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<br />National Register Fact Sheet 2, Page 2
<br />AFPZYIN(~ THE CRITERIA
<br />The two principal issues to consider is detumining eligibility for the National Register are "significance" and "integrity,"
<br />A property may have "significance" for association with important events or patterns of history (criterion A); for association with
<br />as important historical figure (criterion B); as as important example of period architecture, landscape, or engineering (criterion C);
<br />or for the information it is likely to yield (criterion D, applied to archaeological sites and districts, and sometimes applied to certain
<br />types of struchues). A National Register nomination must demonstrate how a property is significant in at least one of these four
<br />areas. For properties nominated under criterion A, frequently cited areas of significance are agriculture, community planning and
<br />development, social history, commerce, industry, politics and government, education; recreation and culture, and others. For tech-
<br />nical reasons, criterion B (significant person) nominations are rare. Criterie~n C (architecture) is cited for most, but not all, nomina-
<br />tions of historic buildings. Archaeological sites are always nominated under criterion D, but may also have significance under one
<br />or more of the other three criteria. '
<br />Properties are nominated at either a local, state, or national level of significance depending on the geographical range of the impor-
<br />tance of a property and its associations. The laud of significance must be justified in the nomination. The majority of properties
<br />(about 7096) are listed at the local level of significance. The level of signficance has no etyect oa the protections or benefits of list-
<br />ing. ,
<br />Besides meeting one or more of the above criteria, a property must also have "integrity" of 'location, design, setting, materials,
<br />workmanship, feeling, and association.' This means that the property must retain enough of its historic physical character (or is the
<br />case of archaeological sites, intact archaeological features) to represent its historic period and associations adequately,
<br />All properties change over time, and in some cases past alterations can take oa historical significance in their own right. The degree
<br />to which more recent, incompatible, or non~istoric alterations are acxeptable depends on the type of Property, its rarity, and its
<br />period and area of significance. Buildings with certain types of alterations are usually tamed down by the National Register
<br />Advisory Committee. For example, 19th and early 20th century wood frame.buildings that have beau brick veneered in the mid-
<br />20th century are routinely turned down for loss of historic integrity.
<br />Criteria E~cceptions
<br />The criteria exclude birthplaces sad graves of historical figures, cemeteries, religious properties, moved buildings, reconstructions,
<br />commemorative properties, and properties less thaw 50 years old, with certain exceptions. The following excxptions are sometimes
<br />encountered:
<br />Historic churches that retain sufficient architectural integrity can usually be successfully nominated under criterion C (architecture),
<br />sometimes together with criterion A for social or religious history.
<br />Cemeteries may sometimes sci~fully be nominated wader criterion C when they retain important examples of historic stone carv-
<br />ing, funerary art, and/or landscaping, and they also may be eligible under criterion A or criterion D. However, both the National
<br />Register Advisory Committee and the National Register have turned down nominations of graves when the historical importance of
<br />the deceased is the sole basis for the nomination. The National Register was created primarily to recognize and protect historic
<br />Places and environments that represent how people lived, worked, and built in the historic past. Human burials are recognized and
<br />protected under other laws and programs. '
<br />Moved buildings may sometimes be successfully nominated wader criterion C for architecture when they remain in their historic
<br />communities and the new setting adequately replicates the original setting. The point to remember is that the program is called the
<br />National Register of Historic places. not Historic Buildings or Historic Things, because sigaificaacx is embodied in locations and
<br />settings as well ss in the structures themselves. Buildings moved great distances, buildings moved into incompatible settings (such
<br />as a farmhouse moved into an urban neighborhood or a downtown residence moved to a suburb), and collections of buildings
<br />moved from various locations to create a pseado-historic "village" are routinely turned down. Ia some cases, the relocation of a his-
<br />toric building to a distant or incompatible setting may be the last and only way to save it, and such an undertaking may be
<br />worthwhile. However, sponsors of such a project must understand that the property subsequently may ztiot be eligible for the
<br />National Register,
<br />If a ProP~Y ~ less than 50 years old, it can be nominated only if a strong argument can be made for exceptional significance. For
<br />example, Dorton Arena on the State Fairgrounds was completed is 1953. It was successfully nominated to the National Register in
<br />1973 as one of the most important examples of modernism is post-WWII American architecture,
<br />nz r~droa
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