Page 209 - Healdsburg, CA Citywide Design Guidelines

Guidelines for Site Improvements to

a Historic Property or in a Historic

District
New site improvements should not destroy, damage or obscure
character-defining features of a historic structure or district.

8.41 Preserve historic site features that are character-
defining features of a historic property or district. Locate new on-site parking,
a. Preserve landscape and open space elements which are loading docks and ramps to be
important to defining the overall historic character of the unobtrusive.
site.

SANBORN MAPS
8.42 Repair historic site features where possible.
Drawn in the late-1800s until the
8.43 Design a new site feature to be in scale with the mid-1900s, Sanborn maps are large-
scale and depict the commercial,
existing development and site elements. industrial and residential sections
a. Utilize landscape features and plants that are visually of thousands of towns across North
compatible with the site and that do not obstruct the America. Originally, Sanborn maps
site patterns or views. were drawn to assist fire insurance
agents in determining the degree of
hazard associated with a particular
8.44 Locate new on-site parking, loading docks and ramps property. The maps show the size
to be unobtrusive to the historic structure. and shape of buildings and sites, the
a. Locate a parking facility in way that will not cause building’s use and widths and names
damage to the historic building or landscape features. of streets. Because of the amount of
detail recorded on Sanborn maps,
a wealth of information can be
8.45 Remove non-significant buildings, additions or site understood about a historic property
features which detract from the historic character of and changes to that property over
time. Therefore, when deciding
the site.
where to locate a site feature or
site improvement, consulting the
relevant Sanborn maps can be
extremely useful. Sanborn maps
for the City of Healdsburg can be
found in the Sonoma County Library
and the Healdsburg Museum. More
information about the Library’s
collection of maps can be found at:
https://sonomalibrary.org/library-
collection/sanborn-fire-insurance-
maps-california.

Treatment of Historic Resources Chapter 8 201