County Data

Next to property owners, cities are the most important agent for the protection of historic places. A property listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the California Register of Historical Resources conveys a standard of significance and can bring attention to the property if it’s threatened but this status doesn’t prevent demolition. Only local laws can do that.

A city with a good historic preservation program is a city that knows where its oldest buildings are located and protects them with a strong ordinance. It has the ability to designate landmarks by giving authority to citizen commissions to make meaningful recommendations, and a review process that allows time to weigh the pros and cons of a proposed demolition or significant alteration. Cities that encourage the reuse of old buildings and understand how they add economic and cultural value are the cities people want to live in.

Orange County is made up of 34 cities, each with its own development history and approach to its architectural and cultural heritage. With a few exceptions, most Orange County city governments have not embraced historic preservation. And although some cities have a formal landmarking process, the landmarking of historic sites is not active anywhere in the county. Here's a snapshot of the state of preservation in our county: 

  • 8 cities have historic preservation ordinances or mandatory design guidelines within historic districts

  • 6 cities have honorary (voluntary) ordinances

  • 7 cities have historic preservation commissions with varying degrees of authority

  • 5 - 7 cities have dedicated preservation staff in their planning departments- this number can vary depending on staff turnover and city priorities; some cities have more than one such as Orange

  • 11 cities have conducted city-wide surveys of their historic buildings and 5 cities have conducted partial surveys— most do not include post-WWII resources and only Tustin has an up-to-date survey, as of 2021

  • 10 cities have Mills Act programs

  • 3 cities are Certified Local Governments (CLGs): San Clemente, Santa Ana, and Tustin


The banner photograph above is of the Lovell Beach House in Newport Beach, designed in 1926 by Rudolph Schindler. It was built before the Lovell “Health” House in Los Angeles which was designed by Richard Neutra. Both houses represent two of the earliest Modernist residences in the United States.