Syracuse Landmark Preservation Board

The Landmark Preservation Ordinance is a historic preservation law originally adopted in 1975 and revised under the new city zoning ordinance (Part 6) to recognize, celebrate, and ensure the protection of Syracuse’s built heritage, including buildings, landscapes, objects, and districts. To date, the City has designated four Preservation Districts and fifty-five individual Protected Sites. Many additional sites and districts are eligible for designation.

The Landmark Preservation Ordinance is administered by the seven-member Syracuse Landmark Preservation Board. These volunteers are appointed by the mayor and have expertise in history, historic preservation, architecture, landscape architecture, and real estate. The Board is responsible for making recommendations to the City Planning Commission and Common Council regarding the local historic designation of properties, and for reviewing changes to designated properties.

A preservation district is a geographically definable area, which possesses a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of sites, buildings, structures or objects united historically by past events or united visually by plan or development.  There are two residential preservation district in Syracuse that include the Berkeley Park Preservation District and the Sedgwick-Highland-James Preservation District. There are also two downtown preservation districts: Hanover Square Preservation District and Columbus Circle Preservation District.

A Protected Site is a building, structure, site, landscape, or object that possesses an association with persons or events of historic significance, is illustrative of the historic growth and development of the community, and/or possesses unique architectural or artistic qualities. There are currently 59 individual Protected Sites including residential, commercial and religious properties as well as historic landscapes/cemeteries.

Click here to view full list of the city's Protected Sites(PDF, 161KB)

To determine if your building is a in a Preservation District or is a Protected Site please review the historic properties list(PDF, 348KB) or contact preservation staff for the most up-to-date listing at SLPB@syr.gov or call 315-448-8108.

A Certificate of Appropriateness is a certificate issued by the SLPB authorizing work that will alter the exterior appearance of a building, structure, site, landscape, or object designated as a Protected Site or within a Preservation District. 

The application for a Certificate of Appropriateness is on the City's Online Application Portal.  First-time users of the Online Application Portal can find instructions here.  Instructions for completing a Certificate of Appropriateness are found here(PDF, 386KB).  

Before submitting a Certificate of Appropriateness, please contact the preservation staff at SLPB@syr.gov to discuss your project and application requirements.