Historic District
A Historic District (English, "historic district") is an area in the United States that has been designated by one or more public authorities as historically significant or outstanding because of its architecture. In contrast to the individual cultural monuments in the list of the National Register of Historic Places , the focus of a historic district is on the collection of buildings, structures and other objects.
Some historic districts are made up of hundreds of individual objects, while others have only a few objects. Many objects have already been individually recognized as significant. The objects are divided into contributing property and non-contributing property , i.e. whether they contribute to the historical integrity or architectural quality of the district or not.
history
The first historic district, the Charleston Old and Historic District , was designated in the city of Charleston in the US state of South Carolina in 1931 . In 1937 the French Quarter in New Orleans and in 1939 the La Villita district in San Antonio , in the US state of Texas, was designated as a Historic District. Other territories followed, and in 1966 the National Register of Historic Places, the United States' federal government's official list of heritage sites, of historic districts, facilities, buildings, equipment, and other significant objects, was introduced. There are now several thousand historic districts in the United States.
division
In addition to the division of the individual objects in a historical district into contributing and non-contributing property , a distinction is made between the districts, whether it is a national (federal), a state or a local (local) district. Non-contributing properties are individual objects within a district which, for example, due to their age, architecture or substantial changes, do not contribute to the historical character of the district. Since 1980, the entry in the register has contained a list of the respective contributing and non-contributing components.
Federal District
An entry on the National Register of Historic Places is a designation of the historic district by the United States government. It defines a historic district through US federal law. The National Park Service is responsible for the administration of the National Register . An entry in this list, however, only means an honorary status for the selected area, but may allow financial support from the state. A Historic District is intended to be a geographically definable, urban or agricultural area with a significant concentration of historical objects. A district can also consist of several individual parts that are geographically separated but linked by their history. Listing a district on the National Register of Historic Places does not necessarily mean that the area is under special protection. It just says that the area is worth preserving.
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State District
Most US states have their own lists, the State Register of Historic Places, which are comparable to the federal government's National Register of Historic Places. Areas designated by the states can be placed under special legal protection. These lists are maintained by the State Historic Preservation Office . According to the National Historic Preservation Act , introduced in 1966 , each state is required to maintain its own State Historic Preservation Office, in which decisions about historic districts and objects are made. Federal laws, which can differ greatly from state to state, represent the boundary conditions for the districts or objects concerned.
Local District
The local counties are designated and administered by the city or county . They offer the oldest and strongest legal protection for the affected area, as some of them have very strict requirements for the preservation of the area. However, it is precisely these strict requirements that lead to resistance from the landowners and residents concerned. It is true that the designation as a historic district has a positive effect on the district's importance for tourism, the requirements of the local historic districts make it more expensive or even prevent the buildings from being expanded or modernized. In the New York borough of Fieldston in the Bronx , residents have resisted the designation as a local historic district because they feared the many legal regulations and the tourists. There are now over 2,300 local historic districts in the United States.
meaning
The importance of the Historic Districts lies primarily in creating a district that unites the important individual historical objects in the area. In this way, the character of the individual objects worth protecting is reinforced. Many cities have made their inner cities attractive in this way and are now attracting tourists with a historic city center. The designation of a historic district often creates attractive residential areas for the upper middle class from dilapidated industrial and commercial districts. This time, as for example in the New York City borough of Dumbo in Brooklyn , remodeled the existing buildings, which mainly consisted of factories and warehouses in part, in shops, workshops, restaurants and apartment buildings, too much without changing the character of the neighborhood.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ What is a local historic district? - National Park Service
- ↑ Preservation Society of Charleston ( Memento of the original from January 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Working on the past of local historic districts, History - National Park Service
- ↑ Working on the past of local historic districts, Federal, State, and Local Historic Districts - National Park Service
- ^ National Register of Historic Places Program: About Us
- ^ National Register Federal Program Regulations
- ^ Historic Preservation Planning Program, State and Territorial Historic Preservation Plans
- ↑ Working on the past of local historic districts, History - National Park Service
- ↑ Council Poised to Intervene on Enclave's Landmark Status , article in the New York Times on March 25, 2006
- ^ Working on the past of local historic districts, Index - National Park Service
