Jacksonville Historic Districts Guide

Jacksonville has three locally designated historic districts, and the city's boundary maps group them as Springfield and as Riverside Avondale with St. Johns Quarter.

The Certificate of Appropriateness process page says a COA application is required for all properties within the three locally designated historic districts as well as locally designated landmarks (City of Jacksonville). The Search by Address page posts two boundary maps, one for the Springfield Historic District and one for the Riverside Avondale and St. Johns Quarter Historic District (City of Jacksonville). Those local districts carry the rules. National Register districts in Jacksonville are a separate federal list, and several of them overlap the local ones.

The National Park Service record for the Riverside Historic District shows a publication date of 3/22/1985 and a district roughly bounded by the Seaboard Coastline railroad, Riverside and Memorial parks, the St. Johns River and Seminole (National Park Service). The Avondale Historic District followed on 7/6/1989, roughly bounded by Roosevelt Boulevard, Belvedere Avenue, Seminole Road, the St. Johns River and Talbot Avenue, with 1920 as its significant year and Telfair Stockton as its significant name (National Park Service). The Old Ortega Historic District came on 7/14/2004, bounded by Roosevelt Boulevard, Verona Avenue and the St. Johns and Ortega rivers (National Park Service).

A buyer can confirm a single Jacksonville parcel on the city's Land Development Review map at maps.coj.net: open Layers, open the Historic tab, check Historic Districts and Landmarks, then search by real estate number or address (City of Jacksonville). The Avondale real estate 2026 guide and the San Marco real estate 2026 guide cover the market side of two of the city's older riverfront neighborhoods.

A local Jacksonville historic district regulates exterior changes through the COA process, while a National Register listing is an honor that does not by itself control what an owner changes.

Local landmarks and districts are designated by the Jacksonville City Council on the recommendation of the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission. National Register listing is approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Duval County Property Appraiser notes one exception that matters to Jacksonville owners: demolition of local National Register listed or eligible properties does require a review by the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission (Duval County Property Appraiser).

Boundaries do not line up neatly. Most of the Ortega neighborhood is listed as a National Register district but is not locally designated, so an Ortega owner outside a local district files no COA for ordinary exterior work. Inside the larger Riverside-Avondale local district sit two smaller National Register districts, Riverside and Avondale (Duval County Property Appraiser). Federal Historic Tax Credits may be available for the proper rehabilitation of income-producing National Register properties, and the Florida Division of Historical Resources answers National Register questions at 1-800-847-7278 (Duval County Property Appraiser).

Any exterior work on a property in a Jacksonville local historic district or on a local landmark needs an approved COA before work starts, including window and siding repair, fences, driveways and sheds.

The Historic Preservation FAQ lists those examples and adds that interior work which does not affect the exterior needs no COA; if interior work changes windows, exterior doors or a chimney, a COA comes first (City of Jacksonville). An approved COA is valid for 1 year, and once work has begun it stays valid for 5 years (City of Jacksonville). Applications are filed through the city's LUZAP online portal.

Two points catch Jacksonville buyers out. First, COAs are required regardless of street visibility, so a rear fence in Springfield needs one just as a front porch does. Second, a building listed as non-contributing still needs a COA (City of Jacksonville). The contributing lists themselves date from a survey: in 1985 buildings were surveyed and listed as contributing or non-contributing on district property lists, and unlisted buildings are judged individually by construction date and architectural significance (City of Jacksonville). The city publishes a 2026 COA Matrix plus window, door, fencing and new construction supplements, and separate design guidelines for Springfield and for Riverside Avondale (City of Jacksonville).

A staff-level Jacksonville COA usually takes a week or two, while one that goes to the Historic Preservation Commission takes at least a month and carries a fee from $315 to $610.

Staff decide which path an application takes using the latest COA Matrix. Requests that must go to the commission include demolition of contributing structures, new construction, two-story garages and two-story additions (City of Jacksonville). Those applications should be in about six weeks before the meeting, around the 15th of the month before, and most Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission meetings fall on the fourth Wednesday of the month, except in November and December (City of Jacksonville).

The fee schedule above applies only to requests the commission must hear; the FAQ shows no fee line for staff-level approvals (City of Jacksonville). Work started without a COA can end in after-the-fact approval, approval with corrective work, denial requiring full reversal, or denial with a settlement agreement, and violations that cannot be handled at staff level go to the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission (City of Jacksonville). The next posted commission meeting is Wednesday, October 28, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 1002 on the first floor of the Ed Ball Building, 214 North Hogan Street (City of Jacksonville).

Jacksonville offers a Historic Preservation Property Tax Exemption on the City of Jacksonville share of the tax bill and a REHAB grant of up to $100,000 for endangered historic commercial buildings.

The exemption is a limited-time partial ad valorem exemption on the value added by an approved project, and only the City of Jacksonville millage is applied to the lower taxable value; every other taxing authority taxes the full renovated value (City of Jacksonville). The project must meet the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, should be reviewed by the city before work starts, and the exemption requires approval by the Jacksonville City Council (City of Jacksonville). The Duval County Property Appraiser describes the benefit as 100% of the rehabilitation value over a ten year period, counting both exterior and interior work (Duval County Property Appraiser).

The Restore Endangered Historic Adaptable Buildings (REHAB) Special Revenue Fund, set by Ordinance 2023-316 and amended by Ordinance 2024-0847, limits awards to $100,000. Among the listed criteria, a Jacksonville building must be at least 50 years old; income-producing, mixed-use or owned by a nonprofit; outside the Downtown Area; architecturally or historically significant; a local landmark, a contributing structure in a local district or a declared potential landmark; and declared critically endangered by the commission (City of Jacksonville). The page still announces the 2026 application cycle as open but posts a deadline of Tuesday, June 30, 2026, which has passed, and it requires a pre-application meeting before any submittal (City of Jacksonville).

Downtown Area buildings sit outside REHAB; for downtown Jacksonville, the Downtown Investment Authority which lists a Downtown Historic Preservation and Revitalization Trust Fund among its programs (Downtown Investment Authority). The downtown Jacksonville condos 2026 guide covers the residential side of those Downtown Investment Authority incentives.

The Historic Preservation Section staff approve most Jacksonville COAs, and the seven-member Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission hears the rest and recommends new landmarks and districts to City Council.

All seven commissioners are appointed by the Mayor for three year terms, and the commission works under Ordinance Code Chapter 76 and Chapter 307, Historic Preservation and Protection (City of Jacksonville). Jacksonville takes part in the Certified Local Government program administered by the Florida Department of State (City of Jacksonville). The section's staff office is at 214 North Hogan Street, Suite 300, Jacksonville 32202, phone (904) 255-7800, email [email protected] (City of Jacksonville).

A practical tip: the Duval County Property Appraiser's historic definitions page still gives 904-255-7859 for the Historic Preservation Office (Duval County Property Appraiser), while the section's own page lists (904) 255-7800, so the section page is the better number to call first. Riverside Avondale Preservation (RAP) and Springfield Preservation and Revitalization (SPAR) are nonprofit neighborhood groups that are not governed by the City of Jacksonville; they act as liaisons but do not issue approvals (City of Jacksonville). The Jacksonville neighborhoods guide places these districts within the city's six planning districts.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of Jacksonville website.