Im curious about others that are working toward having a neighborhood protected under local landmark or historic distric status. Is there anyone out there that can tell me about what they are doing to achive this? Is anyone else having a hard time whith this? Thanks, Dawn Martens

Hi Dawn,
I have forwarded your question to some of our experts in the field. I will post any responses in this thread.
We're always to try to help anyone interested in preservation!
Antje Brinkmann

David Kimmerly quite rightly points to a distinction--a crucial one--between two objectives: (1) having your neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is largely an honorary recognition of its historic importance, and (2) getting an ordinance passed to establish a local historic district, which places restrictions on what property owners can do with the properties within that district and which typically requires the consent of at least half of the property owners in the neighborhood. In the "American Bungalow News" section of many past issues of American Bungalow, we have reported on efforts--most successful, a few not--to garner community support for historic preservation ordinances; an archive of these reports will soon be incorporated into our Website, with a link posted here in the Forums.

Although the states differ in some details of how they work with local communities to encourage the creation of historic districts, they all work with the guidance and assistance of the National Park Service, whose "Working on the Past" program is summarized on its Website at http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/workingonthepast/.

Many neighborhood associations that have succeeded in campaigning for historic district designations tell the stories of their efforts on their Websites. You'll find links to many of these associations on our "Bungalow Neighborhoods" page at
http://www.americanbungalow.com/all-about-bungalows/bungalow-neighborhoods/.

Good luck.

John Luke
Executive Editor, American Bungalow