How Is A Structure Designated As A Historic Landmark?

A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. It plays a key role in ensuring the protection and preservation of historically significant buildings, landscapes, and sites. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission defines a landmark as a building, property, or object with a special character or special historical or aesthetic interest or value as part of the heritage of the United States.

National Historic Landmarks (NHLs) come in many forms, such as historic buildings, sites, and structures. The U.S. Secretary of the Interior designates a property as a National Historic Landmark, overseeing its care and maintenance. The basic process involves someone, often the building owner, nominating the property for landmark status. There are two types of nominations: local and national. Local usually provides more powerful protection.

To receive this designation, a number of documents are required, including a written explanation of the historic significance of the site, a map, and a written explanation of the historic significance of the site. The property must be old enough to be considered historic, generally at least 50 years old, and it must look substantially the same way it did before being designated a landmark.

A historic building is one that also retains its architectural integrity, meaning that the building’s original appearance has not been compromised through various means. Listing in the National Register of Historic Places provides formal recognition of a property’s historical, architectural, or archeological significance based on national standards used by every state.

What is defined as a landmark?

A large, easily visible object on land may serve as a crucial landmark, historical building, or monument. In addition, it may serve to demarcate the limits of a parcel of land, a specific area, or an anatomical structure that is utilized as a reference point for identifying other structures. Such objects can assist individuals in determining their location in relation to nearby points of interest.

How is a landmark formed?

A landmark is a property or building that has been designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) due to its unique character, historical value, or aesthetic interest. The LPC must approve any alteration, reconstruction, demolition, or new construction affecting a landmark to maintain its aesthetic value and historical significance, ensuring that any activity does not adversely affect the significant features of a landmark or historic district.

What makes a landmark historical?

National Historic Landmarks are buildings, sites, districts, structures, and objects that have been designated by the Secretary of the Interior as nationally significant in American history and culture. These landmarks are often the most renowned historic properties in the nation and demonstrate exceptional value in interpreting the heritage of the United States in history, architecture, archeology, technology, and culture. They possess a high degree of integrity in location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association and meet one or more criteria:

1. They are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad national patterns of United States history;
2. They are associated with the lives of nationally significant persons in the history of the United States;
3. They represent some great idea or ideal of the American people;
4. They embody the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural type specimen exceptionally valuable for the study of a period, style, or method of construction;
5. They are composed of integral parts of the environment not sufficiently significant by reason of historical association or artistic merit to warrant individual recognition but collectively compose an entity of exceptional historical or artistic significance;
6. They have yielded or may be likely to yield information of major scientific importance by revealing new cultures or shedding light on periods of occupation over large areas of the United States.

Other properties, such as cemeteries, birthplaces, graves of historical figures, properties owned by religious institutions, structures moved from their original locations, reconstructed historic buildings, and properties that have achieved significance within the past 50 years, may qualify for designation.

How do you identify a landmark?

Landmarks are significant objects or features in a landscape or town that make a place easily recognizable. They are often marked with signs indicating their significance. It is imperative to continually seek out new landmarks during travel.

What does it mean when a building is a landmark?

Historic districts are collections of landmark buildings that create a distinct sense of place, while individual landmarks are standalone structures with architectural, cultural, or historical significance. The regulatory process is the same for both, with some features and sites identified as significant at the time of designation. Owners of individual landmarks and buildings within historic districts must obtain permits from the Landmarks Commission for most types of alterations. Every designated structure, whether it’s an individual landmark or a building in a historic district, is protected under the Landmarks Law and subject to the same review procedures.

What factors determine whether something becomes known as a landmark?

A landmark is a geographic feature used by explorers and others to find their way back or through an area. Ancient structures like the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Colossus of Rhodes were built to guide ships to ports. In modern usage, a landmark includes easily recognizable structures like monuments or buildings. In American English, landmarks are used to designate places of interest to tourists due to notable physical features or historical significance.

In British English, landmarks are often used for casual navigation, such as giving directions. In urban studies and geography, a landmark is an external point of reference that helps orientation in a familiar or unfamiliar environment. Landmarks can be natural or human-made, both used to support navigation and finding directions. A variant is a seamark or daymark, a structure intentionally built to aid sailors navigating featureless coasts.

What are any three characteristics of a landmark?

Landmarks are sculptures that have achieved iconic status due to their distinctive designs, high visibility, and exceptional relevance to a country or city. They often become an integral part of the urban landscape.

What qualifies as a landmark?

Landmarks are structures that have a special character, historical or aesthetic interest, or value, and are customarily open or accessible to the public. They can be individual landmarks, such as structures like the Woolworth Building or the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island, or interior landmarks, such as the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport or the Empire State Building lobby. Scenic landmarks, on the other hand, are city-owned parks or landscape features, such as Prospect Park, Central Park, and Ocean Parkway. These landmarks are part of the development, heritage, or cultural characteristics of a city, state, or nation.

How old does something have to be to be a historical landmark?

To be eligible for the National Register, a property must meet certain criteria, including age, significance, and integrity. The criteria include whether the property is historic (at least 50 years old) and still looks like it did in the past, and if it is associated with significant events, activities, or developments, and has the potential to yield information through archeological investigation.

Nominations can be submitted from property owners, historical societies, preservation organizations, governmental agencies, and other individuals or groups. Official National Register Nomination Forms can be downloaded or from the State Historic Preservation Office. National Register Bulletins provide guidance on documenting and evaluating properties.

How far back is considered historical?

The discipline of history encompasses the study of past events, including those that are not currently occurring. Although the events of 9/11 are widely regarded as a historical occurrence, a similarly significant event that occurred a decade earlier would not be considered a historical event.

What makes an item historic?

A historic object, text, or site is defined as a significant historical event or person associated with notable people and events.