Historic Districts

National Register Historic District Inventory

The City of Wilmington is required to periodically update documentation of historic resources in its National Register Historic Districts. City Council approves funding to hire a consultant for this effort. The "survey," lead by the consultant, consists of deploying field workers to historic neighborhoods to conduct research and take photos from the public right-of-way. The information collected is for the purpose of maintaining historic records only. Properties in the district are not under consideration for zoning changes.

The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of buildings and districts worthy of preservation because of their architectural and historic significance. It is a federal program administered by the National Park Service in partnership with state and local governments. Wilmington has seven districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

• Wilmington Historic & Archaeological
• Market Street Mansion
• Carolina Place
• Carolina Heights
• Masonboro Sound
• Sunset Park
• Westbrook-Ardmore
• Brookwood

Properties within the National Register Historic Districts are not subject to review by the Historic Preservation Commission unless they are within the local district boundaries. To learn more about National Register of Historic Places in Wilmington and to see the district boundaries map view the Wilmington Historic District informational brochure.

Federal and State tax credit programs for these districts are administered by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) in Raleigh. For more information, contact the Restoration Branch by phoning +1-919-807-6572 or visit the SHPO website.

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 (HDO) refer to zoning designations. To determine if a property is located within one of the following districts, search the city zoning map or view the Wilmington Historic District informational brochure(PDF, 5MB) . Exterior changes to a property located within a local historic district may require approval of a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA).

• 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 Overlay (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 Overlay (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.