Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) Application
Part A - Evaluation of Significance. Part A of the application requires
information to allow the Commission to evaluate whether a building is a
certified historic structure and shall be completed for all buildings to be
included in the project. Part A of the application is evaluated against
criteria for significance and integrity issued by the National Park
Service.
(b) Application
Requirements. Information to be submitted in Part A of the application
includes:
(1) Name, mailing address, telephone
number, and email address of the property owner(s) and Applicant if different
from the Owner;
(2) Name and
address of the property;
(3) Name
of the historic district, if applicable;
(4) Current photographs of the building and
its site, showing exterior and interior features and spaces adequate to
document the property's significance. Photographs must be formatted as directed
by the Commission in published program guidance materials on the Commission's
online Texas Historic Preservation Tax Credit Application Guide available by
accessing thc.texas.gov;
(5) Date
of construction of the property;
(6) Brief description of the appearance of
the property, including alterations, characteristic features, and estimated
date or dates of construction and alterations;
(7) Brief statement of significance
summarizing why a property is:
(A) eligible
for individual listing in the National Register of Historic Places;
(B) contributes to a historic district listed
in the National Register of Historic Places or a certified local district;
or
(C) contributes to a potential
historic district, accompanied by:
(i) a map
showing the boundary of the potential historic district and the location of the
property within the district;
(ii)
photographs of other properties in the district; and
(iii) justification for the district's
eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic
Places;
(8) A
map showing the location of the historic property;
(9) Signature of the Owner, and Applicant if
different from the Owner, requesting the determination; and
(10) Other information required on the
application by the Commission.
(c) Consultation with Commission. Any person
may informally consult with the Commission to determine whether a property is:
(1) listed individually in the National
Register of Historic Places;
(2)
designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark or State Antiquities Landmark;
or
(3) certified by the Commission
as contributing to the historic significance of a historic district listed in
the National Register of Historic Places or a certified local
district.
(d) Automatic
qualification as certified historic structure. If a property is individually
listed in the National Register of Historic Places or designated as a Recorded
Texas Historic Landmark or State Antiquities Landmark, then it is a certified
historic structure and should be indicated as such on Part A of the
application.
(e) Preliminary
determination of significance. An Applicant for a property not listed in the
National Register of Historic Places, neither individually nor as a
contributing element to a historic district; not designated a Recorded Texas
Historic Landmark nor State Antiquities Landmark; and not listed in a certified
local district may obtain a preliminary determination from the Commission as to
whether the property is individually eligible to become a certified historic
structure or is eligible as a contributing structure in a potential historic
district by submitting Part A of the application. Determination will be based
on criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
Applications for a preliminary determination of significance must show how the
property meets one of the following criteria for listing in the National
Register of Historic Places and any applicable criteria considerations from the
National Park Service.
(1) National Register
of Historic Places criteria. The quality of significance in American history,
architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts,
sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location,
design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association and one or
more of subparagraphs (A) - (D) of this paragraph:
(A) Properties that are associated with
events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our
history; or
(B) that are associated
with the lives of persons significant in our past; or
(C) that embody distinctive characteristics
of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a
master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant
and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction;
or
(D) that have yielded, or may be
likely to yield, information important in prehistory or
history.
(2) Criteria
considerations. Ordinarily cemeteries, birthplaces, or graves of historical
figures, properties owned by religious institutions or used for religious
purposes, structures that have been moved from their original locations,
reconstructed historic buildings, properties primarily commemorative in nature,
and properties that have achieved significance within the past 50 years shall
not be considered eligible for the National Register. However, such properties
will qualify if they are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria
or if they fall within the following categories:
(A) A religious property deriving primary
significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical
importance; or
(B) A building or
structure removed from its original location but which is significant primarily
for architectural value, or which is the surviving structure most importantly
associated with a historic person or event; or
(C) A birthplace or grave of a historical
figure of outstanding importance if there is no appropriate site or building
directly associated with his or her productive life; or
(D) A cemetery which derives its primary
significance from graves of persons of transcendent importance, from age, from
distinctive design features, or from association with historic events;
or
(E) A reconstructed building
when accurately executed in a suitable environment and presented in a dignified
manner as part of a restoration master plan, and when no other building or
structure with the same association has survived; or
(F) A property primarily commemorative in
intent if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it with its
own exceptional significance; or
(G) A property achieving significance within
the past 50 years if it is of exceptional importance.
(3) Issuance of a preliminary determination
of significance does not bind the Commission to the designation of an
individual historic structure or district. Applicants proceed with
rehabilitation projects at their own risk. If a structure is ultimately not
listed in the National Register of Historic Places, designated as a Recorded
Texas Historic Landmark, or certified as a contributing element to a local
district pursuant to 36 CFR
§
67.9, the preliminary determination
does not become final, and the owner will not be eligible for the credit. The
Commission shall not issue a certificate of eligibility until or unless the
designation is final.
(f) Determination of contributing structures
in existing historic districts. If a property is located in a district listed
in the National Register of Historic Places or in a certified local district,
an Applicant or an Owner of the property shall request that the Commission
determine whether the property is of historic significance contributing to the
district by submitting Part A of the application. The Commission evaluates
properties located within historic districts listed in the National Register of
Historic Places or certified local districts to determine whether they
contribute to the historic significance of the district by applying the
following standards:
(1) A property
contributing to the historic significance of a district is one which by
location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association
adds to the district's sense of time and place and historical
development.
(2) A property does
not contribute to the historic significance of a district if it does not add to
the district's sense of time and place and historical development, or if its
location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association
have been so altered or have so deteriorated that the overall integrity of the
building has been irretrievably lost.
(3) Generally, buildings that have been built
within the past 50 years shall not be considered to contribute to the
significance of a district unless a strong justification concerning their
historical or architectural merit is given or the historical attributes of the
district are considered to be less than 50 years old at the date of
application.
(4) Certification of
significance will be made on the basis of the appearance and condition of the
property before beginning the rehabilitation work.
(5) If a nonhistoric surface material
obscures a building's façade, it may be necessary for the owner to
remove a portion of the surface material so that a determination of
significance can be made. After the material has been removed, if the obscured
façade has retained substantial historic integrity and the property
otherwise contributes to the significance of the historic district, it will be
considered eligible to be a certified historic structure.
(g) Subsequent Designation. A building must
be a certified historic structure prior to the issuance of the certificate of
eligibility by the Commission as required by §172.105 (b)(1)(A) of the
Texas Tax Code. If a property is not automatically qualified as a certified
historic structure, an owner of a property shall request that the Commission
determine whether the property is of historic significance by submitting Part A
of the application in accordance with subsections (e) and (f) of this section.
Upon listing in the National Register of Historic Places, designation as a
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, or certification as a contributing element to
a local district pursuant to 36 CFR §
67.9, Commission
staff overseeing the National Register program and the Official Texas
Historical Marker program (as applicable), shall prepare a notification, to be
filed with the tax credit application, indicating that the designation process
required by Part A has been fulfilled.
(h) Multiple buildings. If a property owned
by one entity contains more than one building and the Commission determines
that the buildings have been functionally related historically, per §
13.1(17) of this
title (relating to Definitions), to serve an overall purpose (such as a
residence and a carriage house), then the functionally related buildings will
be treated as a single certified historic structure, regardless of whether one
of the buildings is separately listed in the National Register of Historic
Places or as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark or is located within a historic
district. Buildings owned by the same applicant that were not functionally
related historically must be submitted as individual buildings on separate
applications.
(i) Portions of
buildings. Portions of buildings, such as single condominium apartment units,
are not independently eligible for certification as an individual space without
assessment of any work undertaken elsewhere in the building within the last 24
months, as described in §
13.6(f) of this
title (relating to Application Review Process). This rule applies even when a
building has multiple owners. A full description of all work at the building
must be provided with the application.
(j) Relocation of historic buildings.
Relocation of a historic building from its original site may disqualify the
building from eligibility or result in removal of designation as a certified
historic structure. Applications involving buildings that have been moved or
are to be moved will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis under the applicable
criteria for designation as provided in this section. For a building listed in
the National Register of Historic Places, the applicant will be responsible for
updating the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the property
or district, or the relocated building will not be considered a certified
historic structure for the purpose of this credit. For a building designated as
a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, the applicant will be responsible for
notifying the Commission and otherwise complying with the requirements of
§
21.11 of this title (relating to
Review of Work on Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks) prior to undertaking any
relocation.
