Historic Preservation
Heritage Conservancy offers programs and services that help to identify, evaluate, and protect our region’s historic sites and properties – working with communities to preserve historic and cultural landscapes and resources that tell important local and national stories.
Register of Historic Places
Heritage Conservancy’s Register of Historic Places recognizes over 700 properties. Nominations are reviewed by our Historical Review Board. These experts consider each property, how it served the community, notable events that took place there, and notable persons who lived, worked, or stayed in the building.
Criteria include:
- Connect with events that have made a significant contribution to the narrative of our local or national history.
- Associate with the lives of significant people or populations.
- Embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, hold high artistic value, or represent the work of an important architect.
- Yield significant historic or prehistoric archaeological information or resources.
Facade Easements
Heritage Conservancy currently holds facade easements on a number of private historic structures. These easements are voluntary legal agreements with property owners that designate and protect privately owned buildings and landmarks that have significant historical value that merits preservation. In addition to monitoring these structures regularly to assure their proper upkeep, these easements allow us to share preservation resources and experience to assist owners.
Heritage Conservancy also offers resources and information for historic property owners, advocates, and municipalities.
Resources
For more information, please contact Mary Lou McFarland, Senior Preservation Specialist: mlmcfarland@heritageconservancy.org
Historic house maintenance: Contact us for a list of local artisans and craftspeople who work on old houses.
National Historic Register: Contact us for resources and contacts to aid in your application.
Upcoming events & info:
Tour Historic Aldie Mansion, October 17, 2024
Historic Aldie Mansion
Heritage Conservancy maintains William and Martha Mercer’s historic 1920s English Tudor home and gardens. Along with other Doylestown landmarks, the site is a part of Bucks County’s rich artistic legacy. As an office and event space, Aldie Mansion serves as a model for the adaptive reuse of a historic building.