HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990 Adoption of the SOI Standards for RehabilitationAdopted as guidelines 11/7/1990
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The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties
Standards for Rehabilitation
The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for establishing standards for all national
preservation programs under Department authority and for advising Federal agencies
on the preservation of historic properties listed or eligible for listing in the National
Register of Historic Places.
The Standards for Rehabilitation, a section of the Secretary’s Standards for Historic
Preservation Projects, address the most prevalent preservation treatment today:
rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is defined as the act or process of returning a property to a
state of utility which makes possible a compatible contemporary use through repair,
alterations or additions while preserving those portions and features of the property
which are significant to its historic, architectural, and cultural values.
The Standards that follow were originally published in 1977 as part of Department of the
Interior regulations (36 CFR Part 67, Historic Preservation Certifications). They pertain
to historic buildings of all materials, construction types, sizes, and occupancy and
encompass the exterior and the interior of historic buildings. The Standards also
encompass related landscape features and the building’s site and environment as well as
attached, adjacent or related new construction.
The Standards are to be applied to specific rehabilitation projects in a reasonable
manner, taking into consideration economic and technical feasibility.
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,
Adopted as guidelines 11/7/1990
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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 a
such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of
the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired.
REHABILITATION AS A TREATMENT. When repair and replacement of deteriorated
features are necessary; when alterations or additions to the property are planned for a
new or continued use; and when its depiction at a particular period of time is not
appropriate, Rehabilitation may be considered as a treatment.
Note: To be eligible for Federal tax incentives, a rehabilitation project must meet all ten
Standards. The application of these standards to rehabilitation projects is to be the same
as under the previous version so that a project previously acceptable would continue to
be acceptable under these Standards.
Certain treatments, if improperly applied, or certain materials by their physical
properties, may cause or accelerated physical deterioration of historic buildings.
Inappropriate physical treatments include, but are not limited to: improper repointing
techniques; improper exterior masonry cleaning methods; or improper introduction of
insulation where damage to historic fabric would result. In almost all situations, these
materials and treatments will result in denial of certification. In addition, every effort
should be made to ensure the new materials and workmanship are compatible with the
materials and workmanship of the historic property.