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Historic Preservation
Welcome to the City of Campbell's Historic Preservation information page.
Effective March 8, 2018, the City Council has amended the City's Historic Preservation Ordinance.
Historic Preservation Retains our City's Charm: Preservation of Campbell’s historic and culturally significant resources promotes community identity, enhances the quality of life and preserves a quality small town feeling. Historic buildings are important reminders of the past and contribute significantly to Campbell’s sense of place and cultural heritage. The City has a goal to preserve the City’s historic resources and retain the architectural integrity of established building patterns within historic residential neighborhoods.
Look up Historic Properties in Campbell: The City maintains a Historic Resource Inventory of the City’s historic buildings, structures and districts. The City also maintains a list of properties that have been identified as potentially eligible for designation as a historic resource.
Learn more about Campbell's history through these self-guided walking tours:
- Downtown Walking Tour of Historic Commercial Buildings
- Downtown Walking Tour of Historic Residential and Civic Buildings
- Android or Apple mobile applications
Heritage Trees: The City maintains a list of Heritage Trees in the City that are governed by Section 21.32.130 of the City's Tree Protection Regulations.
Come to a Historic Preservation Board Meeting: The Historic Preservation Board is a five-member advisory body that is appointed by the City Council to recommend measures to implement historic preservation; administer the applicable provisions of Chapter 21.32, (Historic Preservation Regulations); perform other advisory functions as delegated; and review new policies affecting historical resources in the community. To review the most recent meeting agenda, please visit our Historic Preservation Board webpage.
Learn More about the Secretary of Interior Standards: The Standards are a series of concepts about maintaining, repairing, and replacing historic materials. The Standards offer four distinct approaches to the treatment of historic properties:
◦Preservation places a high premium on the retention, conservation, maintenance and repair of a historic resource’s materials, features, finishes, spaces, and spatial relationships that, together, give a property its historic character.
◦Rehabilitation emphasizes the retention and repair of historic materials, but allows replacement when materials are deteriorated.
◦Restoration focuses on the retention of materials from the most significant time in a property's history, while permitting the removal of materials from other periods.
◦Reconstruction establishes limited opportunities to re-create a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object in all new materials.
Frequently Asked Questions
| Where can I find the applicable documents related to the City's Historic Preservation Ordinance? The applicable documents can be found in the bottom left corner of this webpage. |
| I'm selling my historic home. What can I tell potential buyers about being designated as a historic home?
The City has a one page glossy brochure that you can give to realtors and prospective homebuyers about the benefits and misconceptions of being on the Historic Resource Inventory. |
| Do you have any other information or handouts that might answer some of my questions?
Yes, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions webpage as well as our Frequently Asked Questions Brochure for information on the benefits of being on the City's Historic Resource Inventory and your ability to make changes to your historic building, for example. If you do not find the answer you are looking for, feel free to contact the Planning Department for more information. |
| What is required if I want to make an exterior change to my Historic Building? Any proposed changes to a designated historic resource inventory building (or any non-historic building) should be reviewed by the Planning Department. Just like any other building permit application, your project may also require review by the Building Official, the Community Development Director, the Planning Commission, or the City Council. Certain applications will also require review by the Historic Preservation Board. |
| Do you have any guidance on making exterior changes to my Historic Residence?
The City has adopted Historic Design Guidelines to ensure that improvements and additions to historic residential buildings respect the historic qualities of older buildings and allow them to remain prominent elements in the community. Sensitive improvements and additions complement the scale, massing, and architectural character of historic buildings and conform to historically established building forms and setbacks of the neighborhood. Please also refer to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the treatment of historic properties, including alterations and new additions to both residential and non-residential buildings. |
| Do you have any additional resources or guidelines?
The Secretary of the Interior's Standards offer general design and technical recommendations to assist in applying the Standards to a specific property; Preservation Briefs which help historic building owners recognize and resolve common problems prior to work; Preservation Technical Notes which provide practical information on traditional practices and innovative techniques for successfully maintaining and preserving cultural resources; and ITS Bulletins which assist building owners in applying the Standards to case-specific rehabilitation projects. For example, the preservation brief "Architectural Character" may help an owner or architect identify features or elements that give a building its visual and historic character. Other helpful links include: California Office of Historic Preservation California Preservation Foundation National Trust |