The mission of the Raleigh Historic Development Commission is to identify, preserve, protect, and promote Raleigh’s historic resources.
Our Mission
Architectural Survey
The architectural survey is the first, crucial step in recognizing, valuing, and preserving the heritage of the past.
- It provides a local base of information about community history and architecture,
- It provides the foundation for planning tools to protect and enhance the City’s historic identity on a citywide scale,
- Regular updates reflect the passage of time and recognize new historic contexts,
In September 2016 the City received a Historic Preservation Fund grant to update the architectural survey of Raleigh with a focus on mid-20th-century neighborhoods and areas annexed since 2006 when the last update was completed. The project is being conducted in two phases: I) survey and presentation of properties for placement on the State Study List for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. II) intensive survey and creation of inventory list of one neighborhood.
The project was kicked-off with a public meeting in March 2017. The final report was reviewed by the State Historic Preservation Office in December 2017 and presented to the state’s National Register Advisory Committee in February 2018 which completed Phase I.
Because the neighborhoods surveyed are citywide, the report was presented to the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council at the April 18, 2018 meeting. Staff and the consultant presented the findings of the survey update including a list of those neighborhoods that are newly or continue to be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
Ridgewood was selected as the neighborhood to be inventoried in Phase II. The work was completed in December 2018 and presented to RHDC in February 2019.
Links to prior survey updates and other reports are on the Research page.