Historic districts exist on local, state and federal levels. The regulations that govern
these districts affect the type of renovation you will be able to perform. Check
for these covenants before beginning anything even resembling renovation. Even
better, familiarize yourself with the regulations before you purchase the property.
Regulations also may exist for historic landscapes. The following definitions are from the
U.S. Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties:
Preservation
means the act or process of applying measures necessary to sustain the existing
form, integrity, and materials of an historic property. Work, including preliminary
measures to protect and stabilize the property, generally focuses upon the ongoing
maintenance and repair of historic materials and features rather than extensive
replacement and new construction. New exterior additions are not within the scope
of this treatment; however, the limited and sensitive upgrading of mechanical,
electrical and plumbing systems — as well as other code-required work to
make properties functional — is appropriate within a preservation project.
Rehabilitation
means the act or process of making possible an efficient compatible use for a
property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions
or features which convey its historical, cultural or architectural values.
Restoration means the act or process of accurately depicting the form,
features, and character of a property as it appeared at a particular period of
time by means of the removal of features from other periods in its history and
reconstruction of missing features from the restoration period. The limited and
sensitive upgrading of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems — as well
as other code-required work to make properties functional — is appropriate
within a restoration project.
Reconstruction
means the act or process of depicting, by means of new construction, the form,
features, and detailing of a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure,
or object for the purpose of replicating its appearance at a specific period of
time and in its historic location.
(Definitions are from the Heritage Preservation Services of the US National Park
Service.)
