The Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) is responsible for designating historic landmarks and historic districts and for approving applications for permission to alter historic buildings.
Any individual or group may
nominate a building or place for designation as a Historic
Structure, Historic Site, or Historic District. The Historic
Preservation Commission reviews the applications and makes a
recommendation to the Common Council that a structure or site
should be declared "Historic." The Council then acts upon the
Commission's recommendation. For more information, check:
After a
designation has been approved by the Common Council, the structure,
site or district is under the protection of Milwaukee's Historic Preservation Ordinance, and no
changes which require a building permit may be made to the exterior
unless the owner first obtains a
Certificate of Appropriateness
from the Historic Preservation Commission.
This certificate is the
Commission's written affirmation that a proposed change is
sympathetic to the historic character of the property and is
consistent with the intent of the ordinance. When a permit is
applied for, the
Milwaukee Development Center will check to see if the
property in question is a designated Historic Structure, Historic
Site or within a Historic District. If it is, the
applicant is required to obtain a Certificate of Appropriateness.
