How to Protect a Historic Building
As you may know, the listing of a building on the National Register of Historic Places does not provide any protection to that building. Here are some measures that do protect historic buildings from demolition and other negative changes.
In Pennsylvania, the 1961 Historic District Act gives municipalities the authority to establish historic districts that are certified by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Each certified district has its own Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB), which is appointed by the municipality to review proposed construction, alteration, and demolition of buildings within the historic district (specifically pertaining to building exteriors that are visible from a public right-of-way; the HARB does not make determinations on interior work). The board must include at least one registered architect, one licensed realtor, one building inspector, and at least two other qualified members.
When an owner of a property within the district applies for a building permit for work that would affect the building’s publicly visible exterior, the application is reviewed at a meeting of the HARB, which determines whether the proposed action is appropriate for the district or not. When determining appropriateness, the HARB considers what effect the proposed action will have on the character of the district. For example, the demolition of a non-historic building located within the district boundaries is something that would not negatively impact the district, but the demolition of one of the district’s historic buildings would diminish the character of the district as a whole by removing one of its components.
In addition to creating HARB districts, municipalities may also enact their own preservation ordinances with their own requirements and oversight rules and with provisions for landmarking individual buildings as well as districts. Much like with HARB districts, local landmarking typically comes with a requirement that building permits for landmarked properties be reviewed by a preservation board or commission established by the municipality. Local ordinances may allow any member of the public to submit a landmarking application or nomination, sometimes for a fee. Local landmark applications must generally include information about the property’s history, current photographs of the property, and a description of how it meets the criteria for landmarking established in the ordinance.
Another form of protection for individual buildings is preservation easements. To put a preservation easement on a property, the property owner conveys an interest in the property to a preservation organization or government agency, giving that organization or agency oversight over certain aspects or features of the property. An easement may cover just the building’s exterior, the exterior and certain interior rooms, or the entire property including the grounds. The terms of the easement will include restrictions on what changes can be made to the property and may also include maintenance obligations. The easement will run with the property’s deed, meaning that when the property is sold, the organization or agency will still retain their interest, and thus the terms of the easement will remain in place for the new owners.
All of these methods protect historic buildings by giving an agency or organization legal oversight of proposed changes to the property. Without such oversight, historic buildings can be remodeled or demolished at their owners’ whims, but with it, there is a legal mechanism in place to deter or halt destructive or unsympathetic alterations. These protections apply to a building despite who the owner become. For properties owned or altered by state or federal agencies, an additional layer of protection exists, commonly called Section 106. More on that next month!
Tabitha O’Connell - 2026
