Overlay District
2009
Tyler’s first historic district overlay, Heritage Neighborhood No. 1 was designated with a marker during a ceremony on Friday, December 11, 2009. The marker was placed at College Avenue & Lindsey Lane in the heart of Tyler’s Azalea National Register Historic District.
The overlay district, comprised of eighteen properties, is generally bounded by Broadway Avenue, Lindsey Lane, College Avenue and Rusk Avenue. The local district includes fifteen single-family homes, two residential properties, the First Presbyterian Church and the Tyler Woman’s Building.
Don and Bonny Edmonds, who live on the corner of College and Lindsey, started the petition for the district as an outcome of the city’s Tyler 21 Plan, which provided for a historic district overly ordinance to better protect properties within Tyler’s six National Register Districts. The historic district overlay was intended to create regulations to aid in preserving structures, sites, or areas that have outstanding historical or cultural significance. Any exterior alterations to structures in the overlay district requiring a building permit must apply for a certificate of appropriateness from Tyler’s Historic Preservation Board. The overlay will not affect alterations such as landscaping and repairs that do not require a building permit.
The overlay is a voluntary district that must consist of at least one block face with a minimum of three contiguous properties, with at least three-fourths of the residential properties being at least 50 years old and 100 percent of the commercial properties being at least 75 years old.
The properties must be located within one of the six designated historic districts listed in Tyler, which include Azalea, Charnwood, Brick Streets, East Ferguson, Donnybrook Duplexes and Short-Line.
The petition to create an overlay must contain signatures from at least 75 percent of the property owners located within the proposed overlay area and be approved by the city council. Through a door-to-door campaign, Don Edmonds secured the support of 15, or 78.9 percent, of the 19 property owners.
(Click on any image to enlarge)
The mission of Historic Tyler, Inc. is to promote the preservation and protection of historic structures and sites through education, involvement, and public and private investment.
