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National Register Nomination Significance Statement Builder: Criteria A to D Fit, Areas and Period of Significance, Historic Context, Seven Aspects of Integrity, and SHPO Reviewer Notes
Draft Section 8 of a National Register of Historic Places nomination from your research notes: test the property against Criteria A to D and the criteria considerations, set areas and period of significance, write the historic context and significance narrative, assess the seven aspects of integrity, and list gaps a SHPO reviewer will ask about.
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Prompt
Act as an architectural historian and preservation consultant who prepares National Register of Historic Places nominations on NPS Form 10-900 and drafts Section 8, the Statement of Significance, for State Historic Preservation Office review. Inputs: - Property facts: name, address, type, construction date, architect or builder, original and current use: [PropertyFacts] - Research notes with sources: deeds, Sanborn maps, city directories, newspapers, building permits, oral history: [ResearchNotes] - Alterations log: additions, window and siding changes, moved or demolished parts, with dates: [AlterationsLog] - Historic context theme and geography you want to argue (for example commerce in a county seat, 1880 to 1940): [ContextTheme] - Criteria the owner hopes to use and the level of significance (local, state, national): [CriteriaTarget] - Output format: [Format] Generate: 1. A criteria screen: test PropertyFacts and ResearchNotes against Criterion A (events and patterns), B (a significant person, tied to the property where they did their important work), C (design, construction, or a master's work), and D (information potential), keeping only criteria the evidence supports. 2. Criteria considerations check: religious property, moved, birthplace or grave, cemetery, reconstructed, commemorative, or less than 50 years old, with what each would require. 3. Areas of significance, period of significance with the reason for the start and end years, and significant dates, each tied to a source in ResearchNotes. 4. A historic context paragraph for ContextTheme that shows how the property fits the pattern, with comparison to similar local properties if the notes allow. 5. The significance narrative for each kept criterion, written in the third person, past tense, with source citations in parentheses. 6. An integrity assessment across location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, using AlterationsLog, and whether the property still conveys its significance for the period. 7. SHPO reviewer notes: claims that need a stronger source, missing comparisons, and questions about boundaries or contributing resources. Constraints: - Use only facts from PropertyFacts, ResearchNotes, and AlterationsLog; mark any claim without a source as NEEDS SOURCE. - Never claim a person or event is significant without evidence of that role at this property. - Plain, measured historian prose; no promotional language. No em dashes.
Instructions
Replace every [bracket] with your details before running. Works on ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.
Generated Output
This image was generated using the prompt above.
Examples
Example Input
PropertyFacts: Hargrove Hardware Building, 114 Main Street, Millbrook, Iowa; two part commercial block, brick, 1898; builder J. T. Pruitt (local contractor); hardware store 1898 to 1962, now antiques store with apartments above ResearchNotes: 1898 deed from Wells to Hargrove (Book 41, p. 212); Sanborn maps 1900, 1912, 1926 show "Hardware" with tin shop at rear; 1915 Millbrook Herald says Hargrove supplied windmills and fencing to "most farms in the township"; city directories 1900 to 1960 list Hargrove Hardware; family letters say Hargrove served one term as mayor 1921 to 1923; no records of Pruitt's other work AlterationsLog: 1955 storefront replaced with aluminum and glass; 1990 rear tin shop demolished; upper facade, cornice, and window hoods intact; 2019 storefront restored to the 1910 photo using salvaged cast iron columns ContextTheme: commerce in Millbrook, Iowa, 1898 to 1962 CriteriaTarget: owner wants A and B and C, local level Format: criteria screen, considerations, areas and period, context, narrative, integrity, reviewer notes
Example Output
CRITERIA SCREEN - A (commerce): SUPPORTED. 64 years as the hardware supplier for a farm township (1915 Herald; directories 1900 to 1960; Sanborn 1900 to 1926). - B (Hargrove as mayor): NOT SUPPORTED. His mayoral work happened at city hall, not this store, and one term is weak evidence (family letters only). - C (design): WEAK. A typical two part commercial block by a local builder with no other documented work. Keep as supporting description, not a criterion. - D: Not applicable. CRITERIA CONSIDERATIONS None apply. Not moved, not religious, over 50 years old, not reconstructed. The 2019 storefront is a restoration of one part, not a reconstruction of the building. AREAS, PERIOD, DATES - Area of significance: Commerce - Period of significance: 1898 to 1962 (from the deed to Hargrove, Book 41, p. 212, to the last directory listing as a hardware store) - Significant date: 1898 (construction and store opening) HISTORIC CONTEXT Between 1898 and 1962, Millbrook's Main Street served the farm township around it. Hardware stores supplied the tools, fencing, and windmills that farm operations depended on. NEEDS SOURCE: a comparison with other Main Street stores of the period (feed, implements) to show Hargrove's role among them. SIGNIFICANCE NARRATIVE (CRITERION A) The Hargrove Hardware Building is locally significant under Criterion A in the area of Commerce for its role as Millbrook's principal hardware supplier from 1898 to 1962. Henry Hargrove bought the lot in 1898 (Deed Book 41, p. 212) and operated a hardware store with a rear tin shop that appears on the 1900, 1912, and 1926 Sanborn maps. In 1915 the Millbrook Herald reported that Hargrove supplied windmills and fencing to most farms in the township. City directories list the store continuously until 1962. INTEGRITY - Location, setting: intact; same lot, Main Street block remains commercial. - Design, materials, workmanship: upper facade, cornice, and window hoods are original. The 1955 storefront was removed, and the 2019 restoration follows a 1910 photograph. - Loss: the rear tin shop (demolished 1990) was part of the business. Note it, but the main block still reads as a hardware store of the period. - Feeling, association: conveys a turn of the century commercial building. Conclusion: the building retains enough integrity to convey significance under A. SHPO REVIEWER NOTES - Add a comparison with 2 or 3 other Main Street commercial buildings. - Confirm the 1910 photo source for the storefront restoration. - Boundary: lot lines from the 1898 deed. The tin shop site is noncontributing open space. - Explain why B and C were dropped, in case the owner asks.