Would you buy a house that is on National Historical Registry?

[Tybee]

Would you buy a house on the National Historic Registry? I know there are some restrictive things with respect to renovation, etc. A house we are looking at is on the Registry, and I wouldn't want to change anything on the outside, although I might want to restore a barn that fell down by putting one up again.

Does anyone have experience with this?

Thanks!

[iris lilies]

Oh hell yes!

Said out of sheer ignorance about what the restrictions are.

[Teacher Terry]

So are there restrictions on what you can do on the inside?

[iris lilies]

I will bet you are buying a house out in the country and probably not within an established historic district. If that’s the case you’re probably safe from regulations that govern historic building restrictions. When I googled being on the National Register of Historic Places, articles mentioned there are no restrictions that come with that status.Being in a historic district is different than having your single property listed on the National Register so check on that.

Building an historically accurate barn would use serious cash, but that likely is not required in your potential property.

I am familiar with ordinances that govern all properties within a single historic district. Historic districts can be established by local or national action. The city of St. Louis has several historic districts, each one separately defined. A set Of ordinances Belongs to each district. That is because each district is from a different time and the code of building regulations needs to be specific to that time.

In my city ordinances do not govern the interior of the building. However, when people use tax money to fix up their buildings in a defined historic district, it is true that they must follow requirements for appropriate interiors. Tax incentive money comes with these restrictions.

[Tybee]

I will bet you are buying a house out in the country and probably not within an established historic district. If that’s the case you’re probably safe from regulations that govern historic building restrictions. When I googled being on the National Register of Historic Places, articles mentioned there are no restrictions that come with that status.Being in a historic district is different than having your single property listed on the National Register so check on that.

Building an historically accurate barn would use serious cash, but that likely is not required in your potential property.

I am familiar with ordinances that govern all properties within a single historic district. Historic districts can be established by local or national action. The city of St. Louis has several historic districts, each one separately defined. A set Of ordinances Belongs to each district. That is because each district is from a different time and the code of building regulations needs to be specific to that time.

In my city ordinances do not govern ts not in he interior of the building. However, when people use tax money to fix up their buildings in a defined historic district, it is true that they must follow requirements for appropriate interiors. Tax incentive money comes with these restrictions.

It's not in a historic district--it is out in the country on acreage. The barn falling down is REALLY unfortunate as it was an interesting barn and a real beauty, not sure why it fell down. I only know it did because it showed up on Google maps and then did not show up on the listing and win the satellite pic there was a big pile of rubble.

Inside, I really would not change anything, as it is beautifully unchanged looks wise from what it originally was. It's beautiful and well kept up. I wouldn't change anything on the outside, either, now that I think of it. So not sure what I am worried about, haha.

I sure wish it had its original barn, though.. .

[JaneV2.0]

Could you reconstruct the barn? I take it all the pieces are there and there's a picture somewhere to work from.

[Teacher Terry]

Tybee, realistically how long are you guys going to be able to live there before you have to move again? The last time we moved we made sure we could age in place. We bought a small ranch in town and made the yard low maintenance. It’s expensive to move.

[iris lilies]

Could you reconstruct the barn? I take it all the pieces are there and there's a picture somewhere to work from.
Sure she could. With that billion bucks being handed out.

seriously, that isnt likely to be a realistic project for the OP. Her finances are limited.

[catherine]

I'm with IL. I would DEFINITELY consider a historic landmark building, especially if you have respect for the intention of the designation, which you do. You could consider yourself a steward of the place to keep someone else from messing with it.

Would you be able to get a grant of some kind to restore the barn to its original glory?

[sweetana3]

No, No, No. Unless I had serious!! cash for all the specific requirements and knew the specialists that might be required for the work. Even getting appropriate windows and having them repaired here for buildings in the historic distircts is a nightmare and a serious expense. There is one building I love that is disintegrating because the condo owners do not have the funds to do the work to the districts requirements.

Love the buildings just not the regulations and serious additional expense.

I have a non contributory modern house in a historic district and have had several serious issues with the bureaucrats and ridiculous regulations.

[Gardnr]

We looked at one back in 1991 when shopping for our final home. The cost of bringing electrical and plumbing to current standard alone was cost-prohibitive for us.

Take a contractor with you to assess the current status and estimate cost to repair/restore. Then add 50% to that to pay for what isn't visual. You're going to be in the "money to burn" camp to do this well.

[iris lilies]

No, No, No. Unless I had serious!! cash for all the specific requirements and knew the specialists that might be required for the work. Even getting appropriate windows and having them repaired here for buildings in the historic distircts is a nightmare and a serious expense. There is one building I love that is disintegrating because the condo owners do not have the funds to do the work to the districts requirements.

Love the buildings just not the regulations and serious additional expense.

I have a non contributory modern house in a historic district and have had several serious issues with the bureaucrats and ridiculous regulations.

But this isnt in an historic district. From what I can tell, no historic building code prevails.

[Tybee]

But this isnt in an historic district. From what I can tell, no historic building code prevails.

Thanks, everyone, for your ideas on this house. IL, that is correct, there is no historic building code where it has to look like the neighborhood. The reason it is on the Registry has to do with the method of construction. I looked up the original application for the house and the barn is non-contributory as they figured it was not original but added on about 50 years later. Too bad, it was a nice barn. Don't know if the rubble is still there. Just found the house a couple of days ago and still not sure if it is an area where we want to be--it is outside of the area where we were looking, so I'm not sure what to make of it.

[beckyliz]

Nope. Too much work and rules.