How To Designate A Structure As A Landmark In Seattle?

Seattle’s landmark designation process involves the city’s Historic Preservation Program and the Landmarks Preservation Board (LPB). The process consists of four steps: Nomination, Designation, Controls and Incentives Agreement, and the Designating Ordinance. A building, object, or structure may be eligible to be listed as a historic landmark if it is more than 25 years old and determined by the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board.

Seattle has designated over 400 individual sites, buildings, vehicles, vessels, and street clocks as landmarks since 1973. A written authorization must be issued before certain changes can be made to designated landmarks or within historic districts. To qualify, a building, site, structure, or object must be at least 50 years old and have a high to medium level of integrity.

The approval of designation is the final action by the Landmarks Preservation Board identifying an object, improvement, or site as a landmark or landmark site. The process often requires property owners, the city, and community members to work together to preserve and protect these sites.

Many buildings within the Columbia City Landmark District embody distinctive characteristics of turn-of-the-century modest commercial and residential structures. The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board plays a crucial role in the designation process, ensuring that properties and buildings are protected and preserved for future generations.

What do you need a building permit for Seattle?

A permit is required for any work on load-bearing supports, changes to the building envelope, and work that reduces egress, light, ventilation, or fire resistance, regardless of the size of the project. Miscellaneous work, such as patio and concrete slabs, painting, cleaning, re-pointing, installing kitchen cabinets, paneling, insulation, abatement of hazardous materials, and limited in-kind repair of deteriorated structures, usually doesn’t require a permit.

Buildings and landscaping, such as one-story detached accessory buildings, retaining walls and rockeries, fences, and arbors, don’t need a permit if the projected roof area is less than 120 square feet and the building foundation is only a slab on the ground.

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 counts 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 do you define landmarks?

Landmarks are defined as objects that demarcate the boundaries of land, indicate turning points or stages, or are structures of notable historical and aesthetic interest. Such landmarks may be conspicuous objects on land, serving to mark a locality, or they may be anatomical structures that are used as a point of orientation in locating other structures. Such landmarks are officially designated and set aside for preservation.

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

The National Register of Historic Places is a federal program administered by the Texas Historical Commission in collaboration with the National Park Service. It recognizes properties with historical or architectural significance and indicates their worth for preservation. Buildings, sites, objects, structures, and districts eligible for this designation are at least 50 years old and meet established criteria. Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks (RTHLs) are properties judged to be historically and architecturally significant, awarded by the Texas Historical Commission to buildings at least 50 years old.

State Antiquities Landmarks (SALs) are designated by the Texas Historical Commission and receive legal protection under the Texas Antiquities Code. Listing in the National Register is a prerequisite for SAL designation.

How are landmarks chosen?

National Historic Landmarks are properties that demonstrate exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States in history, architecture, archeology, technology, and culture. These landmarks may be districts, sites, buildings, structures, or objects and must meet specific criteria. These criteria include being associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad national patterns of United States history, being associated with the lives of nationally significant persons in the history of the United States, representing great ideas or ideals of the American people, embodying the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural type specimen, being composed of integral parts of the environment not sufficiently significant by reason of historical association or artistic merit to warrant individual recognition, or having yielded or may be likely to yield information of major scientific importance by revealing new cultures or shedding light upon periods of occupation over large areas of the United States.

Typically, 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 are not eligible for designation. However, such properties may qualify if they fall within the following categories.

How old does a building have to be to qualify as a Seattle landmark?

A landmark must be at least 25 years old, a lower minimum age than in other major cities. A person or group can nominate a potential landmark by filling out a standard application, which the City Historic Preservation Officer reviews for adequacy. Once a building is nominated, any alterations to its features require a Certificate of Approval. All correctly completed nominations are scheduled for consideration by the Board, which considers six criteria: association with a significant historic event, association with an historically important person, association with a significant aspect of the community’s cultural, political, or economic heritage, distinctive visible characteristics of an architectural style or method of construction, outstanding work of architecture or design, or an easily identifiable visual feature of its neighborhood contributing to its distinctive quality or identity.

The board may approve the nomination in whole or in part, and a second public meeting is scheduled to finalize a decision. If the board disapproves a nomination, the property cannot be considered for nomination for five years, except at the owner’s request. If the board designates a property, a Controls and Incentives Agreement is negotiated with the property owner, subject to board approval at a public meeting.

What is a building of historical interest?

Special historic interest refers to the connection between a building and its users, events, ideas, or role in the nation’s history. It is crucial to explain these aspects in an application for listing. The guidance on Understanding Special Historic Interest in Listing offers advice on assessing a building’s special historic interest and examples of different buildings.

Special architectural interest is about the design and construction of a building, including its architectry, architectural distinctiveness, or style from a specific period or region. Buildings can be rare or modest, ensuring a diverse sample of building types on the NHLE. The series of Listing Selection Guides provides guidance on a wide range of building types, providing advice on what to look at when considering an application to list a particular type of building and a brief history of that building type.

Which US state has the most historical landmarks?

Most landmark designations are in one of the 50 states, with New York having the most and New York City having the largest number. North Dakota has the fewest designations with seven. Three cities (New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston) have enough listings to warrant lists separate from their respective states. A small number of designations have been made outside the 50 states, most appearing in United States possessions. The Virgin Islands have five listings, Puerto Rico has four, and island possessions in the South Pacific have six.

Five listings are found in Pacific island nations with which the U. S. has established a free association agreement, and one listing, the American Legation in Tangier, is found in the unaffiliated Kingdom of Morocco.

The National Historic Landmarks Program provides a list of National Historic Landmarks by State, including Hoover Dam, Yuma Crossing and Associated Sites, Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, Raton Pass and Denver and Rio Grande Railroad San Juan Extension, Lemhi Pass and Lolo Trail, Eads Bridge, Blood Run Site, Covington and Cincinnati Suspension Bridge, Washington Aqueduct, Siege and Battle of Corinth Sites, Fort Union Trading Post, Holland Tunnel and Palisades Interstate Park, Minisink Archeological Site and Washington’s Crossing, Delaware and Hudson Canal, Beginning Point of the U. S. Public Land Survey, and Bonneville Dam Historic District.

The U. S. Commonwealths and Territories having NHLs include American Samoa, Midway Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Wake Island. The Associated States have NHLs in Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau. The only foreign state having a U. S. NHL is Morocco.

What qualifies as a historical landmark in Texas?

Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks (RTHL) are properties considered historically and architecturally significant, awarded by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) to buildings at least 50 years old that are worthy of preservation for their architectural and historical associations. The designation comes with state law protection, and the owner’s consent is required to nominate a property as a RTHL. Criteria for designation include age, alterations occurring at least 50 years ago, and historical significance.

The applicant must establish the historical significance of a structure through written and photographic documentation, similar to applying for subject markers. The RTHL brochure provides a comprehensive explanation of the designation and its legal requirements.