Holiday Lights within the Historic District

The HPC would like to remind property owners within the Historic District that the installation of permanent, year-round holiday lights requires a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) prior to installation.

We would like to emphasize that we adhere to guidelines from the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, which mandate that the historic character of a property is retained. Visible, non-historic installations permanently alter a building’s architectural integrity. These types of lighting installations may require drilling or modifying original materials, like fascia, soffits or trim.

Please review the HPC’s Design Guidelines, which encourage the use of subordinate, low-intensity and historically appropriate lighting at historic properties. The use of flashing lights is discouraged and is not appropriate within the district.

Temporary holiday lights do not require a COA. But we encourage property owners to hang holiday lights in a way to not impact historic building materials.