Historic Preservation

The Northwest/Arctic Region provides technical and strategic expertise to promote the viability, reuse, and integrity of historic buildings the GSA manages, leases, and has the opportunity to acquire.

The Center for Historic Buildings, under GSA’s Office of the Chief Architect, provides national leadership for compliance with the spirit and substance of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and other stewardship directives.  To strengthen and build on the agency’s growing pool of expertise, accumulated experience, and network of affiliated programs, the Center develops prototype solutions and tools, actively promoting best practice exchange to help GSA business lines, project planners, and field operations cost effectively maintain and upgrade historic properties.

The Northwest/Arctic Region’s Historic Preservation Officer and technical staff provide day-to-day consultant support to ensure that regional projects and actions comply with the NHPA and are consistent with GSA policy and national stewardship strategy.  Regional and Center preservation specialists work together to ensure that GSA’s national program responds to changing regional needs and conditions.

Historic preservation initiatives include a “Legacy Vision” developed in cooperation with GSA’s Office of Portfolio Management and development, in cooperation with GSA's Design Excellence Program of a decision-assisting tools  to address the unique challenges of GSA's recent and now aging modernist buildings that, along with GSA's traditional historic buildings, make up America's public building legacy.

They also include strategies to make the most of available legal authorities and partnership opportunities to keep historic buildings occupied and viable, by outleasing underutilized federal historic buildings to private entities, leasing non-federally owned community landmarks for federal use and, when appropriate, by transferring ownership of historic buildings no longer needed for federal use to others who can provide better preservation and public access.

For more information on the GSA’s commitment to historic preservation, to search the Historic Federal Building Database to learn about all of GSA's historic buildings, or to answer other questions, click here for the Historic Preservation main page on GSA.GOV.