Posted by Melina Tomson on January 23rd, 2009
I love old homes.
I love the details and wondering what the owners were like 100 years ago. I like seeing the original water closet as it is reminiscent of our past and where we have come from. Salem has several designated historic districts, including one downtown. We have two residential historic districts
Bush Park/Gaity Hill and Court-Chemeketa.
Bush Park Historic Home
Last year I helped a local buyer purchase an old home. Completely neglected, this home was the blight of the historic district. Inside the original wood floors, window panes, and trim screamed for someone to restore the home. The claw foot tub would eagerly await a new owner.
Buying in a historic district comes with
some rules. Currently
Fairmount Hills has an application for the National historic Register. Even if the home is not on the national register, in can be a local landmark.
A home in the historic district of Salem Oregon
If you want to purchase an historic home you need to be aware of these rules. They do make remodeling and updating the exterior of a historic home more difficult. The goal of the historic district is to preserve a piece of our past. Maintaining the essence of these homes is part of agreeing to live there. This is also important to research if you want to purchase a home. It is possible that the previous homeowner made some changes that would make it be a non-contributing property.
View Larger Map
While it sounds difficult, living in the Historic Districts has some benefits. The property and homeowner may be eligible for City of Salem rehabilitation funds, or low interest, and no interest loans as well. There are also some tax advantages to owning one of these homes.
All I ask is that if you remodel the interior of the home, please keep it in character with the home. I’ve seen many remodels that were better described as
remuddles.
(c) Copyright, 2008. Melina Tomson, All Rights Reserved (ie…be nice and create your own content. Don’t steal mine…)
Categories: Neighborhoods
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January 23rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
[...] close to downtown, the Bush Park neighborhood has a portion of the Historic District located within its confines. Located between Rural and Mission, and Liberty and 12th, this [...]
April 24th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
[...] town, but you can see great examples of these located around Bush Park, Fairmount Hills, and in the Historic Districts of Salem Oregon. (c) Copyright, 2008. Melina Tomson, All Rights Reserved. DO NOT COPY this without [...]
June 26th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
[...] in the Court-Chemeketa Historic District, is that it is a designated Historic District and as such special rules apply. Some of the historic district sits in a flood plain and so flood insurance is required for some [...]