The Akima Pinsiwa Awiiki (Chief Richardville House) is believed to be one of only three remaining treaty houses east of the Mississippi River, located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Courtesy of George Strack, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma

Technical Preservation Services (TPS) develops historic preservation policy and guidance on preserving and rehabilitating historic buildings, promulgates the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, and administers the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program for rehabilitating historic buildings.

Technical Assistance and Guidance
Technical Preservation Services provides technical assistance and guidance on the preservation of historic properties. TPS publications have become the basis for responsible care of historic buildings and are routinely referenced by local historic preservation commissions, tribal and state historic preservation offices, local, state and federal agencies, preservation professionals, students, and historic property owners. TPS provides a variety of educational and training opportunities. TPS also recently created a new section on its website for information on historic preservation and energy efficiency, new technologies and sustainability.

The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties
The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties are common sense historic preservation principles in non-technical language that promote best practices in protecting our irreplaceable cultural resources. The Standards represent four approaches to the treatment of historic properties: preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction. The Treatment Standards have been widely used and adopted at the local, state, tribal and federal levels and are regulatory for certain Federal programs. The Rehabilitation Standards are the most commonly used and adopted set of standards. Each set of standards has an accompanying set of guidelines that illustrate how the standards apply to specific types of work to historic buildings, as well as their site and environment, and related new construction. TPS has also published a separate Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes.

The Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program
The Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program encourages private sector investment in the rehabilitation and re-use of historic buildings. The program creates jobs and is one of the nation's most successful and cost-effective community revitalization programs, having leveraged over $65 billion in private investment to preserve 39,000 historic properties across the nation since 1976. To be eligible for the program, a historic building must be an income-producing property, and there are limitations regarding tax-exempt ownership and use such as by non-profit organizations and tribes.

Contact Us
Technical Preservation Services, 202 513-7270 or NPS_TPS@nps.gov
Brian Goeken, Chief, 202 354-2033 or Brian_Goeken@nps.gov