(a) Application Part A - Evaluation of Significance. Part A of the application requires information to allow the Commission to evaluate whether a building is a certified historic structure and shall be completed for all buildings to be included in the project. Part A of the application is evaluated against criteria for significance and integrity issued by the National Park Service.
(b) Application Requirements. Information to be submitted in Part A of the application includes:
  (1) Name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address of the property owner(s) and Applicant if different from the Owner;
  (2) Name and address of the property;
  (3) Name of the historic district, if applicable;
  (4) Current photographs of the building and its site, showing exterior and interior features and spaces adequate to document the property's significance. Photographs must be formatted as directed by the Commission in published program guidance materials on the Commission's online Texas Historic Preservation Tax Credit Application Guide available by accessing thc.texas.gov;
  (5) Date of construction of the property;
  (6) Brief description of the appearance of the property, including alterations, characteristic features, and estimated date or dates of construction and alterations;
  (7) Brief statement of significance summarizing why a property is:
    (A) eligible for individual listing in the National Register of Historic Places;
    (B) contributes to a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places or a certified local district; or
    (C) contributes to a potential historic district, accompanied by:
      (i) a map showing the boundary of the potential historic district and the location of the property within the district;
      (ii) photographs of other properties in the district; and
      (iii) justification for the district's eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places;
  (8) A map showing the location of the historic property;
  (9) Signature of the Owner, and Applicant if different from the Owner, requesting the determination; and
  (10) Other information required on the application by the Commission.
(c) Consultation with Commission. Any person may informally consult with the Commission to determine whether a property is:
  (1) listed individually in the National Register of Historic Places;
  (2) designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark or State Antiquities Landmark; or
  (3) certified by the Commission as contributing to the historic significance of a historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places or a certified local district.
(d) Automatic qualification as certified historic structure. If a property is individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places or designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark or State Antiquities Landmark, then it is a certified historic structure and should be indicated as such on Part A of the application.
(e) Preliminary determination of significance. An Applicant for a property not listed in the National Register of Historic Places, neither individually nor as a contributing element to a historic district; not designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark nor State Antiquities Landmark; and not listed in a certified local district may obtain a preliminary determination from the Commission as to whether the property is individually eligible to become a certified historic structure or is eligible as a contributing structure in a potential historic district by submitting Part A of the application. Determination will be based on criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Applications for a preliminary determination of significance must show how the property meets one of the following criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and any applicable criteria considerations from the National Park Service.
  (1) National Register of Historic Places criteria. The quality of significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association and one or more of subparagraphs (A) - (D) of this paragraph:
    (A) Properties that are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history; or
    (B) that are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or
    (C) that embody distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or
    (D) that have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.
  (2) Criteria considerations. Ordinarily cemeteries, birthplaces, or graves of historical figures, properties owned by religious institutions or used for religious purposes, structures that have been moved from their original locations, reconstructed historic buildings, properties primarily commemorative in nature, and properties that have achieved significance within the past 50 years shall not be considered eligible for the National Register. However, such properties will qualify if they are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria or if they fall within the following categories:
    (A) A religious property deriving primary significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical importance; or
    (B) A building or structure removed from its original location but which is significant primarily for architectural value, or which is the surviving structure most importantly associated with a historic person or event; or
    (C) A birthplace or grave of a historical figure of outstanding importance if there is no appropriate site or building directly associated with his or her productive life; or
    (D) A cemetery which derives its primary significance from graves of persons of transcendent importance, from age, from distinctive design features, or from association with historic events; or
    (E) A reconstructed building when accurately executed in a suitable environment and presented in a dignified manner as part of a restoration master plan, and when no other building or structure with the same association has survived; or
    (F) A property primarily commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it with its own exceptional significance; or
    (G) A property achieving significance within the past 50 years if it is of exceptional importance.
  (3) Issuance of a preliminary determination of significance does not bind the Commission to the designation of an individual historic structure or district. Applicants proceed with rehabilitation projects at their own risk. If a structure is ultimately not listed in the National Register of Historic Places, designated as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, or certified as a contributing element to a local district pursuant to 36 CFR §67.9, the preliminary determination does not become final, and the owner will not be eligible for the credit. The Commission shall not issue a certificate of eligibility until or unless the designation is final.
(f) Determination of contributing structures in existing historic districts. If a property is located in a district listed in the National Register of Historic Places or in a certified local district, an Applicant or an Owner of the property shall request that the Commission determine whether the property is of historic significance contributing to the district by submitting Part A of the application. The Commission evaluates properties located within historic districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places or certified local districts to determine whether they contribute to the historic significance of the district by applying the following standards:
  (1) A property contributing to the historic significance of a district is one which by location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association adds to the district's sense of time and place and historical development.
  (2) A property does not contribute to the historic significance of a district if it does not add to the district's sense of time and place and historical development, or if its location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association have been so altered or have so deteriorated that the overall integrity of the building has been irretrievably lost.
Cont'd...