HomeMy WebLinkAboutNPS Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural LandscapesINTRODUCTION PRESERVING REHABILITATING RESTORING RECONSTRUCTING
Overview
Preservation Planning
Factors to Consider
Special Requirements
Using the Standards + Guidelines
Organization of the Guidelines
Terminology
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic
Properties and the Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes provide
guidance to cultural landscape owners, stewards and managers, landscape
architects, preservation planners, architects, contractors, and project
reviewers prior to and during the planning and implementation of project work.
The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for establishing professional standards and providingadvice on the preservation of cultural resources listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of
Historic Places. In partial fulfillment of this responsibility, the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for
Historic Preservation Projects were developed in 1976. They consisted of seven sets of standards forthe acquisition, protection, stabilization, preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction of
historic buildings.
Since their publication in 1976, the Secretary’s Standards have been used by State Historic
Preservation Officers and the National Park Service to ensure that projects receiving federal money ortax benefits were reviewed in a consistent manner nationwide. The principles embodied in the
Standards have also been adopted by hundreds of preservation commissions across the country in
local design guidelines.
In 1992, the Standards were revised so that they could be applied to all historic resource typesincluded in the National Register of Historic Places--buildings, structures, sites, objects, districts, andlandscapes. The revised Standards were reduced to four sets by incorporating protection and
stabilization into preservation, and by eliminating acquisition, which is no longer considered atreatment. Re-titled The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties,this new, modified version addresses four treatments: preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and
reconstruction. The Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes illustrate how to apply thesefour treatments to cultural landscapes in a way that meets the Standards.
Of the four, Preservation standards require retention of the greatest amount of historic fabric, includingthe landscape’s historic form, features, and details as they have evolved over time. Rehabilitation
standards acknowledge the need to alter or add to a cultural landscape to meet continuing or newuses while retaining the landscape’s historic character. Restoration standards allow for the depiction ofa landscape at a particular time in its history by preserving materials from the period of significance
and removing materials from other periods. Reconstruction standards establish a framework for re-creating a vanished or non-surviving landscape with new materials, primarily for interpretive purposes.
The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, revised in 1992,were codified as 36 CFR Part 68 in the 12 July 1995 Federal Register (Vol. 60, No. 133) with an
“effective” date of 11 August 1995. The revision replaces the 1978 and 1983 versions of 36 CFR 68
entitled The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Preservation Projects.
Aerial view over taro fields at Ke’anae,
Maui, Hawaii. (Elizabeth Anderson)
The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties +
Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes