Lower Merion, PA Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Article II of Chapter 88 creates the Township's mechanism for recognizing historic resources outside the formal historic districts covered by Article I. Section 88-16.A establishes a seven-member Historical Commission, appointed by the Board of Commissioners, that must include a registered architect with at least five years of historic preservation experience and an architectural historian, with members serving staggered five-year terms. Section 88-17 gives the Commission the job of recommending which properties go on or come off the Historic Resource Inventory and of advising the Board on preservation or demolition questions for historically significant resources that sit outside a local historic district.

Section 88-18 establishes the Inventory itself, appended to the Code as Chapter A180, and sets the designation standard in § 88-18.A: a building, structure, object or site can win Class 2 status by meeting any two of ten listed criteria, covering things like unique visual character, association with the community's cultural or political heritage, or distinctive architectural or engineering technique, and Class 1 status by meeting any three of those criteria, at least one of which must come from the category covering association with a significant historic event, a significant person, or distinguishing architectural, engineering or design characteristics.

Designation or removal follows a notice-and-hearing process under § 88-18.B: the Historical Commission holds a public meeting, gives the owner at least 30 days' notice, takes testimony, and reports its recommendation to the Board of Commissioners within 60 days, after which the Board adds or removes the listing by ordinance.