Local historic districts are established by City Council following a recommendation by the Historic Preservation Commission. The City Council designated the first district in 1962. Letters in parentheses after district names such as (HD), (HD-R), (HD-MU), (CBD-HDO) and (HD-O) refer to zoning designations.

• The Theater Historic District (HD) contains a mixture of residential, commercial, public and ecclesiastical architecture, as well as the Thalian Hall Theater. It is a separate use district with its own uses and zoning regulations.
   
• The Residential Historic District (HD-R) contains some of the finest of Wilmington’s high-style and vernacular residential architecture. It is a separate use district with its own uses and zoning regulations.
   
• The Mixed Use Historic District (HD-MU) contains commercial, public, ecclesiastical and residential architecture. It is a separate use district with its own uses and zoning regulations.
   
• The Downtown Commercial Historic District (CBD-HDO) contains an eclectic mix of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century buildings. It is a zoning overlay district which provides a mechanism for the design review process but does not change the underlying use zoning.
   
• The Carolina Heights/Winoca Terrace Historic District (HDO) was built as a streetcar suburb at the turn of the twentieth-century. This well landscaped area contains a variety of twentieth-century architectural styles. The district is a zoning overlay district which provides a mechanism for the design review process but does not change the underlying use zoning.