Orlando, FL Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

720 sets the criteria the Historic Preservation Board and City Council must use before Council may adopt a landmark designation ordinance. The property or object must show documented significance in history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture, and must retain integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, plus meet at least one of four tests: association with a significant historical event, association with a historically significant person, embodiment of a distinctive construction type, period, master's work, or high artistic value, or the likelihood of yielding important historic or prehistoric information.

The section separately excludes ordinary cemeteries, birthplaces, graves, religious properties, moved or reconstructed buildings, purely commemorative structures, and anything under 50 years old, unless one of seven listed exceptions applies, such as a reconstructed building executed accurately as part of a documented restoration master plan. Nomination can be made by any person to the Historic Preservation Board, which holds a public hearing and recommends to City Council; Council may then nominate and, after further Board review and hearing, adopt the designation ordinance. If any owner withholds written consent, designation requires a two-thirds Council vote plus a finding, by clear and convincing evidence, that a substantial public interest is advanced. 200 require a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Board before any exterior alteration, restoration, relocation, or demolition of the landmark.