Melbourne Historic Preservation and the HARB

The Melbourne Register of Historic Places is the city's local register of historic resources, which a property joins through an owner petition to HARB and a City Council resolution.

According to the City of Melbourne, since 2006 the City of Melbourne has locally designated six historic resources and one historic district, the Eau Gallie Historic District, which adds 12 contributing resources. The program sits in the Community Development Department and is run by a Historic Preservation Officer working with the Historic and Architectural Review Board, known as HARB.

The individually designated resources named by the city include the Eau Gallie Yacht Club on Houston Street, the Sea Lounge on East Avenue B, the Rossetter House on Houston Street and Highland Avenue, and properties on Pineapple Avenue, Palmetto Avenue and East New Haven Avenue. The Eau Gallie Historic District groups contributing buildings along Highland Avenue, Houston Street and Montreal Avenue in Eau Gallie. The city also keeps a historic designation report for the Hell 'n Blazes building on East New Haven Avenue, and a Local Designation Rescission Report for the Elizabeth Eaton Residence at 1809 Riverview Drive, both available by calling 321-608-7500.

A Melbourne resource can be designated if it is at least 50 years old, meets the city's significance, integrity and criteria tests, and every owner consents.

The City of Melbourne states that owners of historic buildings, structures, objects, landscape features, archaeological sites and other improvements that are at least 50 years old may apply to locally designate the resource. All owners must consent to the local designation application, so the Melbourne program moves forward only with the agreement of every owner.

Two threshold tests come first: the resource must be significant in Melbourne's history, architecture, archaeology or culture, and it must keep integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship or association. It then has to meet at least one listed criterion. Those include association with significant events or persons, the characteristics of a distinctive architectural style or period or the work of a prominent designer or builder, the likelihood of yielding historical or prehistoric information, existing listing on the National Register of Historic Places, or a tie to a distinctive landscape, park or neighborhood feature. The rules are set out in the Melbourne City Code, Chapter 20, Article VIII, Section 20-266.

The path to the Melbourne Register of Historic Places runs through six steps posted by the city.

First, the owner submits a written petition to HARB; there is no fee to apply. Second, at a preliminary review HARB either accepts or denies the petition, and if it accepts, it sets a hearing date and directs staff to prepare a report. Third, the city's Historic Preservation Officer prepares the Designation Report and recommends approval or denial based on the criteria. The City of Melbourne pays for that report once HARB decides to move forward.

Fourth, notice of the public hearing is published in the newspaper and mailed with the Designation Report to the owner, and surrounding property owners are notified. Fifth, HARB holds its hearing. Sixth, the Melbourne City Council approves, denies, or approves with conditions the designation by resolution, and an approved property is then listed on the Melbourne Register of Historic Places. Applications for local designation are handled by the Community Development Department at 321-608-7500 or [email protected].

A Certificate of Appropriateness is the approval a designated Melbourne property needs before the city issues a building permit for exterior changes.

Once a Melbourne property is locally designated, the city requires a Certificate of Appropriateness, or CoA, prior to issuance of a building permit for exterior changes. The certificate is available at no cost to the applicant. Depending on the type of work, a CoA is either approved by the Historic Preservation Officer or the Historic and Architectural Review Board. If proposed work does not fit the standards, the City of Melbourne will not issue the permit. Ordinary maintenance that does not need a permit does not need a CoA.

The test applied is the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. The National Park Service describes these standards as the criteria for certified rehabilitation under federal tax incentives and as the standards most often used by local historic district commissions nationwide, so a Melbourne CoA review draws on the same rulebook used across the country.

HARB is a nine-member quasi-judicial board of Melbourne residents or business owners with backgrounds in fields such as architecture, history and planning.

The HARB page describes a quasi-judicial board of nine, with seven regular members and two alternates, drawn from Melbourne residents or business owners with backgrounds in architecture, history, architectural history, planning, archeology, landscape architecture, real estate and general contracting. The board must include one architect and one contractor, and representation from the Melbourne Downtown and Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront redevelopment areas is encouraged. Its regular session is the third Wednesday of each month, at 6 p.m., in the City Hall Council Chamber. The board recommends local historic designations and also considers material changes in the exterior appearance of existing buildings on non-residential property in the city's redevelopment districts, and members file an annual Financial Disclosure Form.

HARB's reach goes beyond designated landmarks. On the Downtown CRA page, the city states that exterior changes to commercial buildings and signage in the district require prior HARB approval, and the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA page applies the same rule along the Eau Gallie riverfront. Variances for landmarks go elsewhere: the Planning & Zoning Board considers recommendations made by the Historic Preservation Board for variances of individually designated historic resources in Melbourne. The same board hears appeals of Architectural Review Board decisions on applications in the Downtown and Eau Gallie CRAs, and it meets the first and third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber.

For Melbourne owners, designation brings design review in exchange for economic, cultural and environmental benefits the city lists.

Owners accept design review, and the city lists economic benefits that include stabilizing property values in historic areas, eligibility for property tax abatement programs, lower construction costs through reuse, and support for cultural tourism, along with cultural and environmental benefits. State law supplies the tax tool: Florida Statutes section 196.1997 allows a municipality to authorize the exemption from ad valorem taxation of up to 100 percent of the assessed value of improvements to historic properties resulting from restoration, renovation or rehabilitation. Whether a Melbourne ordinance under that statute is currently in force was not confirmed in city sources re-read on October 15, 2026.

Local and federal listings can overlap. The Rossetter House in Eau Gallie, one of the Melbourne designated resources, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to the Historic Rossetter House Museum. National Register listing is itself one of the criteria a property can meet to join the Melbourne Register.

Research tools sit behind the same counter. The Community Development Department at Melbourne City Hall provides copies of the Historic Properties Survey document and access to a Historic Properties Survey interactive map on request at 321-608-7500, and HARB publishes the Downtown Melbourne and Olde Eau Gallie District Architectural Guidelines, mural guidelines and an artist page for applicants planning exterior work or public art in the redevelopment districts.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, through fresh reads of the City of Melbourne Historic Preservation, HARB, Planning and Zoning Board and both CRA pages, the National Park Service standards page, section 196.1997 of the Florida Statutes and the Historic Rossetter House Museum's About page.