Rehabilitation Standards for Historic Buildings

In Rehabilitation Standards for Historic Buildings , you'll learn ...

• What’s involved in the rehabilitation of historic buildings and how it differs from other treatments like Preservation and Restoration
• Guidance on identifying, retaining, and preserving character-defining materials and features of the building
• The varying levels of intervention, starting with protection and ending with replacing an entire feature
• Guidance on rehabilitating specific elements of a building, including the exterior, interior, site features, energy efficiency and accessibility

Overview

Credit: 4 PDH

Length: 57 pages

In Rehabilitation, historic building materials and character-defining features are protected and maintained as they are in the treatment Preservation; however, an assumption is made prior to work that existing historic fabric has become damaged or deteriorated over time and, as a result, more repair and replacement will be required. Thus, latitude is given in the Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitation to replace extensively deteriorated, damaged, or missing features using either traditional or substitute materials. Of the four treatments, only Rehabilitation includes an opportunity to make possible an efficient contemporary use through alterations and additions.

This course will be specifically based on the portion of those standards and guidelines, which concern “Rehabilitation” of historic buildings. Rehabilitation is defined as the act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values.

The course is based on the requirements of 36 CFR Part 68 covering the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for establishing professional standards and providing advice on the preservation and protection of all cultural resources listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

The Standards are intended to be applied to a wide variety of resource types, including buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts. They address four treatments: Preservation, Rehabilitation, Restoration, and Reconstruction.

Note that the Standards are only regulatory for projects receiving federal grant-in-aid funds; otherwise, they are intended only as general guidance for work on any historic building.