The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic value".

The enactment of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966 established the National Register and the process for adding properties to it. Of the more than one and a half million properties on the National Register, 100,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts.

For most of its history, the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service (NPS), an agency within the United States Department of the Interior. Its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and coordinate, identify and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties. Protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred in preserving the property.

Properties can be nominated in various forms, including individual properties, historic districts and multiple property submissions (MPS). The Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties: district, site, structure, building or object.

National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties. Some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks (NHL), National Historic Landmark Districts (NHLD), National Historic Sites (NHS), National Historical Parks, National Military Parks, national memorials, and some national monuments.

History

thumb|[[Slater Mill Historic Site|Old Slater Mill, a historic district in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the first property listed in the National Register, on November 13, 1966]]

thumb|[[George B. Hartzog Jr., director of the National Park Service from 1964 to 1972]]On October 15, 1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPO). The National Register initially consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Register's creation, as well as any other historic sites in the National Park System. Approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. The 1966 act required those agencies to work in conjunction with the SHPO and an independent federal agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), to confront adverse effects of federal activities on historic preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law. Ernest Connally was the Office's first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register. The division administered several existing programs, including the Historic Sites Survey and the Historic American Buildings Survey, as well as the new National Register and Historic Preservation Fund.

In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs. Jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate. He was described as a skilled administrator, who was sensitive to the need for the NPS to work with SHPOs, academia and local governments.

Nomination process

Any individual can prepare a National Register nomination, although historians and historic preservation consultants often are employed for this work. The nomination consists of a standard registration form (NPS 10-900) and contains basic information about a property's physical appearance and the type of significance embodied in the building, structure, object, site, or district. Information about architectural styles, association with various aspects of social history, and commerce and ownership are all integral parts of the nomination. Each nomination contains a narrative section that provides a detailed physical description of the property and justifies why it is significant historically with regard to either local, state, or national history. The four National Register of Historic Places criteria are the following:

  • Criterion A, "Event", the property must make a contribution to the major pattern of American history.
  • Criterion B, "Person", is associated with significant people of the American past.
  • Criterion C, "Design/Construction", concerns the distinctive characteristics of the building by its architecture and construction, including having great artistic value or being the work of a master.
  • Criterion D, "Information potential", is satisfied if the property has yielded or may be likely to yield information important to prehistory or history.

The criteria are applied differently for different types of properties; for instance, maritime properties have application guidelines different from those of buildings. For example, the Register lists thousands of churches.

There is a misconception that there is a strict rule that a property must be at least 50 years old to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Examples of MPS include the Lee County Multiple Property Submission, the Warehouses in Omaha, the Boundary Markers of the Original District of Columbia and the Illinois Carnegie Libraries. Before the term "Multiple Property Submission" was introduced in 1984, such listings were known as "Thematic Resources", such as the Operating Passenger Railroad Stations Thematic Resource, or "Multiple Resource Areas". The National Register of Historic Places automatically includes all National Historic Landmarks as well as all historic areas administered by the National Park Service,

Some states and municipalities, however, may have laws that become effective when a property is listed in the National Register. If federal money or a federal permitting process is involved, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 is invoked. Section 106 requires the federal agency involved to assess the effect of its actions on historic resources. A salient example of a successful 106 Review was the early 1970s review of the Department of Transportation's proposal to tunnel under Baltimore's historic Federal Hill neighborhood with a 14 lane highway, the 106 Review, and the highway's ultimate rerouting and reduction in size -- as well as provision of a buffer park, what became Baltimore's Robert Baker Park.

Statutorily, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) has the most significant role by Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The section requires that the director of any federal agency with direct or indirect jurisdiction of a project that may affect a property listed or determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places must first report to the Advisory Council. The director of said agency is required to "take into account the effect of the undertaking" on the National Register property, as well as to afford the ACHP a reasonable opportunity to comment.

While Section 106 does not mandate explicitly that any federal agency director accept the advice of the ACHP, their advice has a practical influence, especially given the statutory obligations of the NHPA that require federal agencies to "take into account the effect of the undertaking".

The Department of Transportation Act, passed on October 15, 1966, the same day as the National Historic Preservation Act, included provisions that addressed historic preservation. The DOT Act is much more general than Section 106 NHPA in that it refers to properties other than those listed in the Register.

</gallery>

Types of properties

thumb|A cow barn in [[Enfield Shaker Village in Enfield, New Hampshire, built 1854, listed with NRHP]]

Listed properties are generally in one of five broad categories, although there are special considerations for other types of properties that in anyone, or into more specialized subcategories. The five general categories for National Register properties are: building, structure, site, district and object.

Until 1976, federal tax incentives were virtually non-existent for buildings on the National Register. Before 1976 the federal tax code favored new construction rather than the reuse of existing, sometimes historical, structures. Properties and sites listed in the Register, as well as those located in and contributing to the period of significance of National Register Historic Districts, became eligible for the federal tax benefits.

Some property owners may also qualify for grants, like the now-defunct Save America's Treasures grants, which apply specifically to properties entered in the Register with national significance or designated as National Historic Landmarks.

The NHPA did not distinguish between properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places and those designated as National Historic Landmarks concerning qualification for tax incentives or grants. This was deliberate, as the authors of the act had learned from experience that distinguishing between categories of significance for such incentives caused the lowest category to become expendable.]]

982 properties have been removed from the Register, most often due to being destroyed. Among the properties that were demolished or otherwise destroyed after their listing are the Jobbers Canyon Historic District in Omaha, Nebraska (listed in 1986, demolished in 1989), Pan-Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles, California (listed in 1978, destroyed in a fire in 1989), Palace Amusements in Asbury Park, New Jersey (listed in 2000, demolished in 2004), The Balinese Room in Galveston, Texas (listed in 1997, destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008), seven of the nine buildings included in the University of Connecticut Historic District in Storrs, Connecticut (listed in 1989, demolished in 2017), and the Terrell Jacobs Circus Winter Quarters in Peru, Indiana (listed in 2012, demolished in 2021).

Comparisons to historic registers of other nations

In France, designation of is similar to NRHP listing. In the French program, however, permanent restrictions are imposed upon designated monuments, for example requiring advance approval for any renovation of a designated building. France had about 43,600 monuments in 2015.

Listed buildings of the United Kingdom may not be demolished, extended, or altered without special permission; the program covers about 374,000 listings in 2010, involving more than 500,000 buildings.

NRHP listing, in contrast, imposes no such restrictions, but rather is "primarily an honor", although tax subsidies may be available for renovations.

In 2026, the U.S. has about 100,000 NRHP-listed properties, including historic districts; the total number of buildings covered is much larger.

See also

  • Amusement rides on the National Register of Historic Places
  • List of African-American historic places
  • List of heritage registers
  • List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places
  • List of National Historic Landmarks by state
  • List of national memorials of the United States
  • List of university and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places
  • Listed building – The UK equivalent
  • Register of Culturally Significant Property

References

Further reading