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Glossary
The literature about older buildings, their building sites, and neighborhoods is filled with words and terms about which we often have to guess the meaning; sometimes we even guess right! Writers, government agencies, service providers and others in the maintenance / preservation / rehabilitation field regularly use a written and spoken vocabulary that ordinary citizens cannot understand. Without understanding the words and terms the researcher cannot understand the whole process. Here are some words and terms frequently used:
Architectural Terms. These are the “technical” references to parts of houses and other buildings such as cornice or sidelight. See the Sherman Hill Neighborhood (Des Moines, IA) website for simple definitions of commonly used names of building and design components such as cornice or sidelight. Emphasis here is on late 19c and early 20c.
Certificate of Appropriateness. This is the formal document that says the city has approved your rehabilitation project.
Certification. The process of getting a certificate of appropriateness; in other words, the Historic Preservation Commission approves the work done on the structure.
Certified Local Government. Means that the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency recognizes a municipal government meets criteria set for eligibility to oversee preservation programs in its region. Oversight includes evaluation and approval of financial incentives.
Custom, as in Custom-Made or Custom-Built. Generally this centers around the issue of choice. Custom describes a product built-to-order from a set of specifications set by the buyer. This method differs from a product that is already manufactured or built. Be aware that some manufacturers and vendors also use the term custom to include stock items.
District. “A concentration of buildings, structures, or objects linked by a central theme and location.” (Karen E. Everingham. “How to...Submit an Application to the National Register of Historic Places.” Illinois Association of Museums Bulletin #31)
Grant. Generally a direct transfer of money. Relative to rehabilitation and/or preservation work, an owner may receive money in exchange for satisfying a set of conditions of work on his or her property.
Historic District. “A Historic District is an area [a district] containing buildings or places in which historic events have occurred or which have a special public value. To warrant conservation and preservation, a site must have notable architecture or other features that relate to the cultural or artistic heritage of the community.” (http://www.normal.org/gov/boards/hpc/index.asp)
Historic Preservation Commission. A board made up of citizen volunteers whose responsibility is to oversee all aspects of historic preservation in the municipality.
Historic Zoning. S-4 in Bloomington, and S-3 in Normal.
Landmark. Municipal designation, Normal “...a property or structure designated as a landmark by ordinance passed by the Normal Town Council. The property or structure must be worthy of rehabilitation, restoration, or preservation, and must bear historic and / or architectural significance to the Town.” (http://www.normal.org/gov/boards/hpc/index.asp)
Preservation. Focuses on retaining all the historic materials through conservation, maintenance and repair. As such, it reflects the building’s continuum over time, through successive occupancies, and the integrated changes and alterations that are made. Focuses attention on keeping historic materials, features, finishes, spaces, and spatial relationships that, together, give a property its historic character.
Reconstruction. Recreating a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object in all new materials.
Rehabilitation. "...the process of returning a property to a state of utility, through repair or alteration, which makes possible an efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions and features of the property which are significant to its historic, architectural, and cultural values."
Restoration. The retention of materials from the most significant time in a property's history, while permitting the removal of materials from other periods.
Style (house). The collection of features that identifies the structure with a particular label (name) as in Craftsman or Queen Anne and, taken together, distinguish its character.
Type (house). Different from style, type refers to the
form of the structure. Four-square and bungalow are frequently heard labels
for historic house types in central Illinois. Many early farm houses here
were the I-house type; that is, the footprint of the house was rectangular
and in the shape of the letter "I".