PURPOSE: To resurvey the Birmingham Historic District for the objective of possibly establishing a local historic district that will be governed by the City Historic District Commission. There has been some neighborhood interest in establishing a local district to protect the integrity of the district by reviewing major renovations, demolitions and implement design review on new construction.

AREA SURVEYED: : The entire Birmingham H. D. District was surveyed plus adjacent areas along Front Street and Milford and Burger Street, including areas that were excluded from the original nomination but are in the original plat of Birmingham or generally known to be part of Birmingham.

2146 Bakewell

About 842 houses and other primary commercial and institutional properties were documented as part of this new survey as well as 95 vacant lots that contained primary structures demolished after 1950. (Vacant lots that contained houses demolished before 1950 were not counted. Nor were houses replaced by a newer structures to avoid "double counting.") Garages and other outbuildings were excluded from this survey unless they are freestanding on their own lot with no parent building extant.

This survey is essentially an update of the original national Register Nomination, written in 1993. As well as updating the status of the properties (contributing vs non-contributing), recent demolitions were also documented. The current survey also contains more detailed information on the degree of alteration that each building has underwent. Three major elements of each building were assessed - porch, siding, windows - to determine the "integrity" of each of the buildings.

In addition, updated information on year of construction, significant properties, and ethnicity of early residents was also compiled using maps and census data not available at the time of the National Register Nomination.

Methodology

Findings

Recommendations

Appendix & Charts