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APPLYIlVG THE CRITERIA
<br />National Register Fact Sheet 2, Page 2
<br />22
<br />The two principal issues to consider in determining 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 />an important historical figure (criterion B); as an 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 structures). 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. Criterion 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 sad its associations. The level of significance must be justified is the nomination. The majority of properties
<br />(about 70 %) are listed st the local level of significance. The level of significance has no effect on 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 />worl~aaship, feeling, and association.' Thia 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, sad is soma cases past alterations can take on historical significance. in then own right. The degree
<br />to which more recent, incompatible, or noa~ristoric alterations are acceptable depends on the type of property, its rarity, and its
<br />period and area of significance. Buildings with certain types of alterations are usually turned down by the National Register
<br />Advisory Committee. For example, 19th and early 20th century wood frame buildings that have been brick veaeered in the mid-
<br />20th century are routinely turned down for loss of historic integrity.
<br />Criteria Exceptions
<br />The criteria exclude birthplaces and 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 exceptions are sometimes
<br />encountered:
<br />Historic churches that retain sufficient architectural integrity can usually be successfully nominated wader criterion C (architecture),
<br />sometimes together with criterion A for social or religious history.
<br />Cemeteries may sometimes successfully ba nominated under criterion C whey they retain important examples of historic stone carv-
<br />ing. funerary art, and/or landscaping, and they also may be eligible wader 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 decea.4ed is the sole basis for the nomination. The National Register was created primarily to recognize and protect historic
<br />places and environmeata that represent how people lived, worked, and built is the historic past. Human burials are recognized and
<br />protected under other laws and programs. .
<br />Moved buildings may sometimes be sucxasfully nominated under criterion C for architecture whey they remain is 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 HisWrle Placxa. not Historic Buildings or Historic Things, because significance is embodied is locations sad
<br />settings as well as is the strucprtes themselves. Buildings moved great distaacxa, buildings moved into incompatible settings (such
<br />as a farmhouse moved into as urban neighborhood or a downtown residence moved to a suburb), sad collections of buildings
<br />moved from various locations to create apseudo-historic 'village' are routinely tanned 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 rive it, and such as undertaking may be
<br />worthwhile. However, sponsors of such a project must understand that the property s<rbsegrreatly may not be eligible for the
<br />National Register.
<br />If a property is less than 50 yews old, it can be nominated only if a strong argument can be made for exceptional significance. For
<br />examiple, Dorton Arras ~ the State Farrgrormds was completed in 1953. It was successfully nominated to the National Register is
<br />1973 as one of the most important e~camples of modernism is post-WWII American architecture.
<br />03/24/95
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