|
Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties
(Note that these standards largely define how a property should be maintained in order
to preserve its historical and architectural significance.)
Standards for Preservation
Preservation
requires retention of the greatest amount of historic fabric, along with the
building's historic form, features, and detailing as they have evolved over time.
Standards for Rehabilitation (most
commonly used in Federal projects)
Rehabilitation
acknowledges the need to alter or add to a historic property to meet continuing or new
uses while retaining the building's historic character.
Standards for Restoration
Restoration
allows for the depiction of a building at a particular time in its history by preserving
materials from the period of significance and removing material from other periods.
Standards for Reconstruction
Reconstruction establishes
a limited framework for re-creating a vanished or non-surviving building with new
materials, primarily for interpretive purposes.
The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for
establishing standards for all national preservation programs and advising Federal
agencies on the preservation of historic properties listed or eligible for listing on the
National Register of Historic Places.
The Standards are to be applied to specific rehabilitation projects in
a reasonable manner, taking into consideration economic and technical feasibility. They
pertain to historic buildings of all materials, construction types, sizes, and occupancy,
and encompass the exterior and the interior of historic buildings. They also encompass
related landscape features and the building's site and environment as well as
attached, adjacent or related new construction.
Standards for Preservation
PRESERVATION IS DEFINED as 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 technical, electrical, and
plumbing systems and other code-required work to make properties functional is appropriate
within a preservation project.
STANDARDS:
1. A property will be used as it was historically, or be given a new use that maximizes
the retention of distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships. Where
a treatment and use have not been identified, a property will be protected and, if
necessary, stabilized until additional work may be undertaken.
2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The placement
of intact or repairable historic materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial
relationships that characterize a property will be avoided.
3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use.
Work needed to stabilize, consolidate, and conserve existing historic materials and
features will be physically and visually compatible, identifiable upon close inspection,
and properly documented for future research.
4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right
will be retained and preserved.
5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples
of craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved.
6. The existing condition of historic features will be evaluated to determine the
appropriate level of intervention needed. Where the severity of deterioration requires
repair or limited replacement of a distinctive feature, the new material will match the
old in composition, design, color, and texture.
7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the
gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be
used.
8. Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources
must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
Standards for Rehabilitation
REHABILITATION IS DEFINED as the act or process of returning a property to a state of
utility and of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair,
alterations, and additions which makes possible an efficient contemporary
use while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical,
cultural, or architectural values.
STANDARDS:
1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires
minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships.
2. The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of
distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that
characterize a property will be avoided.
3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use.
Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural
features or elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken.
4. Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right
will be retained and preserved.
5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples
of craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved.
6. Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the
severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature
will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement
of missing features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence.
7. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the
gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be
used.
8. Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources
must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
9. New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy
historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property.
The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic
materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of
the property and its environment.
10. New additions and adjacent or related new construction will be undertaken in such a
manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic
property and its environment would be unimpaired.
Standards for Restoration
STANDARDS:
1. A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use which reflects
the property's restoration period.
2. Materials and features from the restoration period will be retained and preserved.
The removal of materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that
characterize the period will not be undertaken.
3. Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use.
Work needed to stabilize, consolidate and conserve materials and features from the
restoration period will be physically and visually compatible, identifiable upon close
inspection, and properly documented for future research.
4. Materials, features, spaces, and finishes that characterize other historical periods
will be documented priority to their alteration or removal.
5. Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples
of craftsmanship that characterize the restoration period will be preserved.
6. Deteriorated features from the restoration period will be repaired rather than
replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive
feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where
possible, materials.
7. Replacement of missing features from the restoration period will be substantiated by
documentary and physical evidence. A false sense of history will not be created by adding
conjectural features, features from other properties, or by combining features that never
existed together historically.
8. Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the
gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be
used.
9. Archeological resources affected by the project will be protected and preserved in
place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measure will be undertaken.
10. Designs that were never executed historically will not be constructed.
Standards for Reconstruction
STANDARDS:
1. Reconstruction will be used to depict vanished or non-surviving portions of a
property when documentary and physical evidence is available to permit accurate
reconstruction with minimal conjecture, and such reconstruction is essential to the public
understanding of the property.
2. Reconstruction of landscape, building, structure, or object in its historic location
will be preceded by a thorough archeological investigation to identify and evaluate those
features and artifacts, which are essential to an accurate reconstruction. If such
resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken.
3. Reconstruction will include measures to preserve any remaining historic materials,
features, and spatial relationships.
4. Reconstruction will be based on the accurate duplication of historic features and
elements substantiated by documentary or physical evidence rather than on conjectural
designs or the availability of different features from other historic properties. A
reconstructed property will re-create the appearance of the non-surviving historic
property in materials, design, color, and texture.
5. A reconstruction will be clearly identified as a contemporary re-creation.
6. Designs that were never executed historically will not be constructed.
|
