In a City of Richmond Old and Historic District, any exterior change visible from the street, sidewalk or alley needs a Certificate of Appropriateness, the written approval of the City's Commission of Architectural Review, before work starts. Operators lose money here when they budget vinyl windows, vinyl or fiber-cement siding on the front, or asphalt shingles in place of a metal roof, then learn the Commission expects repair or a match of the original, which can cost more and adds weeks. Or they buy a house where a prior owner did that kind of work without approval.
What Counts as a City Old and Historic District
Richmond has two kinds of historic designation, and only one brings design review. A City Old and Historic District is a zoning overlay created by City Council, and exterior work inside one is reviewed by the Commission of Architectural Review, or CAR. The other kind is a listing on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The City calls that listing "largely honorific," and owners in those districts "are not subject to any historic review requirements." A house can have both.
About half of the approximately 4,006 properties the City counts under CAR's review are in four East End districts: St. John's Church, Church Hill North, Union Hill and Chimborazo Park. Other neighborhood districts include Jackson Ward, Shockoe Valley, Monument Avenue, West Grace Street, the Boulevard, Hermitage Road and Springhill, and a number of single buildings are designated too.
Most of the Fan is outside any City district. The Fan Area Historic District is a register district, and on the City's GIS maps only about 7% of its parcels fall inside a City district, most of them in the West Grace Street district. No parcels in the Fan Area Extension fall inside one, and none in the Scott's Addition, Woodland Heights, Town of Barton Heights or Manchester Residential and Commercial register districts do either.
To check an address, use the City's Old and Historic Districts map, not the National Register map, and ask CAR staff before you offer.
What Needs a Certificate of Appropriateness
A Certificate of Appropriateness, or COA, is CAR's written approval of a specific exterior scope. The zoning ordinance says no building or "any exterior portion thereof" in a district may be "constructed, altered, reconstructed, repaired, restored or demolished" without CAR's approval. No building permit for the work will be issued until the COA is approved. The test is public view: anything visible from a street, sidewalk, alley or other public place.
No COA is needed for routine maintenance with limited replacement of material, or for painting the same color. Work no one can see from the street, sidewalk or alley needs none either, including flat and hidden parts of a roof. Interior work is outside CAR's rules but still needs the usual building permits.
Window, siding and roof replacement in these districts each need a building permit as well as the COA. And CAR cannot approve a COA until any delinquent real estate taxes on the property are paid.
Who Approves It and How Long It Takes
In-kind work, meaning repair or replacement that matches the original material and design, decides which track a job takes.
- In-kind repair or replacement goes to CAR staff. The City's process chart says staff approve a complete application in 1 to 3 business days, and there is no fee. Staff can approve work such as painting, replacement doors, porch decking and rails, porch roof replacements and storm windows. Staff can also approve removing a prior owner's vinyl or aluminum siding or windows as non-historic, though what goes back on still has to meet the guidelines.
- A change in material or design goes to the full Commission, as do new construction and anything that enlarges the footprint. The Commission meets once a month, and the City says this path usually takes 30 to 60 days.
Applications are due at noon on the Friday after the prior meeting. For the November 24, 2026 meeting, that was October 30, 25 days ahead. Deadlines are firm, and late or incomplete applications are left off that month's agenda.
In 2025 the Commission reviewed 98 cases: 56 were approved with conditions, 17 deferred and 2 denied, and only 2 were approved without conditions. Staff approved another 118 projects on their own. Conditions are revisions you make before you get the building permit. A deferral is no decision; revised plans can be filed nine business days after the meeting for review at the next one, so a deferral costs at least a month. New construction also goes through a non-binding conceptual review first. After the vote, staff issue the COA within 30 days, and it is good for one year.
What CAR Expects on Windows, Siding, Roofs, Porches and Brick
The ordinance lets CAR "require that existing materials, decorative elements, and structural elements be repaired rather than replaced." CAR's design review guidelines spell that out by element.
Windows
- The guidelines say windows "should only be replaced when they are missing or beyond repair." Replacing any window visible from the public right of way requires a window assessment.
- A replacement must match the historic material or be "historically appropriate wood, aluminum clad wood, or steel for industrial and commercial buildings," with true or simulated divided lites.
- The guidelines call vinyl windows "not appropriate for historic buildings in historic districts," and the City's 2024 Homeowner's Guide says "Vinyl windows and trim wrap will not be approved for use on historic buildings."
- Storm windows are encouraged, and staff can approve them.
In a 2022 Union Hill case, CAR denied front vinyl windows that an owner had installed without a COA, and staff recommended wood or aluminum-clad wood. City Council later let the windows stay under the code's exception for unsafe conditions, because the owner had put them in to fix a mold problem. That decision rested on those specific facts.
Siding
- "Vinyl, asphalt, and aluminum siding are not permitted for use in City Old and Historic Districts."
- Smooth fiber cement is limited to secondary elevations and new additions with limited visibility, new outbuildings and new freestanding buildings. On the front, staff's criteria call for wood siding replaced in kind, and the Homeowner's Guide says substitute siding there is "generally inappropriate" but may be considered by the Commission case by case.
Roofs and Porches
- Original roof materials, "slate, tile, metal, etc.," should be kept, or replaced in kind when beyond repair, which staff can approve. A change in roof material goes to the Commission, and the guidelines call asphalt shingles "an inappropriate choice for the majority of historic structures."
- On a porch roof, CAR's porch roof guideline says asphalt shingles and preformed standing-seam metal "will not be approved administratively or by the Commission."
- Repair a porch rather than replace it where possible, and do not enclose a porch on a primary elevation.
Brick
Painting brick that has never been painted "is not permitted." Repainting painted brick the same color needs no review; a new color does.
What It Costs
The after-repair value is still the most important number in the deal, and a district does not change that. It changes what the exterior costs and how long it takes.
The fees are small. Staff approvals and conceptual reviews carry no fee. Under the City's 2020 fee ordinance, new construction or an addition on a one- or two-family house is $250, and full demolition is $1,500. Confirm current amounts with CAR staff.
By one industry estimate, the replacement materials CAR accepts cost more than vinyl. Zonda's Cost vs. Value 2025 report prices replacing 10 double-hung windows in Richmond at $26,445 in aluminum-clad wood and $21,629 in vinyl, a difference of $4,816, about 22%. Its Richmond siding jobs run $19,628 in fiber cement and $16,491 in vinyl. Those are replacement jobs. None of those figures covers repair, which CAR asks for first, so get two quotes from window restoration contractors before you offer.
The larger cost is the delay. A Commission case usually takes 30 to 60 days by the City's estimate, and a missed deadline or a deferral adds at least a month. If CAR says no, an appeal to City Council must be filed within 15 days, and three Council appeals decided in 2022 and 2025 took about 4 to 8 months from the CAR vote. Each month the exterior waits is another month of interest, insurance, taxes and utilities. For what that time costs on a flip loan, see What a Flip Loan Actually Costs: 21 Payoffs, 172 Days, 9 Percent.
What Happens When Work Is Done Without Approval
When exterior work is done without a COA, the City can issue a Notice of Violation. One notice, filed in a 2022 appeal record, ordered the owner to "stop work immediately" and to "either apply for a COA or reverse the unauthorized changes you have made within thirty (30) calendar days."
An after-the-fact application is judged by the same guidelines. In Springhill, owners who replaced original metal roofs with asphalt shingles without a COA drew violation notices in 2025 and 2026, and City staff recommended denial both times. The owners in the 2025 case told Council they had relied on their contractor to get the permits.
Under Section 30-1080 of the zoning ordinance, a violation is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000. If it is still uncorrected at conviction, the court sets a deadline to fix it. Missing that deadline is a separate misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000, and each ten-day period after that is another separate offense, with fines of $100 to $1,500 per period, rising to as much as $2,000. A violation can also bring up to 12 months in jail, in addition to or instead of a fine.
Since January 12, 2026, anyone responsible for razing, demolishing or moving a building in a City district without approval is liable for a civil penalty equal to twice the building's market value, measured by its assessed value.
CAR staff have treated changes made before a district was designated as existing conditions, not violations. Whether a prior owner's later violation becomes a buyer's problem is not settled. The ordinance makes it unlawful for an owner to "maintain" a building where a violation exists, and the notice goes to the owner of record. Check for an open violation before you close, and ask a Virginia land-use attorney how one would apply to you.
What to Check Before You Offer
- Look the address up on the City's Old and Historic Districts map and, separately, on the National Register map; the City's Historic Preservation page has both. Only the first brings CAR review; the second matters for tax credits.
- Ask CAR staff when the district was designated. Changes made after that date without a COA are potential violations.
- Search the address in Legistar, the City's legislative database, which holds Commission cases with staff reports back to 2014, and in the public search of the City's Online Permit Portal. Ask CAR staff about open violations and prior COAs.
- Walk the house from the street, the sidewalk and the alley, and list every window, siding face, roof plane, porch element and fence you can see.
- Price the exterior the way CAR will see it: windows repaired, or wood or aluminum-clad wood if beyond repair; wood siding on the front, fiber cement only on secondary elevations; the original roof material; porch repair over replacement; unpainted brick left unpainted.
- Put the CAR calendar in the hold: 1 to 3 business days for staff approvals, usually 30 to 60 days at the Commission, at least a month more for a deferral, and a conceptual round for new construction.
- Budget the fees, plus a building permit for each window, siding or roof replacement.
- On a tax-delinquent house, the back taxes must be paid before CAR can approve anything.
- Do not start exterior work, or let a contractor start it, until the COA and the building permit are in hand.
- If you want tax credits, confirm the building is listed or contributing, and file Parts 1 and 2 with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) before work starts.
The Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits
The credits key off the register listing, not the City district, so a listed or contributing house may be eligible even outside any City district.
- Virginia: 25% of eligible rehabilitation expenses, for owner-occupied and income-producing buildings, if the work costs at least 50% of the building's assessed value, not counting land, or 25% for an owner-occupied building. File Parts 1 and 2 with DHR before work starts. Work begun earlier is at your own risk, and if the overall project misses the Secretary of the Interior's Standards, no part of the credit can be claimed.
- Federal: 20%, for income-producing buildings only, taken over five years and recaptured if the building is sold within five years after the work is completed. It rarely fits a flip.
When You Send Us a House in a City District
When you send us a house in a City Old and Historic District, send the exterior scope the way CAR will see it, and put the CAR calendar in your timeline. Reach us through Discuss My Deal or at 804-208-0465.
This article is general information, not legal advice. For a specific house, call CAR staff before you offer, and talk to a Virginia land-use attorney about any violation notice or appeal.