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Identifying & Registering Historic Properties

Determining if a property or structure is historic

Property owners, citizens and applicants can look up the details on a property by address or parcel number.

How does a property become "historic"?

• Meets "eligibility criteria"
  AND
• Ordinance adopted by City Council to list on the Sacramento Register

Registers

There are three registers for historic properties and landmarks:

1. National Register of Historic Places: includes districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture.
2. California Register of Historic Resources: identify, evaluate and protect California's historical resources including ones of architectural, historical, archeological and cultural significance
3. Sacramento Register: Created to identify, protect and encourage the preservation of significant architectural, historic, prehistoric and cultural structures, sites, resources and properties in the city.

Sacramento Register Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for listing in the Sacramento Register, the property must meet one or more of the following criteria:

• It is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of the history of the City, the region, the state or the nation.
• It is associated with the lives of persons significant in the City’s past.
• It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction.
• It represents the work of an important creative individual or master.
• It possesses high artistic values.
• It has yielded or may be likely to yield, information important in the prehistory or history of the City, state or region.
• Additionally, overall issues related to integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship and condition are also considered.

There is also additional eligibility criteria for designation of historic districts and contributing resources in historic districts.

Eligibility Evaluation & Designation

How is a property determined to be historic?

• Establish context: such as railroad history, agricultural history or craftsman bungalows.
• Surveys:
  • Reconnaissance: a preliminary survey to gain information. Usually limited to a visual inspection of the property.
  • Intensive: Builds on reconnaissance and researches history of property
• Landmarks: Individual properties
• Districts: Groups of buildings within a geographic area related by common context
• Demolition/Relocation I&Rs: Review of structures 50 years old or older proposed for demolition/relocation to determine if they are eligible for listing in the Sacramento Register
• Discretionary project review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act: Review of properties for potential eligibility using the California Register criteria

Nomination to Sacramento Register

To have a property added to the Sacramento Register requires the following steps:

1. Prepare nomination application, or survey recommendations
2. Preservation Director determination of eligibility, forward to Preservation Commission
3. Preservation Commission recommendation to City Council
4. City Council adoption of ordinance adding property to Sacramento Register