s 68.2 Definitions.
The standards for historic preservation projects will be used by the National Park Service and State historic preservation officers and their staff members in planning, undertaking, and supervising grant­assisted projects for acquisition, protection, stabilization, preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction. For the purposes of this part:
(a) Acquisition. Means the act or process of acquiring fee title or interest other than fee title of real property (including the acquisition of development rights or remainder interest).
(b) Preservation. Means the act or process of applying measures to sustain the existing form, integrity, and material of a building or structure, and the existing form and vegetative cover of site. It may include initial stabilization work where necessary, as well as ongoing maintenance of the historic building materials.
(c) Protection. Means the act or process of applying measures designed to affect the physical condition of a property by defending or guarding it from deterioration, loss, or attack, or to cover or shield the property from danger or injury. In the case of buildings and structures, such treatment is generally of a temporary nature and anticipates future historic preservation treatment; in the case of archeological sites, the protective measure may be temporary or permanent.
(d) Reconstruction. Means the act or process of reproducing by new construction the exact form and detail of a vanished building, structure, or object, or a part thereof, as it appeared at a specific period of time.
(e) Rehabilitation. Means the act or process of returning a property to a state of utility through repair or alteration that makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions or features of the property that are significant to its historical, architectural, and cultural values.
(f) Restoration. Means the act or process of accurately recovering the form and details of a property and its setting as it appeared at a particular period of time by means of the removal of later work or by the replacement of missing earlier work.
(g) Stabilization. Means the act or process of applying measures designed to reestablish a weather­resistant enclosure and the structural stability of an unsafe or deteriorated property while maintaining the essential form as it exists at present.

s 68.3 General standards for historic preservation projects.
The general standards listed below shall apply to all historic preservation grant­in­aid projects; additional standards in s 68.4 for acquisition, protection, stabilization, preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction apply to specific grant­in­aid projects as appropriate. The Standards shall be applied taking into consideration the energy conservation needs and the economic and technical feasibility of each project; in the final analysis, however, the treatment must be consistent with the historic character of the structure and, where appropriate, with the district in which it is located.
(a) Every reasonable effort shall be made to provide a compatible use for a property that requires minimal alteration of the building structure, or site and its environment, or to use a property for its originally intended purpose.
(b) The distinguishing original qualities or character of a building, structure, or site and its environment shall not be destroyed. The removal or alteration of any historic material or distinctive architectural features should be avoided when possible.
(c) All buildings, structures, and sites shall be recognized as products of their own time.
Alterations, which have no historical basis and which seek to create an earlier appearance, shall be discouraged.
(d) Changes, which may have taken place in the course of time, are evidence of the history and development of a building, structure, or site and its environment. These changes may have acquired significance in their own right, and this significance shall be recognized and respected.
(e) Distinctive stylistic features or examples of skilled craftsmanship which characterize a building, structure, or site shall be treated with sensitivity.
(f) Deteriorated architectural features shall be repaired rather than replaced, wherever possible.
In the event replacement is necessary, the new material should match the material being replaced in composition, design, color, texture, and other visual qualities. Repair or replacement of missing architectural features should be based on accurate duplications of features, substantiated by historical, physical, or pictorial evidence rather than on conjectural designs or the availability of different architectural elements from other buildings or structures.
(g) The surface cleaning of structures shall be undertaken with the gentlest means possible.
Sandblasting and other cleaning methods that will damage the historic building materials shall not be undertaken.
(h) Every reasonable effort shall be made to protect and reserve archeological resources affected by, or adjacent to, any acquisition, protection, stabilization, preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, or reconstruction projects.

s 68.4 Specific standards for acquisition, protection, stabilization, preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction projects.
In addition to the general standards set forth in s 68.3 the following specific standards shall be applied as appropriate:
(a) Acquisition.
(1) Careful consideration shall be given to the type and extent of property rights that are required to assure the preservation of the historic resource. The preservation objective shall determine the exact property rights to be acquired.
(2) Properties shall be acquired in fee simple when absolute ownership is required to insure their preservation.
(3) The purchase of less­than­fee­simple interests, such as open space or facade easements, shall be undertaken when a limited interest achieves the preservation objective.
(4) Every reasonable effort shall be made to acquire sufficient property with the historic resource to protect its historical, archeological, architectural, or cultural significance.
(b) Protection.
(1) Before applying protective measures, which are generally of a temporary nature and imply future historic preservation work, an analysis of the actual or anticipated threats to the property shall be made.
(2) Protection shall safeguard the physical condition or environment of a property or archeological site from further deterioration or damage caused by weather or other natural, animal, or human intrusions.
(3) If any historic material or architectural features are removed, they shall be properly recorded and, if possible, stored for future study or reuse.
(c) Stabilization.
(1) Stabilization shall reestablish the structural stability of a property through the reinforcement of loadbearing members or by arresting material deterioration leading to structural failure. Stabilization shall also reestablish weather resistant conditions for a property.
(2) Stabilization shall be accomplished in such a manner that it detracts as little as possible from the property's appearance. When reinforcement is required to reestablish structural stability, such work shall be concealed wherever possible so as not to intrude upon or detract from the esthetic and historical quality of the property, except where concealment would result in the alteration or destruction of historically significant material or spaces.
(d) Preservation.
(1) Preservation shall maintain the existing form, integrity, and materials of a building, structure, or site. Substantial reconstruction or restoration of lost features generally are not included in a preservation undertaking.
(2) Preservation shall include techniques of arresting or retarding the deterioration of a property through a program of ongoing maintenance.
(e) Rehabilitation.
(1) Contemporary design for alterations and additions to existing properties shall not be discouraged when such alterations and additions do not destroy significant historic, architectural, or cultural material, and such design is compatible with the size, scale, color, material, and character of the property, neighborhood, or environment.
(2) Wherever possible, new additions or alterations to structures shall be done in such a manner that if such additions or alterations were to be removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the structure would be unimpaired.
(f) Restoration.
(1) Every reasonable effort shall be made to use a property for its originally intended purpose or to provide a compatible use that will require minimum alteration to the property and its environment.
(2) Reinforcement required for structural stability or the installation of protective or code required mechanical systems shall be concealed whenever possible so as not to intrude or detract from the property's esthetic and historic qualities, except where concealment would result in the alteration or destruction of historically significant materials or spaces.
(3) When archeological resources must be disturbed by restoration work, recovery of archeological material shall be undertaken in conformance with current professional practices.
(g) Reconstruction.
(1) Reconstruction of a part or all of a property shall be undertaken only when such work is essential to reproduce a significant missing feature in a historic district or scene, and when a contemporary design solution is not acceptable.
(2) Reconstruction of all or a part of a historic property shall be appropriate when the reconstruction is essential for understanding and interpreting the value of a historic district, or when no other building, structure, object, or landscape feature with the same associative value has survived and sufficient historical documentation exists to insure an accurate reproduction of the original.
(3) The reproduction of missing elements accomplished with new materials shall duplicate the composition, design, color, texture, and other visual qualities of the missing element. Reconstruction of missing architectural features shall be based upon accurate duplication of original features, substantiated by historical, physical, or pictorial evidence rather than upon conjectural designs or the availability of different architectural features from other buildings.
(4) Reconstruction of a building or structure on an original site shall be preceded by a thorough archeological investigation to locate and identify all subsurface features and artifacts.
(5) Reconstruction shall include measures to preserve any remaining original fabric, including foundations, subsurface, and ancillary elements. The reconstruction of missing elements and features shall be done in such a manner that the essential form and integrity of the original surviving features are unimpaired.

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The Vermont Heritage Network
The University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program
Wheeler House, University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405
(802)656-3180
http://www.uvm.edu/~vhnet
E-mail To: vhnet@zoo.uvm.edu