How to Get a House on the National Register of Historic Places

"Is my house historic?" is one of the most common questions old-house owners ask — usually followed immediately by "and would getting it listed mean I can't change anything?" The National Register of Historic Places is the official federal list of properties worth preserving, and it is surrounded by more myths than almost any program in American life. This guide explains what listing actually means (and doesn't mean), how to check whether a property is already on the Register, whether your house is likely to qualify, and exactly how the nomination process works.

1. What the National Register Is — and What It Isn't

The National Register of Historic Places was created by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and is administered by the National Park Service (NPS). It now includes tens of thousands of listings — individual buildings, districts, sites, structures, and objects — covering well over a million contributing resources nationwide. The program's official home page is at nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister.

Here is the part most people get wrong. National Register listing, by itself, does not restrict what a private owner does with private funds. If your house is listed and you pay for the work yourself, federal listing does not stop you from remodeling the kitchen, replacing windows, adding on, painting it purple, or even demolishing it. What listing does do:

• Honors and documents the property with a professionally reviewed history that becomes a permanent public record.
• Triggers review of federal projects. Under Section 106 of the Act, federal agencies must consider effects on listed (or eligible) properties before funding or permitting projects like highways — a protection for your property against government action, not a restriction on you.
• Unlocks financial incentives — the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit for income-producing historic buildings, plus grants and state credits (see section 7).
• May qualify the property for local perks such as easier variances, preservation grants, or property-tax programs, depending on your state and city.

The important exception: if your local government has also designated the property or its neighborhood as a local landmark or local historic district, local ordinance — not the National Register — may regulate exterior changes. People constantly blur these two programs together; section 6 untangles them.

2. Check Whether the Property Is Already Listed

Before doing anything else, find out whether your property is already on the Register — either individually or as a "contributing" building within a listed historic district. Many owners are surprised to learn their whole neighborhood was listed decades ago.

Search the National Park Service's free database at NPGallery by property name, city, county, or state. Most listings include the full nomination form and photographs as downloadable PDFs — and if your house is in a listed district, the district nomination often describes your specific building in its inventory. Your State Historic Preservation Office keeps the authoritative statewide list and can confirm status by address, and many states now offer their own online map viewers of listed and surveyed properties. If you're in a district, ask the SHPO whether your building is classified as contributing (adds to the district's historic character) or non-contributing — the distinction matters for tax credits.

3. The Three Tests: Age, Significance, and Integrity

To qualify for the Register, a property generally has to pass three tests.

Age. As a rule of thumb, the property should be at least 50 years old. This is a guideline, not an absolute law — younger properties can be listed if they are of "exceptional importance" (Cold War missile sites and landmark modernist buildings have made it) — but for an ordinary house, 50 years is the practical floor. Note what this means in reverse: age alone is not enough. Being old qualifies a house for nothing by itself.

Significance. The property must meet at least one of the Register's four criteria:

• Criterion A — Events: associated with events or broad patterns of history (a house tied to a town's founding, a station on an early rail line, a settlement-era farmstead).
• Criterion B — People: associated with the productive life of a person significant in the past — not merely "someone once lived here," but the home of a person during the years they did the things that made them significant.
• Criterion C — Design: embodies distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or the work of a master architect or builder. This is the most common criterion for houses — a fine and largely intact Queen Anne, a rare local example of an octagon house, the work of a notable regional architect.
• Criterion D — Information: has yielded or may yield important information, usually archaeological sites.

Integrity. The property must still convey its historic character. The NPS evaluates seven aspects: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. A significant house that has been wrapped in vinyl siding, had its porch removed, and its windows replaced with modern units may fail on integrity even though its history is genuine. Sensitive later changes (a rear addition, a restored porch) are usually acceptable; wholesale alteration of the street-facing character is the usual killer.

4. Individual Listing vs. Historic Districts

Not every worthy old house needs its own nomination. If your street retains a concentration of period buildings, a historic district nomination may be the better route: the significance case is made for the neighborhood as a whole, and each intact building is listed as contributing. Districts are how the majority of houses get on the Register, and SHPOs often prefer them because one nomination protects dozens of buildings. If your neighborhood has that character, raise the idea with neighbors and your SHPO — and with your local historical society, which may already have survey files on the area (find yours in our directory of historical societies by state).

5. The Nomination Process, Step by Step

Nominations flow through your State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) — every state and territory has one, and you can find yours through the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. The typical path:

• Step 1 — Preliminary inquiry. Contact your SHPO's National Register coordinator with photos and a short history. Most states offer a free preliminary eligibility opinion, which saves you from investing months in a property that won't qualify.
• Step 2 — Research. Build the documented history: construction date, architect/builder, owners and occupants, alterations, and historical context. Our guides to researching your home's history and researching an old building cover exactly this legwork.
• Step 3 — Prepare the nomination. The nomination form requires a physical description, a statement of significance argued under the criteria, a bibliography, maps, and photographs to NPS standards. Anyone may prepare one — owners regularly do — but many hire a preservation consultant, especially for complex properties. Expect the full process to take a year or more.
• Step 4 — State review. SHPO staff review the draft, request revisions, notify the owner and local government, and schedule the nomination before the state's review board of historians and architects, which votes at a public meeting.
• Step 5 — Federal decision. Approved nominations go to the Keeper of the National Register at the NPS, which typically acts within 45 days. Once signed, the property is listed.

Owner consent matters: a private owner who objects in writing can block listing of their own property (it may instead be formally "determined eligible"), and a district cannot be listed over the objection of a majority of its owners.

6. National Register vs. Local Landmark Designation

This is the distinction that causes nearly all the fear around historic designation. Local designation — a city landmark ordinance or a locally designated historic district — is a creature of municipal law, usually administered by a historic preservation commission. Local designation frequently does regulate changes: exterior alterations, additions, and demolition may require a certificate of appropriateness from the commission. National Register listing does not do this. A house can be on the Register with no local review at all, or locally landmarked without being on the Register, or both. Before assuming anything about what you can or can't do to a property, ask your city planning department which local designations, if any, apply. When neighbors say "you can't change your windows because the house is historic," they are almost always describing a local ordinance, not the National Register.

7. Tax Credits and Financial Incentives

The most concrete benefit of listing is financial. The federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit returns 20% of qualified rehabilitation costs for certified historic buildings — but only for income-producing properties (rentals, commercial buildings, bed-and-breakfasts), not owner-occupied homes. Details are at the NPS Technical Preservation Services site, nps.gov/tps. Many states add their own credits, and — importantly for homeowners — a number of states offer state homeowner tax credits for rehabilitating owner-occupied historic residences. Some states and cities also offer property-tax freezes or abatements for certified rehabilitation. Your SHPO administers or can point you to all of these; ask before you start work, because credits generally require approval of the plans before construction begins.

8. Plaques, Markers, and What Comes After Listing

A common surprise: the National Register does not send you a plaque. Listing gets you a certificate and a permanent entry in the federal record; bronze markers are purchased by owners from private foundries, and many SHPOs and local preservation groups run plaque programs with approved designs. There is no required wording, though "Listed in the National Register of Historic Places" plus the listing year is conventional. Local landmark programs, state historical marker programs, and private plaque options all differ — our article on historical building markers walks through the choices and costs. Beyond the plaque, listed status is a story worth telling: share the nomination with your local historical society and library so the research you commissioned keeps working for the next researcher.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the National Register restrict what I can do with my house?

In most cases, no. National Register listing places no restrictions on private owners using private funds — you can remodel, add on, or even demolish. Restrictions on alterations come from local landmark or historic district ordinances, or from strings attached to grants, easements, or tax credits you voluntarily accept.

How do I find out if my house is on the National Register?

Search the National Park Service's free NPGallery database (npgallery.nps.gov/nrhp) by name, city, or county, and remember to check for a historic district covering your neighborhood, not just an individual listing. Your State Historic Preservation Office can confirm status by address.

Does a house have to be 100 years old to be historic?

No. The National Register's working guideline is about 50 years, and even that can be waived for properties of exceptional importance. But age alone is never enough — the property must also be significant under one of the four criteria and retain its historic integrity.

How much does it cost to get a house listed?

There is no federal application fee. If you research and write the nomination yourself, the cost is essentially your time plus photographs and copies. Hiring a preservation consultant to prepare a nomination commonly runs a few thousand dollars, varying with the property's complexity and your state's requirements.