Introduction

The D.C. Preservation Law protects all historic landmarks or structures that contribute to a historic district listed in the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites. Under the law, permit applications involving a listed property, a building contributing to a historic district or its site must be reviewed for historic compatibility prior to issuance. 

The Mayor's Agent acts on behalf of the Mayor of the District of Columbia in reviewing the applications. The recommendations of the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) are considered, and a decision is made as to whether or not the application meets the requirements of the law. When the HPRB recommends against granting a permit for demolition, additions, alterations, subdivision, or new construction, the property owner can request a hearing before the Mayor's Agent. After the hearing, the Mayor's Agent issues a written decision that is effective 15 days later. There is no provision for administrative appeal of a decision by the Mayor's Agent. Appeals may be pursued through the judicial process. 

The D.C. Historic Preservation Law Project 

The historic preservation decisions issued by the Mayor's Agent of the District of Columbia have not been published until now. Georgetown Law Professor Peter Byrne began this project by working with the Mayor's Agent and the D.C. Historic Preservation Office to assemble a core collection of decisions. Efforts have been made to locate additional decisions to create as complete a collection as possible, and the Law Library makes the collection available via its website as a public benefit. 

Valuable guidance has been provided by Tersh Boasberg, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law and Chair of the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board from 2000-2011. Professors Byrne and Boasberg teach the Historic Preservation Law Seminar at the Law Center. 

The first decisions to be put up were those made during the tenure of Senior Administrative Judge Rohulamin Quander. The current Mayor's Agent is Professor Peter Byrne, who was appointed to this position by the Director of the D.C. Office of Planning under delegation from the Mayor. The Office of Planning transmits current decisions to the Law Library, where they are cataloged, indexed, and made available online. 

Earlier decisions from the collection of Professor Byrne have been scanned and made available in PDF format. Indexes to the entire body of opinions are being created by library staff and added to the website. This website, collection, and project serve to enhance the efforts of those working to protect and preserve the historic resources of the nation's capital.