CPS Historic Marker Questions and Answers

Q: When is the next round for historic marker applications?

A: CPS accepts applications every year with a due date of May 31st. An information session is hosted in December to introduce applicants to the Historic Home Research process, a self-guided research path is also available on our website here. Installation of the markers will be scheduled sometime in the early fall of each year after the application has been verified and approved.

Q: How much do CPS historic markers cost?

A: Markers are available to CPS members for $300 per bronze marker. Non-members may purchase a marker and a 1-year membership to CPS for $325. Installation is included in the price - CPS only uses professional installation; prior efforts at homeowner or volunteer installation proved unsatisfactory.

Q: What is adequate documentation?

A: The CPS Historic Marker Program presents the most accurate possible information about a property’s origin. Its purpose is to inform passers’ by about the City’s Oldest Neighborhood and encourage its preservation. CPS employs the same rigorous standards used by most communities that sponsor marker programs.

Often, the information on the Boston Landmarks Commission Charlestown Survey forms, found in the “white Books” at the Charlestown Branch library or online at adequate information regarding the building’s earliest history. This grant-funded survey done in 1981-83 researched some 10% of the neighborhoods property over a year. Given the limited time and funds, relatively few properties had extensive research such as deed investigations to ascertain construction dates, owners, and makers. The experienced professional who undertook this inventory provided estimates using stylistic references and often urged further study. If the form on your home is a bit vague we will ask for additional documentation to prove the building date on your home. This may include any of the following:

Earliest Deed showing a “building thereon.” Deed records can be accesses at both Suffolk and Middlesex county Registry of Deeds as well as online. Our recent publication on How to research your historic home will guide you through the process to find this information.

Tax Records. Since the BLC study, the City of Boston Archives was created revealing some pre-1874 property tax records for Charlestown. Records for some years are absent, and early recording systems merely offer owner’s names without any street names. Multiple volumes, and multiple years’ records must be examined, often with no results.

Census records, now online through proprietary organizations, are much easier to access, but early records also lack street information associated with individuals.

Deeds, tax records and probate information are the bed rock documentation, followed by City Registries (prior to telephone books), census records, and the like.

Typically, real estate brokers estimates are 99% inaccurate and are not considered documentation by CPS.

Q: Why do some markers lack names and/or have circa dates?

A: Some owners do not wish to include a name, even though such information exists. Circa dates are used when, in the opinion of CPS, adequate documentation is provided but it lacks exact construction dates.

Q: I was told my building is earlier than CPS will acknowledge; can I use that date?

A: CPS is the final determiner of text and dates on a marker, all based on adequate documentation. We will submit the final text with you before ordering the marker. Legend, urban myths, and the like do not constitute adequate documentation.

Q: How does CPS help me with documentation?

CPS sponsors workshops at the library prior to a marker round to assist owners interested in historic markers; these focus on the overall process and resources available to help you do the research. We are also available by email for questions or if you need an idea on how to get around a dead end.

Q: Can I hire CPS to prepare documentation?

A: No, CPS is a volunteer organization. Few people, including historians, have experience with original property documentation, so CPS encourages owners to take the time themselves to research. Real estate attorneys may have contacts with title examiners, who research modern deeds for transactions, but CPS can provide no leads in this regard.

Q: What does original character mean?

Charlestown has a wealth of 19th and some early 20th century domestic architecture. As the CPS publication, The History and Architecture of Charlestown, indicates, properties that retain original door and window arrangements, materials, scale, roof arrangement, and architectural details are numerous. All these are considered character-defining elements by CPS. In owners/developers’ zeal to improve buildings, often original materials are covered or replaced with not-in-kind materials, windows and doors are replaced/changed with non-in-kind types, exterior architectural detail is removed entirely, roof shapes are changed, etc. Such actions may result in CPS’s finding that the original character of a property is absent.

On some properties, CPS may determine that a later integral feature has become character-defining; a simple Greek Revival frame house may display all characteristics of such a style but an owner added an Italianate bracketed door hood at the entry. A CPS Marker for such a building likely would display an original date. However, a number of Greek Revival properties underwent large scale changes in the 1870’s adding a floor with a resultant flat roof, decorative cornice, and a 3-family tenement appearance. This is a common style that reflects the development patterns of the neighborhood, and if these later 19th features are retained now, CPS may approve an1870s marker date based on the documentation of these changes.

Q: Have any CPS Markers been stolen?

A: No, professional installation secured the 180+ CPS markers since the first round.