What Does It Mean to Own a Landmarked Historic Building?

Reflections of afternoon sun shimmer on a historic building on Clarence Place in SoMa. Photograph by Sean Timberlake.

If you’ve ever fallen for an older home, you know there’s something special about a house with a little history behind it. Whether you’re looking at a Victorian in San Francisco, a Craftsman in Sacramento, or a midcentury home somewhere in between, older properties often come with character you simply can’t recreate.

They can also come with a few more questions. Can you remodel? Add on? Change the windows? Tear down a portion of the house? And what happens if the property is officially designated as historic?

Historic doesn’t necessarily mean untouchable. San Francisco offers a good example. San Francisco Heritage notes that landmark designation doesn’t automatically prevent a property from being remodeled, expanded or incorporated into a larger development. Instead, significant changes may receive additional review, with the goal of preserving the features that make a property historically important.

And while San Francisco has a reputation for strict preservation rules, relatively few properties are actually designated individual landmarks. There are fewer than 400 individual landmarks in the city, along with roughly 1,100 buildings within historic districts. Even proposed expansions of the landmark program would bring protection to only about 1–2% of the city’s parcels.

For homeowners and buyers, the distinction is important: old, historic and landmarked aren't necessarily the same thing. A 100-year-old house may have no special historic designation at all. A designated property may still have significant opportunities for renovation or expansion. The rules depend on the property's specific status and the local regulations that apply to it.

The same basic lesson applies whether you’re buying in San Francisco or Sacramento: before assuming an older property comes with either unlimited possibilities or a long list of restrictions, find out what actually applies to that particular home. Historic character can be one of a property's biggest charms—and understanding the rules can help you figure out how to preserve that character while making the house work for the way you live today.

After all, owning a piece of local history shouldn't necessarily mean living in a museum.

This article was written with AI assistance but edited by a human.