Historic Properties Guidelines

Projects in this category plan for and/or stabilize, restore, preserve, reconstruct and/or make accessible buildings, structures or sites that are significant to national, state or local history, and that are open or highly visible to the public.

Properties must be listed in the National Register of Historic Places to be eligible for a grant project involving construction work.

For other projects in this category, properties must listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register, or designated locally under a local historic preservation ordinance.

All work must conform to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

Eligible Projects

Acquisition of a historic building.
Pre-development work for a historic building.
Preparation of a Historic Structures Report that will assist the property owner in making appropriate and informed decisions about restoration and maintenance efforts.
Completion of a reuse study of a vacant, threatened or underused historic property.
Exterior building preservation work (roof, masonry, siding, windows, doors, soffit, porch, foundation, steps).
Interior systems work (updating electrical, plumbing or climate control systems; installing a fire protection or security system).
Work to make a building accessible (installing a ramp, elevator, lift or accessible restroom).
Restoration of a historic landscape.
Damage assessment of erosion at an archaeological site.
Conservation and/or stabilization of an archaeological site.

What is NOT Funded

Projects to remodel or modernize the interior of historic properties unrelated to systems or accessibility.
General maintenance, such as painting, woodwork refinishing or other small-scale upkeep work of an aesthetic nature.
Data recovery excavations.
Landscaping/site work costs unless work entails the preservation or restoration of a historic landscape.
Cost of moving a historic building. The preservation of historic properties that have been moved is generally ineligible for grant assistance.

NOTE: Projects must be completed by the end of the biennium in which they are awarded. If you are involved in a large project, consider breaking it into manageable phases and applying for several grants over a period of time.

Completing the Application

The following advice on how to complete the application will help you shape your project; suggestions are numbered to correspond to sections of the application form and augment guidance provided on the application form.

1. Project Description

Provide a brief history of the property and explain why it is historically and/or architecturally significant.

2. Need and Rationale

Discuss the need for the project by describing the current condition of the property.
What led you to develop the project? If you are following recommendations outlined in a planning document such as a historic structures report, architectural conditions assessment or archaeological site conservation/stabilization plan, attach a copy of the document.
For reuse studies: Discuss the current ownership and how the building is threatened. Verify that the project will follow the Historic Properties Reuse Team process (HPRT) developed by the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office.
For historic structures reports: Discuss how the project will follow the process outlined in Preservation Brief 43: The Preparation and Use of Historic Structures Reports.
For preservation work: Discuss how the project will conform to the applicable Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

3. Work Plan and Timetable

What planning have you undertaken to prepare for your project?
Provide a project timetable describing the work to be accomplished and anticipated dates by which it will be completed.

4. Project Personnel

Much of the work for projects in this category is specialized and usually done by an outside professional. Explain how you will secure a qualified professional to complete the proposed work.
If a person from your organization will do some or all of the work, what work items will they complete and what are their qualifications and experience?
Who will oversee your project and what are their qualifications and experience?

5. Enduring Value and Sustainability

Enduring Value: Historic properties are tangible links to the past; preserving them ensures that reminders of our heritage will remain for future generations. There are also educational, aesthetic, economic and environmental benefits to preserving historic properties. Keeping these things in mind, in what ways will your project have a lasting impact and value for the community?
Sustainability: Discuss the source(s) of financial resources for the property's use and continued preservation. If the product of this project is a plan, how will the recommendations be implemented?

6. Evaluation

How has the lifespan of the property been extended and how does that contribute to the vitality of your community?
Evaluation Metrics are a requirement. Please choose the green “+” in the upper right corner to add each evaluation metric. Begin with short term goals, followed by medium and long term. You may add as many as are appropriate. The legislature requires all projects to have measurable outcomes. To be an outcome there must be a change in knowledge, status, or behavior. To be measurable, indicators need to be established in order to know when change has occurred. The measurement will enable you to assess at the end what happened in the project since planning it. For example, the public is able to do _____ (outcome) and that will be measured by a change in a number from X to Y (indicator).

7. Budget

Provide a complete project budget on the worksheet included in the grants packet, showing how each budget item was determined. Include names of potential vendors from which you may purchase equipment or supplies.

Additional Requirements

For Restoration/Preservation and Building Systems and Accessibility Projects:

Scope of Work Form (Appendix C).
Set of photographs: Provide a sufficient number of photographs to show the entire historic property and its surroundings from several perspectives. Be sure to include photos documenting the building's condition and key those photographs to the Scope of Work form.

The Minnesota Historical and Cultural Grants Program has been made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008. Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.