Historic District Eligibility Information

In recommending the establishment of Historic Districts, the Historic District Commission has established specific criteria either as multi-resource historic districts or as single-site historic districts.

Multi-resource districts have more than one building or resource that contributes to the overall character or history that is to be preserved, such as the West Montgomery Avenue Historic District.

Single-site districts contain one building and its accessories, if present. Single-site districts are held to a higher standard than are contributing resources included within a multi-site district, as there is only one element to carry all the historical, cultural, architectural or archeological significance. The Sante House at 541 Beall Avenue is an example of a single-site historic district.

Historic District Eligibility

Any building in the City that is 50 years old or older and meets certain criteria of architectural, cultural, historical or archeological significance is potentially eligible. A structure that is the subject of a demolition application and is at least 50 years of age is automatically reviewed by Historic Preservation Office staff and the Historic District Commission (HDC) for significance to the City under the Environmental Guidelines.

Historic Districts can be described as single resources or a contiguous group of buildings, structures, appurtenances, environmental settings, sites, objects and spaces, which reflect the following qualifications:

1. Location: Areas which consist of a contiguous grouping of buildings, sites, objects and spaces, a majority of which continue to exist within the area where they were first created in a mutual relationship of traditional acceptability.
   
   
2. Design: Areas that have a sense of cohesiveness expressed through a similarity and/or variety of detail relatedness, architectural or otherwise, based upon the abstracts of aesthetic quality. These include scale, height, proportion, materials, colors, textures, rhythm, silhouette, siting, etc.
   
   
3. Setting: Areas those are readily definable by man-made and/or natural boundaries and/or which have a major focal point or points within the given area.
   
   
4. Materials: Areas that have a sense of cohesiveness expressed through a similarity and/or variety of material relatedness based upon traditional material use which contributes to a sense of locality.
   
   
5. Workmanship: Areas that have a sense of homogeneity reflective of quality aesthetic effort of those periods that represent the majority percentage of the units within the District.
   
   
6. Feeling: Areas that impact human consciousness with a sense of time and place.
   
   
7. Association: Areas that relate nationally, state-wise or locally, to the lives of individuals, to events created by these individuals and/or to those visual aesthetic qualities that reflect the feeling of time and place.
   

The selection of structures and sites constituting a Historic District, or recommended for single-site designation is based on historical, cultural, and architectural significance. Structures representing styles, periods and methods of construction that have particular significance to Rockville will be given special attention. Integrity of workmanship and materials are considered. There are no date restrictions.

Historical or Cultural Significance

1. Structures and sites associated with events significant in Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland, or national history and social development.
   
   
2. Structures and sites associated with the lives of persons making significant contributions in Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland, or national history.
   
   
3. Structures and sites associated with the development of the culture of a particular local ethnic group.
   
   
4. Architectural Significance
   
   
5. Structures attributed to architects and/or builders of acknowledged local or national importance.
   
   
6. Structures of distinctive quality as evaluated by recognized authorities.
   
   
7. Structures that are definitive examples of a particular style, period or method of construction.
   
   
8. Structures which are among the last surviving examples of a particular style, period or method of construction.
   
   
9. Structures which embody the distinctive characteristics of a particular style, period or method of construction and which possess those characteristics of visual relatedness which collectively create a sense of the whole within a district or help deem a structure or site worthy of individual designation through:

Scale:	Local traditional scale relationships between space and the facade defining it and the component parts within that facade as they relate to man and which reflect the majority of the visual elements in the area contributing to the feeling of District.
Proportion:	Local traditional height-width relationships of facade and the component parts within that facade, which reflect the majority of the visual elements in the area contributing to the feeling of the District.
Rhythm:	Local traditional solid-void relationship of the facade and the component parts within that facade which reflect the majority of the visual elements in the area contributing to a feeling of District.
Massing:	Local traditional methods of handling the component elements of a structure which dictate the visual impact of mass and which reflect the majority of the visual elements in the area contributing to a feeling of District.
Materials, Colors, and Textures:	Local traditional materials, colors, end textures reflective of, or similar to, those of the majority of the other visual elements in the area.
Design:	The reflection or potential reflection of local traditional design characteristics of a type, period or method of construction that embodies quality aesthetic effort representative of the time, place, period of construction and the majority of the visual elements in the area, or that represents the work of a known artisan, craftsman or architect, local or otherwise.
Association:	Significant events and/or individuals whose activities are linked with the building, structure, site or object which have made a contribution to the nation, state or locality.