Historic Districts in St. Petersburg: National Register, Local Districts and COA Rules

St. Petersburg has five National Register historic districts (Roser Park, North Shore, Kenwood, Round Lake and Downtown St. Petersburg) plus about ten smaller local historic districts on the city register.

The city list of National Register properties, dated as of March 2022, gives each district its boundaries and listing date (City of St. Petersburg, Properties and Districts Listed in the National Register of Historic Places). The same list opens with the Weeden Island Site, listed June 1972, and the most recent of its five districts is Downtown St. Petersburg, listed April 2004.

The two lists overlap only in part. On the city register, Roser Park is the one National Register district name that also appears as a local historic district in its own right; Kenwood and North Shore appear only as named local sections, and Round Lake and Downtown St. Petersburg do not appear as local districts at all (City of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places (list)). Last verified: October 18, 2026, on the City of St. Petersburg website.

In St. Petersburg, National Register listing places no restrictions on a private owner unless federal assistance is involved, while local designation brings city review of exterior changes and demolition.

The city Historic Preservation page puts it plainly: the National Register, run by the National Park Service, does not restrict a private owner future alterations unless federal assistance is involved in the project (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation). The St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places is the local program, administered by city staff, with eligibility criteria modeled on the National Register criteria. A local landmark, or a property inside a local historic district, gets a degree of protection from unnecessary demolition or unsympathetic alterations, and staff review proposed changes by issuing Certificates of Appropriateness.

So a house that sits in the Kenwood National Register district but in none of the Kenwood local sections, and is not an individual local landmark, is not subject to Certificate of Appropriateness review on that basis, while a house in the Southeast Kenwood Local Historic District needs one for exterior work such as changes to the roof. Some protections still reach the whole National Register area: the city says brick streets are protected within all National Register and local historic districts under City Code Section 16.40.130 (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation).

The St. Petersburg Register lists local historic districts in Roser Park, Granada Terrace, Lang’s Bungalow Court, the 700 block of 18th Ave. NE, two North Shore sections and four Kenwood sections.

Roser Park was the first, designated in July 1987, and gained an expansion along 801 to 829 10th Ave. S in September 2018 (City of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places (list)). Granada Terrace followed in April 1988 and Lang’s Bungalow Court in June 2014. The 700 Block of 18th Avenue Northeast District dates to March 2017. Two North Shore sections followed: the 200 Block of 10th Ave. NE. Local Historic District was designated in November 2017 and the North Shore Section called Welch’s Mediterranean Row in April 2018. Kenwood added Seminole Park in November 2017, Southeast Kenwood in June 2018, NW Kenwood in April 2019 and SW Central Kenwood in April 2021. The list also carries the Old Southeast Hexblock Sidewalk District from August 1994, which protects sidewalks rather than buildings.

A district can start with property owners rather than the city. The SW Central Kenwood case was a privately initiated application; the city project page lists a Community Planning and Preservation Commission hearing on March 9, 2021, and City Council on April 15, 2021 (City of St. Petersburg, 19-90300002: Kenwood Section and Southwest Central). The local list itself stops at a January 2022 entry, so the Historic Preservation Map linked from the city page is the better check for anything designated since (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation).

A St. Petersburg Certificate of Appropriateness is required before any exterior alteration, addition, relocation or demolition of a local landmark or of a property inside a local historic district.

The COA packet ties the rule to City Code Section 16.30.070, the Historic and Archaeological Preservation Overlay, and lists what counts: changes to walls, roof or windows, painting unpainted masonry, additions, relocation and demolition (City of St. Petersburg, Certificate of Appropriateness Application Packet). New buildings and demolitions in a district need one too, as does digging or replacing plantings on a designated archaeological site; digging work uses a separate Certificate to Dig application on the city forms page (City of St. Petersburg, Planning and Zoning Applications and Forms).

The packet recommends a pre-application meeting with staff at least one week before the application deadline, booked at (727) 892-5470 or (727) 892-5451, and says minor maintenance is often approved right at that meeting (City of St. Petersburg, Certificate of Appropriateness Application Packet). Staff then decide whether the project fits administrative approval, which needs no public hearing unless someone appeals, or goes to the Community Planning and Preservation Commission. Complete applications are due by 2:00 p.m. on the deadline date, no more than twelve go on any one hearing, and building permits must be pulled within 18 months of approval. A COA is not a building permit; the permit is a separate step.

The St. Petersburg COA packet lists $50 for a staff-review application and $300 to $1,000 for commission review, with demolition of a main building at the top of the scale.

Two multipliers matter. After-the-fact applications pay twice the initial fee, and a revision of a previously approved COA costs half the original fee (City of St. Petersburg, Certificate of Appropriateness Application Packet). The packet also shows its age: its general information page is marked updated 12.31.2018, and it sends paper applications to the 8th floor of One Fourth Street North, while the current Historic Preservation page lists the division on the 1st floor of One 4th Street N (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation). The packet also accepts applications digitally at [email protected], the same address the current page lists, which avoids the floor question (City of St. Petersburg, Certificate of Appropriateness Application Packet).

Historic status in St. Petersburg can open a property tax exemption on restoration work, historic transfer of development rights and grants, and it protects brick streets and hexblock sidewalks.

Florida law lets a city, by ordinance, exempt from property taxes up to 100 percent of the assessed value of improvements that come from restoring, renovating or rehabilitating a historic property, for up to 10 years (Florida Statutes, Section 196.1997, Ad valorem tax exemptions for historic properties). St. Petersburg runs that program through two forms on its planning page, a pre-construction and a post-construction Historic Properties Tax Exemption application, and the pre-construction form is the one filed before work begins (City of St. Petersburg, Planning and Zoning Applications and Forms). The city also lists Transfer of Development Rights, Historic (TDR, H) under City Code Section 16.70.040.1.17, with a public register of active credits, and points owners to its grants page (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation).

Streetscape rules reach beyond single buildings. St. Pete began brick paving in 1903, and City Council passed its first resolution against removing brick streets and granite curbs in 1992 (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation). Hexagon block sidewalks, laid since about 1914 in white, gray, blue, red, green and yellow, are protected in and next to historic districts, and the Old Southeast Hexagon Block Preservation District is the one overlay that protects them elsewhere. The city keeps a supply of historic hexblock pavers for repairs but does not sell them.

The first check is the city Historic Preservation Map, followed by an email to the St. Petersburg Urban Planning and Historic Preservation Division at [email protected].

The Historic Preservation page links that map, the two register lists, a list of Potentially Eligible Properties that City Code protects from demolition, and a resident guide to researching the history of a house or business (City of St. Petersburg, Historic Preservation). Its Design Guidelines for Historic Properties cover architectural styles, maintenance and repair, additions and alterations and new construction, with an appendix of specific information for each of the city local historic districts.

Public buildings on the local register give a sense of what designation covers: City Hall at 175 Fifth St. N (October 1990), the Coliseum at 535 Fourth Ave. N (September 1994), the Manhattan Casino at 642 22nd St. S (December 1994), the Jennie Hall Pool Complex at 2650 10th Ave. S (December 2011) and Huggins-Stengel Field at 1320 Fifth St. N (October 2018) (City of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places (list)). Owners who want a building added file a Local Landmark Designation Application from the city forms page (City of St. Petersburg, Planning and Zoning Applications and Forms).