The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation, established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. There are more than one million properties on the National Register, 80,000 listed individually and the remainder as contributing resources within historic districts. Each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register.
National Register listing provides some financial incentive through the federal tax code to owners of listed properties, but protection of the property is not provided. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places:
- The property must make a contribution to the broad patterns of American history.
- The property is associated with significant people in American history.
- The property must exhibit distinctive architecture and construction.
- The property yields important historic information.
For local properties on the register, see Properties on the National Register of Historic Places
For information on tax credits available to owners of income producing property for rehabilitation of that property, see NYS OPRHP
