Historic Preservation

Historic home in Boise's East Main Street historic district.

Preserving Boise's Heritage

With their historic houses and tree-lined streets, Boise’s older neighborhoods form a critical part of the city’s character and sense of place. Historic Preservation is not about slowing or hindering development, but rather not overlooking the value of what we already have. The City of Boise's intent is to encourage high quality development while protecting the heritage of Boise's historic districts.

To preserve that heritage, the City of Boise has designated Historic Preservation planning staff and a Historic Preservation Commission.

A History Worth Preserving - A Virtual Tour

Modifying A Historic Home

Most exterior changes in the historic districts require a Certificate of Appropriateness to make modifications to a home in a Historic District outside of standard maintenance to ensure that they are in line with historically appropriate designs for new construction, additions, accessory buildings and exterior changes such as changes to siding and windows. The Decision Matrix determines if this is necessary, and at what level of review based on the historic district, status and scope of work.

Certificate of Appropriateness Process

Do you live in a historic district?

Enter your address in the interactive map below to determine if you live in one of Boise’s historic districts:


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