Overview
The City of Pasadena’s historic preservation ordinance provides a process to recognize an individual property or a historic district as a designated historic resource. There are various categories of resources, including historic monuments and national historic landmarks. The historic designation that matters for most homeowners is landmarking on the local register, since that can make them eligible for the tax incentives outlined in the final section below. In Pasadena, landmarking can apply to individual properties or to historic districts.
Criteria for Designation of Historic Resources
Landmark designation in Pasadena follows the criteria of the National Register of Historic Places Bulletins for evaluating historic properties. To be eligible for landmark designation a historic resource must meet one or more of the following criteria:
- it is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of the history of the region, State, or nation;
- it is associated with the lives of persons who are significant in the history of the region, State, or nation;
- it is exceptional in the embodiment of the distinctive characteristics of a historic resource property type, period, architectural style, or method of construction, or is an exceptional representation of the work of an architect, designer, engineer, or builder whose work is significant to the region, State, or nation, or possesses high artistic values that are of regional, State-wide or national significance;
- it has yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history of the region, State, or nation.
In addition, the resource must have sufficient integrity, which are defined in the National Register guidelines as integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association.
There is also special provision for the protection of the work by the legendary Greene & Greene firm, and for significant public or semi-public interior spaces and features.
To know whether your property is eligible for landmarking, be sure to engage a qualified historian, who will understand how to apply the above criteria.
Landmarking Process
A landmark nomination application generally takes 4-6 weeks to prepare. Following submission by the homeowner, the director of the City’s historic nomination process has 30 days in which to approve or contest the nomination. If the director determines that the property is not eligible for designation, the applicant may appeal the decision to the Historic Preservation Commission, which will then review the nomination at a public hearing.
Although any party can submit such a nomination, it will stand a far better chance of success if the property is vetted and the nomination is prepared by a qualified historian with extensive local experience. In my years of practice have prepared many historic assessments for properties in my hometown of Pasadena, including an evaluation of the 1929 Swanson & Peterson furniture factory that had been threatened with demolition but was ultimately spared.
Incentives
Mills Act Benefits
The main incentive for historic designation in Pasadena is eligibility for Mills Act tax benefits — a highly competitive process on an annual submission cycle that provides the most benefit to owners who have purchased their properties within the last decade at current market-rate prices.
To be considered for Mills Act contract agreement, properties must be either:
- designated landmarks or historic monuments, and/or
- works of Greene and Greene, and/or
- listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places or contributing to a designated landmark district or a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
There is currently a Mills Act valuation cap of $2M for a single-family residence in Pasadena. But note that valuations of Mills Act properties are determined by the Income Approach to Value, rather than by the standard Market Approach to Value.
Properties that are not designated may be considered if a nomination for designation is submitted before or concurrently with a Mills Act application and recorded with the Los Angeles County Recorder before the end of the year.
There is also allowance for Pasadena properties that are non-contributing to a designated landmark or National Register historic district, if the agreement results in changes that will render the property eligible as a district contributor. The proposed work must be based on pictorial, documentary, or physical evidence, in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.
All Mills Act applications need to include a 10-year rehabilitation plan. They are awarded points based on current City of Pasadena priorities, with special attention to:
- the preservation of properties threatened by deterioration, abandonment, or conflicting zoning regulations;
- the maintenance and creation of affordable housing; and/or
- the need for property tax reduction to facilitate preservation of a historic resource.
Who Benefits from 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 Advantages of Landmarking and Historic Assessment
Other incentives for landmarking in Pasadena include use of more flexible provisions in the State historical building code when making modifications to historic structures; waiver of covered parking requirements; and potential variances from modern development standards for historic properties undergoing adaptive use or relocation.
Beyond those Pasadena-specific incentives, there are other potential 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 written 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.
Application Timelines
If you are interested in historic designation for your property, it is never too soon to talk to a local qualified historian to discuss its potential eligibility, and to get the designation process underway. The same goes for Mills Act applications, which are generally released each year in early February and submitted by the end of May.
I’m a Pasadena-based architectural historian who has written hundreds of assessments for properties throughout Los Angeles County.
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 these links are broken or incorrect, or if you would like to suggest other resources for preservation in Pasadena, please let me know.
Not in Pasadena? Click on a link below for historic designation in
✦Glendale ✦Long Beach ✦City of Los Angeles ✦San Marino ✦Sierra Madre ✦South Pasadena ✦Unincorporated LA County