houses

Taormina Historic District

Historic District and Historic Home-
they are not the same

There are major differences between a “Historic House/Home/Property” and a “Historic District.” They are easy to confuse because a ‘historic” designation is most often an overlay on a house or property.

Historic Homes and Historic Districts are two very separate and distinctly different legal entities.

Historic HOMES have restrictive regulations set by federal and/or state and possibly local governing entities.

Historic DISTRICTS have regulations created by the property owners of the Historic District.

Historic HOMES have regulations that govern interior and exterior proposed changes.

Historic DISTRICT - Taormina, has regulations that apply to proposed changes only to the exterior of the house and property as seen from the street .

Historic HOMES - all proposed changes must be submitted to the Historic Preservation Commission- thus incurring additional costs.

Historic DISTRICT – only proposed changes that will affect the “historic look” of the property, as seen from the street (front) will have to be submitted to the Historic Preservation Commission. The areas of such potential submissions are reflected in the Guidelines for Maintaining and Building developed by the Taormina property owners. Any and all interior and/or side and rear construction generally are not subject to “Historic Preservation” guidelines.