historic, cultural, or architectural characteristics.
• Unique visual feature: Unique location of singular physical characteristics representing an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, community, or the city that is a source of pride or cultural significance.
• Archeological: Archeological or paleontological value in that it has produced or can be expected to produce data affecting theories of historic or prehistoric interest.
• National and state recognition: Eligible of or designated as a National Historic Landmark, Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, State Archeological Landmark, American Civil Engineering Landmark, or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
• Historic education: Represents as era of architectural, social, or economic history that allows an understanding of how the place or area was used by past generations

“The process can be done two ways,” Preziosi said. ” A property owner can initiate or a city body can like the City Council, the City Planning Commission or the Landmark Commission. If the property owner begins the process they meet with Liz Casso at the city and submit an application. A fee is paid as this is a rezoning issue. Many people have a person within the city initiate, like your councilperson, and then there is no fee.”

So get to know your city council person!

“Most people have a landmark commissioner initiate the process and place it on the agenda,” Preziosi said. “There is paperwork and information about the history of the house you have to fill out so the Landmark Commission can review it. Then you are placed on the agenda and the commission has a public hearing. After the Landmark Commission reviews the request and votes favorably then the property is initiated for the designation process.”

OK, remember I said you needed to be patient.

Once that is approved there is a two-year time period when the city has to take action on the landmarking of the property. During that period the property is protected. If you want to make changes you have to go to the Landmark Commission to get approval.

After the Landmark Commission initiates the process, the application is forwarded to the Landmark Designation Committee. That committee works with the applicant on the official nomination report which includes information about the significance of the property,  which includes figuring out which of the 10 criteria they meet. That designation criterion becomes the ordinance that governs the property.

Then there is another Landmark Commission review and another public hearing. The City Planning Commission gets a crack at it then finally the City Council has the ultimate authority in designation.

So to break that down:

Research
Application
Initiation
Drafts
Designation Committee Meeting
Landmark Commission Meeting
City Planning Commission Meeting
City Council Meeting

After that two-year period, if your ducks are not in a row, your property falls out of that protective period and you start all over. The message here is to do your research and make friends with your city councilperson.

Is it worth it?

You bet it is. If you worked that hard to bring your home back to the architect’s original vision and don’t want to see all that work go down the drain, this is the way you save that beautiful vintage home for generations to come.  You can also take advantage of some nice tax incentives, but that’s another story.

Next week I’m going to tell you what happens if someone else thinks a building or home should be saved and the owner does not!

Click here for more information!