California Code of Regulations › Title 14 - Natural Resources › Division 3 - Department of Parks and Recreation › Chapter 11.5 - California Register of Historical Resources › Section 4852 - Types of Historical Resources and Criteria for Listing in the California Register of Historical Resources

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
The criteria for listing historical resources in the
				  California Register are consistent with those developed by the National Park
				  Service for listing historical resources in the National Register, but have
				  been modified for state use in order to include a range of historical resources
				  which better reflect the history of California. Only resources which meet the
				  criteria as set out below may be listed in or formally determined eligible for
				  listing in the California Register.
(a) Types of resources eligible for
				nomination:
(1) Building. A resource, such as
				a house, barn, church, factory, hotel, or similar structure created principally
				to shelter or assist in carrying out any form of human activity. "Building" may
				also be used to refer to an historically and functionally related unit, such as
				a courthouse and jail or a house and barn;
(2) Site. A site is the location of a
				significant event, a prehistoric or historic occupation or activity, or a
				building or structure, whether standing, ruined, or vanished, where the
				location itself possesses historical, cultural, or archeological value
				regardless of the value of any existing building, structure, or object. A site
				need not be marked by physical remains if it is the location of a prehistoric
				event, and if no buildings, structures, or objects marked it at that time.
				Examples of such sites are trails, designed landscapes, battlefields,
				habitation sites, Native American ceremonial areas, petroglyphs, and
				pictographs;
(3) Structure. The
				term "structure" is used to describe a construction made for a functional
				purpose rather than creating human shelter. Examples of structures include
				mines, bridges, and tunnels;
(4)
				Object. The term "object" is used to describe those constructions that are
				primarily artistic in nature or are relatively small in scale and simply
				constructed, as opposed to a building or a structure. Although it may be
				moveable by nature or design, an object is associated with a specific setting
				or environment. Objects should be in a setting appropriate to their significant
				historic use, role, or character. Objects that are relocated to a museum are
				not eligible for listing in the California Register. Examples of objects
				include fountains, monuments, maritime resources, sculptures, and boundary
				markers; and
(5) Historic district.
				Historic districts are unified geographic entities which contain a
				concentration of historic buildings, structures, objects, or sites united
				historically, culturally, or architecturally. Historic districts are defined by
				precise geographic boundaries. Therefore, districts with unusual boundaries
				require a description of what lies immediately outside the area, in order to
				define the edge of the district an to explain the exclusion of adjoining areas.
				The district must meet at least one of the criteria for significance discussed
				in Section
				4852(b)(1)-(4) of
				this chapter.
Those individual resources contributing to the significance
				  of the historic district will also be listed in the California Register. For
				  this reason, all individual resources located within the boundaries of an
				  historic district must be designated as either contributing or as
				  noncontributing to the significance of the historic
				  district.