Getting listed

How to nominate a property to the National Register, step by step

John HarrisonUpdated October 2026

To nominate a property you contact your State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), get an informal opinion on eligibility, research and write NPS Form 10-900 with photographs and maps, and submit it to the SHPO. The state notifies owners, its review board votes, the SHPO forwards the nomination, and the National Park Service, which keeps the Register, decides within 45 days.

This guide walks through each stage as of October 2026. Federal procedure is set in 36 CFR Part 60; the paperwork is explained in National Register Bulletin 16A. State offices add their own steps, and those vary, so the state examples below are illustrations rather than a universal checklist.

Step 1: Check whether it is already listed

Check whether the property or its neighborhood is already on the Register. Our address lookup covers the states on this site, and your SHPO can check its inventory. A contributing house inside a listed district is already a Register property; nominating it individually is a different question.

Step 2: Contact the SHPO and ask about eligibility

The NPS says the process usually starts with the SHPO. Properties on federal land go through the agency’s Federal Preservation Officer, and properties on tribal land go through the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer.

Most states put an informal screening step in front of the full nomination, so that you do not spend months on a property that cannot qualify:

• Virginia asks for a Preliminary Information Form, which its own page describes as a five-page form, reviewed first by regional staff and then by an internal evaluation team of historians, architectural historians and archaeologists. The recommendation goes to the State Review Board at a quarterly meeting before a nomination is written.
• North Carolina uses a Study List. Its office says the first step toward listing is getting the property on that list, which authorizes staff to work with you on a nomination. Placement is not a guarantee of eligibility.
• New York asks you to talk to the National Register representative for your county first, and may schedule a site visit before you prepare anything.

At this stage the SHPO is judging the property against the four criteria and the seven aspects of integrity. Our plain-English guide to the criteria explains what they are looking for; a plain building can qualify on association alone, as the Abilene Street Railway Company Barn did. The 50-year guideline explains why a recent building faces a higher bar.

Step 3: Research and write the form

The nomination is NPS Form 10-900. Bulletin 16A, the NPS guide to completing it, says any person or organization may prepare one. The form has numbered sections; the ones that take the work are:

• Section 7, Description. A complete current description of the building, site, landscape and outbuildings, including additions and alterations.
• Section 8, Statement of Significance. Which criteria apply, which areas of significance, the period of significance, and a history of the property placed in its historic context.
• Section 9, Bibliography. The sources you used.
• Section 10, Geographical Data. Acreage, coordinates, a verbal boundary description and a boundary justification.
• Section 11, Form Prepared By. Your name and contact details.

New York’s SHPO says Sections 7 and 8 are by far the most important parts, and that citations should follow the Chicago Manual of Style. New York prefers the text as a Word document and California requires the form in Word format, so ask before you format anything.

To see what a finished one looks like, read our guide to reading a nomination form and open a few on this site. The nomination for the Lindstrom House in San Diego is a compact example for a single house under Criterion C; the Cragsmoor Historic District in Ulster County, New York, with 210 contributing and 63 non-contributing resources, shows how much more a district nomination has to inventory.

Step 4: Photographs and maps

Bulletin 16A says photographs should give an honest visual representation of the property’s integrity and significant features, show the principal facades and the setting, and include additions and alterations. One photograph may be enough for a single building; districts need many, keyed to a sketch map.

The current NPS photo policy (updated in 2013 and amended in 2018 to allow camera phones) replaces the older black-and-white print rules. Digital images should be TIFF files, or JPEGs converted to TIFF without other editing, at a minimum of two megapixels (1200 by 1600 pixels) and preferably six or more. Files are named State_County_Property name_0001 and so on, and each photo appears on a photo log. If you submit on paper, prints go at 300 dpi on photo paper.

For maps, Bulletin 16A calls for a USGS 7.5- or 15-minute quadrangle map with the property located on it, plus a sketch map for districts and multi-building properties. California’s office now requires digital maps in decimal degrees and takes the whole packet electronically as of September 1, 2026.

Step 5: Submit to the SHPO and revise

You send the packet to the SHPO (or the FPO or THPO). Staff review it for completeness and for the strength of the case. Virginia’s step-by-step document says regional staff return incomplete nominations with guidance, and that only after the central office confirms the nomination meets all requirements does it go on a board agenda. North Carolina’s office says it will not submit substandard nominations to Washington and cannot make major revisions for you.

Expect at least one round of comments. Texas posts the final drafts for each State Board of Review meeting, and notes that staff cannot set aside one nomination to work on another that arrived after the deadline.

Step 6: Owner notification and the right to object

This step is federal law, in 36 CFR 60.6. Before the state review board meets, the SHPO must notify in writing each owner of private property and the chief elected local official. The notice goes out at least 30 and not more than 75 days before the meeting, using an owner list drawn from tax or land records no more than 90 days old. Where a nomination has more than 50 owners, the state may publish a general notice in a local newspaper instead of mailing each one.

An owner who objects must say so in a notarized statement certifying that they own the property and object to the listing. Texas’s owner fact sheet notes that an unsworn declaration under 28 U.S.C. 1746 is accepted in place of notarization. The regulation defines owners as holders of fee simple title; tenants and easement holders do not count.

• For a single privately owned property, one objecting owner stops the listing.
• For a district or any property with multiple owners, the listing is stopped only if a majority of private owners object. Each owner gets one vote no matter how many parcels they hold.

If the listing is blocked, the SHPO can still forward the nomination for a determination of eligibility, which is explained in our guide to why nominations fail.

Step 7: The state review board

Every state has a review board whose members must, by 36 CFR 61, mostly meet the Secretary of the Interior’s professional qualifications in history, archaeology and architectural history. The board votes on whether the property meets the criteria and is adequately documented. Its role is advisory: the SHPO decides whether to sign and forward.

Boards meet on fixed schedules, which drive the calendar: North Carolina’s National Register Advisory Committee meets in February, June and October; Virginia’s and New York’s boards meet quarterly; Texas’s State Board of Review meets three times a year; Georgia’s meets twice, in spring and fall, and expects the sponsor to give a 10-to-15-minute presentation. New York schedules reviews at least three months ahead to fit the notification window. Owners may attend but do not have to.

Step 8: Federal review and listing

The SHPO sends the signed nomination to the Keeper of the National Register in Washington. Under 36 CFR 60.6(r), the property is listed within 45 days of receipt unless the Keeper disapproves it, an appeal is filed, or an owner objection arrives before listing. NPS publishes a notice in the Federal Register with a 15-day comment period during that window. Nominations that are technically or professionally inadequate are returned to the state for correction and resubmission rather than rejected outright.

When the property is listed, the SHPO notifies the owner and the local official. Georgia sends the sponsor a certificate; North Carolina does the same. No plaque arrives automatically; see our plaque guide for that.

What listing does and does not do

Listing by itself places no federal restrictions on a private owner, as the NPS FAQ states. It opens the federal rehabilitation tax credit for income-producing buildings, triggers Section 106 review when a federal project could affect the property, and may bring state incentives. See what listing means for homeowners.

A realistic calendar

Putting the stages together: a few weeks to a few months for the eligibility screen, several months of research and writing, one or two rounds of SHPO comments, a 30-to-75-day notification window timed to the next board meeting, and 45 days at NPS. North Carolina says about a year from first draft to listing. New York says a year or two, longer for complex projects. Georgia says the final step can take 18 to 24 months, though its staff generally finish in under a year. For what the stages cost, see nomination cost and timeline.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Researched from the sources above and drafted with AI assistance; published under the editor's name, corrections welcome. See the editorial policy.