Hanover County, VA Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Section 26-215 creates Historic Preservation Overlay (HPO) Districts to protect areas and individual structures the Board of Supervisors has found to hold historic, architectural or cultural significance, guarding against destruction of or encroachment on them while still allowing appropriate new development. Section 26-224 lists the thirteen districts actually created: the Old Courthouse and Courthouse Transition Historic Overlay Districts, Laurel Meadow, Doswell-Darnell's Store (now the Village of Doswell), Montpelier-Dr. Stanley's Office, Sharps, Flanningan Mill, Scotchtown, Church View, Norway and Isabell's Store, Doswell School, Beaverdam Motor Company and Tri-County Bank, and Polegreen Church.

Regulations for every district except the Old Courthouse and Courthouse Transition districts are not printed in the Code; the zoning administrator keeps the applicable regulations on file for those. Inside any HPO district, in Hanover County outside the Town of Ashland, Section 26-217 bars work requiring a Certificate of Approval from starting until the five-member Architectural Review Board (ARB) issues one, though emergency repairs after fire, flood or similar disaster are allowed if a permanent-repair certificate application follows within thirty days. Under Section 26-220, the ARB weighs the architectural or historical significance of the structure, its exterior features visible from a public street, and whether denial would deprive the owner of reasonable use of the property.

A denied application cannot be resubmitted in substantially the same form for twelve months, and any Certificate of Approval expires if the authorized work has not begun within twelve months.