City of Glendale Historic Designation

Overview

The City of Glendale has a remarkable range of high quality historic housing, and an impressive record of attention to historic preservation. The City’s historic preservation ordinance provides a process to recognize buildings, sites, objects, structures, neighborhoods, cultural landscapes, and archaeological sites as designated historic resources. That term applies to historic resources listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register of Historical Resources, or the Glendale Register of Historic Resources. Follow those links, and the links in the sections below, for more information on the criteria, procedures and incentives for historic designation in Glendale.

Criteria for Designation in the Glendale Register

As indicated in § 15.20.030 of the City code, decisions concerning designated historic resources, or potential historic resources are made by the Director of Community Development on the recommendation of the Historic Preservation Commission. This is essentially a process of identifying and preserving character-defining features — namely the distinctive physical forms, elements, materials, details, and/or characteristics that convey the significance of a historic resource.

City code § 15.20.050 lays out the procedure for designating a resource for inclusion in the Glendale Register of Historic Resources. Designation requires city council to determine that the resource meets one or more of the following criteria:

The resource is identified with important events in national, state, or city history, or exemplifies significant contributions to the broad cultural, political, economic, social, tribal, or historic heritage of the nation, state, or city, and retains historic integrity.
The resource is associated with a person, persons, or groups who significantly contributed to the history of the nation, state, region, or city, and retains historic integrity.
The resource embodies the distinctive and exemplary characteristics of an architectural style, architectural type, period, or method of construction; or represents a notable work of a master designer, builder or architect whose genius influenced his or her profession; or possesses high artistic values, and retains historic integrity.
The resource has yielded, or has the potential to yield, information important to archaeological prehistory or history of the nation, state, region, or city, and retains historic integrity.

Those criteria, including the loaded concept of integrity, correspond to the standards of the National Register, which are invariably subject to stringent guidelines. A qualified historian will be able to assess your property accordingly.

Procedure for Designation in the Glendale Register

City code § 15.20.050 establishes the procedure for designating resources in the Glendale Register of Historic Resources, along with procedures for deletion that will not be covered in the following summary. Designation must be initiated by an application of the property owner(s) or their agents, or else by a four-fifths (4/5) vote of city council without the consent of the owner(s). A 4/5 council vote is also required for the designation of resources. If the historic preservation commission does not recommend designation, then the property owner may withdraw the application. As a rule, they must then wait a minimum of 5 years before re-applying.

Review and Permit Process for Alterations

In keeping with the owner’s duty to maintain historic resources, the historic preservation ordinance outlines procedures for review and permitting relating to alterations of designated historic resources, resources pending designation, potential historic resources, and protected interiors. Go here for major alterations or partial demolition; here for minor alterations; and here for routine maintenance.

Incentives

Mills Act and Other Incentives in Glendale

City code § 15.20.070 decrees that owners of properties listed in the Glendale Register of Historic Resources may apply to the director of community development for the following incentives (here paraphrased for brevity and clarity):

a reduction in property taxes through the Mills Act property tax incentive program;
a reduction in required parking for new uses or additions of square footage to Glendale Register listed properties as specified in Title 30 of the City code;
allowance of specified uses permitted in the C1 zone, in the R-3050, R-2250, R-1650, and R-1250 zones, and as conditional uses in the ROS, R1R and R1 zones for Glendale Register listed properties, as specified in Title 30 of the City code;
a height bonus and/or a floor area ratio bonus, potentially available for projects located on the same lot as a historic resource within the Downtown Specific Plan area provided that, prior to design review approval, the resource is listed in the Glendale Register of Historic Resources and that the proposed project meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.

The City code also includes incentives for owners of properties not listed in the Glendale Register of Historic Resources, but which reflect the city’s early architectural heritage. They may apply to the director of community development for listing in the Glendale Register, and may apply for a Mills Act historic property contract, if the following conditions are met:

the property contains one or more buildings built before 1925 and designed in the Craftsman architectural style or any style predating the Craftsman style;
The property has been found through survey evaluation to not be individually eligible for listing in the Glendale Register of Historic Resources but nonetheless is determined by the historic preservation commission to retain sufficient historic integrity to accurately reflect and exemplify the city’s early architectural heritage or to be reasonably capable of being returned to such a level of historic integrity through the inclusion of conditions recorded as part of a Mills Act property contract; and
the historic preservation commission and city council find that designating the property under Glendale Register designation Criterion 3 pursuant to Section 15.20.050(C) would be in keeping with the goals and intent of the city’s historic preservation program.

Who Benefits from the Mills Act Incentive?

The greatest benefit of historic designation in Glendale is the potential for a substantial reduction in property taxes through the Mills Act incentive. Participation in the Mills Act program is voluntary and is restricted to owners of designated historic properties. Property owners with comparatively low property taxes, such as those benefitting from Proposition 13 limits on assessed value change over time, will not likely benefit from a Mills Act contract because the assessed value under the Mills Act will likely be higher than the current base-year value of the property. In general, owners who benefit most from a Mills Act contract are those who have acquired their properties in the last 10 years.

Further Incentives

Beyond the incentives listed above, there are more general benefits to having a property formally assessed by a qualified historian. Uncovering the property’s story —including its architects, builders, occupants and renovation timeline, as revealed in a range of textual and visual records — can be helpful for:

Establishing historic significance for buildings of note, thereby facilitating heritage designation; access to preservation resources including restoration grants and tax incentives; and protection from unwanted alterations;
Guiding restoration efforts by ensuring that the materials, construction methods and style are historically appropriate, thus preserving the property’s character and maintaining or increasing its value;
Adding market value by demonstrating its association with significant people (e.g. architects, builders, owners, occupants) or events;
Legal and planning benefits including facilitation of zoning issues, building permits, or disputes about property modifications, especially in historic districts.

I’m a Pasadena-based architectural historian who has written hundreds of assessments of properties throughout Los Angeles County, including some buildings in Glendale.

If you own a property that is more than 50 years old, schedule a consultation to find out whether historic designation is right for you.

If any of the above links are broken or incorrect, or if you would like to suggest other resources for preservation in Glendale, please let me know.

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