Facade Conservation Easement Program

The City of Deadwood is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National and South Dakota State Registers of Historic Places. Maintaining these designations is critical to the economic success of the City and quality of life of its residents. The objective of the program is to stimulate the quality restoration and protection of buildings and structures contributing to the historic integrity of the City of Deadwood. Through the program, the owner of a participating building agrees to make approved improvements to the building façade(s) and transfer to the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission an easement on the character-defining façade(s).

To be eligible for the Facade Easement Program, a project must meet the following criteria:

a. The project must affect a property listed on the City of Deadwood’s 1993 Historic Sites Inventory as an historic property in the Deadwood National Historic Landmark District. Properties not listed on the inventory must be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places as defined in the National Park Service’s National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation.

b. The property may eligible if the removal of inappropriate alterations or the reconstruction of missing details will reverse the listing from a non-contributing resource to a contributing resource within the Deadwood Local Historic District.

c. The building must be a commercial property as defined by Deadwood Planning and Zoning Department and be within the Deadwood Local Historic District.

The City of Deadwood’s Historic Preservation Officer determines a project’s eligibility. All eligible applications are subject to the review by the Deadwood Historic District Commission.