Blog of the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office

Category: National Register of Historic Places (Page 1 of 21)

PA SHPO is Hiring a National Register Reviewer!

Are you a highly skilled historic preservationist with National Register knowledge and experience? The Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office (PA SHPO) is seeking a Historic Preservation Specialist to work as a National Register reviewer, focused on assisting the public with determinations of eligibility and National Register nominations. Join us in preserving the treasured history of Pennsylvania.

Continue reading

Advancing Black Preservation to Sustain Black Neighborhoods with The Friends of the Tanner House

As part of Black History Month, we invited Friends of the Tanner House – which we first introduced to our readers in this post – to talk about strategies for advancing Black heritage site preservation with attention to rich community and cultural engagement. In this blog post, guest contributor Chris Rogers discuss the principles behind their in-progress community visioning and preservation planning process.

Continue reading

Meet the Newest PA SHPO Staff!

I’m happy to introduce you to our newest PA SHPO staffers! We are very excited to have Jennifer Thornton join us as our National Register Coordinator, Ashley Respet as part of the above ground Environmental Review team, and Alex O’Gorman as the Historic Property Inspection Program Coordinator.

I asked each of them to answer a few questions to help us get to know them.

Continue reading

Just Listed! July through December 2023

Included in this Just Listed! update are properties representing over three centuries of Pennsylvania history.

Properties range from Muhammad Ali’s mountain boxing retreat to a masterpiece of modern architecture to a historic district rich in the building traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Read below to learn more about the Commonwealth’s newest additions to the National Register of Historic Places.

Continue reading

ICYMI: PA SHPO’s Blog in 2023

It’s been a minute since I did a “year in review” post for the blog, so I thought I’d treat our readers to PA SHPO’s version of the ubiquitous end-of-year list.

In the spirit ICYMI, here is a list of the best posts from 2023 that you want to be sure to read. If I had to sum up the blog’s year in one phrase, I think it’s “a year of education, entertainment, and everything in between.”

Continue reading

From Fifty-One to Two: Rehabilitation of One of Schuylkill County’s Last Two Remaining Covered Bridges

The Rock Covered Bridge and Zimmerman Covered Bridge National Register nominations note that Schuylkill County once had fifty-one covered bridges. By the time the nominations were written in 1977, the total count was down to two.

Continue reading

The Elusive Historic Agricultural District

We had some fun recently during a site visit to identify the presence of a historic agricultural district for a solar project…

*Cue Sir David Attenborough’s voice*

Here we are searching for the elusive historic agricultural district. Often impossible to find, we are hoping to get a glimpse of it today, as whispers of its appearance have been heard. What vast expanses of agricultural land use and lack of modern residential development, perhaps we will get a sighting after all. But what is this that appears on the horizon? Large modern grain bins indicative of monocropping, followed by farmsteads lacking historic barns? Ah well, it would appear the earlier rumors of a visit from that elusive beast, the historic agricultural district, have been unfounded. Perhaps when we return to the hunt tomorrow, we may catch a glimpse.

Continue reading

Preserving the Henry Ossawa Tanner House

Earlier this year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation included the Henry Ossawa Tanner House in North Philadelphia on their 11 Most Endangered List.  With the help of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, I was able to connect with Chris Rogers of the Friends of the Tanner House to talk about what is happening at this National Historic Landmark.

Read on if you’re looking for some good news…

Continue reading

« Older posts
Wordpress Social Share Plugin powered by Ultimatelysocial