Historic Rehabilitation Grants
overview
Historic preservation endeavors to protect and preserve buildings, structures, districts and sites, which reflect elements of local, state or national history. Historic preservation not only protects the irreplaceable physical resources in the built environment, but also protects the vitality, quality of life, and sense of place in our communities.
Eligibility
To be eligible for LCHIP funding, buildings, structures, lands, features, or archeological sites (referred to here as “resources”) must be publicly owned, or owned by a qualified publicly supported nonprofit corporation, and must be listed or determined eligible for listing on the State or National Register of Historic Places prior to applying for an LCHIP grant. Documentation of the determination of eligibility or listing must accompany the grant application.
To ascertain if your resource is already listed, or to obtain a Determination of Eligibility (DOE), contact the NH Division of Historical Resources at 603-271-3483.
All LCHIP funded rehabilitation work must adhere to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (referred to as the “Secretary’s Standards”). The Secretary’s Standards are common sense best practices for historic preservation written in non-technical language. They provide a flexible structure to guide decision-making about work or changes to a historic property. Reviewing the Secretary’s Standards is a crucial first step in applying for an LCHIP historic rehabilitation grant.
Historic Rehabilitation projects with a total budget of more than $50,000 must be guided by a Qualified Preservation Plan prepared by a preservation professional. Additionally, projects of any cost that involve modernization activities (such as heating, electrical, plumbing, sprinklers, wheelchair ramps, and elevators) should also have a Historic Structure Report or Historic Building Assessment. In these cases, the report must be submitted with the grant application. Many LCHIP applicants apply to the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance for small grants to help pay for these reports. Others apply to LCHIP for assistance with planning studies.
Program-specific eligibility requirements are described in the Historic Rehabilitation Grant Eligibility Self-Assessment Tool (2024 version coming soon).
Project completion requirements
Guidance documents pertaining to project completion can be found in Documents and Forms.
Pre-Construction Documentation
Prior to beginning any rehabilitation work, Grant recipients are required to submit documentation describing, in detail, the work to be completed. This preliminary documentation must be approved by LCHIP before work begins. If a recipient chooses to begin work prior to receiving LCHIP’s approval of this documentation and the work does not meet LCHIP’s requirements, the grant award may be withdrawn.
Mid-Point Review
When approximately 50% of the funded work has been completed and drafts of the final project documentation have been submitted LCHIP will conduct a Mid-point Review, which includes a site visit to view the work completed to date, and a review of the draft Baseline Documentation Report and Stewardship Plan.
Final Project Documentation
When all work has been completed and final project documentation has been submitted LCHIP will conduct a final site visit. Draft versions of the Final Project Documentation must be submitted prior to the final site visit.
Stewardship Agreement
In accordance with NH RSA 227-M:17, the Recipient organization must enter into a term Stewardship Agreement with LCHIP at the time of project completion. The Agreement describes the grant award, the project scope and structure, and the Recipient’s ongoing obligations for care and maintenance of the Resource. The term of the Stewardship Agreement is determined by LCHIP’s cumulative investment in the resource, and will be for five or more years. The Stewardship Agreement must be recorded at the Registry of Deeds in the county in which the Resource is located before the final grant payment will be released.
Reporting requirements
Upon completion of the rehabilitation grant, Recipients will be required to conduct annual monitoring of the resource, and submit a report to LCHIP describing the current conditions and uses of the resource for the established term of the Stewardship Agreement (five or more years, determined by LCHIP’s cumulative investment in the resource). Information and detailed instructions regarding the LCHIP Annual Monitoring requirement will be provided at the final site visit. LCHIP’s Historic Resource Monitoring Report Form may be used, or Grant Recipients may use the form of their choosing, as long as all information required by LCHIP is included.