Screen a pre-demolition site against the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) using NPS's public GIS data before committing to a project
domain: nps.gov · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Access NPS's National Register of Historic Places spatial data via the public ArcGIS REST service (mapservices.nps.gov/arcgis/rest/services/cultural_resources/nrhp_locations/MapServer) or the public-nps.opendata.arcgis.com hosted feature layer
Query the NRHP Points layer by location/address or bounding box to check for listed properties, districts, or contributing structures near the demolition site
Cross-reference results against NPS's Data Downloads page (nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/data-downloads.htm) for the full tabular dataset if bulk analysis across many parcels is needed
Note that the spatial layer is checked weekly for updates but is not guaranteed real-time or fully comprehensive — a negative hit is not a legal clearance
If a hit is found (or the property sits within a historic district), route the finding to whether Section 106 or a local historic-preservation ordinance review is triggered before demolition
Known gotchas
The NRHP dataset covers public, non-sensitive properties only — some sensitive or restricted historic/archaeological sites are deliberately withheld from the public feature layer, so a clean query result is not proof of no historic designation
NRHP listing alone does not legally block demolition on private property with no federal nexus — the practical trigger for mandatory review is Section 106 (federal funding/permit/license involvement) or a local landmarks ordinance, not NRHP listing by itself
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