In the United States, historic preservation at the Federal level is overseen by the United States Department of the Interior (DOI).  The Department of the Interior was created on March 3, 1849 by the United States Congress to oversee the country's internal affairs. The DOI is led by the Secretary of the Interior, who is appointed by the President of the United States, and serves in the President’s cabinet.  It is typical for each new presidential administration to appoint a new Secretary of the Interior.  Currently the position is held by Secretary Ryan Zinke .  The DOI employs approximately 70,000 people in nine bureaus: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, National Park Service, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Secretary of the Interior’s office maintains several sets of standards for approaching projects concerning Preservation , Rehabilitation , Restoration , and Reconstruction .  These four terms are often used interchangeably, however, they have very specific and different meanings.  These are different treatment approaches for historic buildings and landscapes.  The National Park Service defines the four terms as follows:

Preservation: focuses on the maintenance and repair of existing historic materials and
retention of a property’s form as it has evolved over time.

Rehabilitation: acknowledges the need to alter or add to a historic property to meet continuing
or changing uses while retaining the property’s   historic character.

Restoration:  depicts a property at a particular period of time in its history, while removing evidence from other periods.

Reconstruction: re-creates vanished or non-surviving portions of a property for interpretive purposes.

The DOI notes that the chosen method, out of the four approaches listed above, depends on four factors: historical significance, physical condition, proposed use, and intended use.

Specifically, under the jurisdiction of the DOI is the National Park Service (NPS).  In addition to overseeing the operations of its parklands and national forests, NPS is responsible for maintaining the National Register of Historic Places, overseeing national historic tax credit applications, Historic Preservation Fund Grants, National Heritage Areas, and National Historic Landmarks, among other programs.

Under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA), it was established that each state must have a State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO).The SHPO is responsible for overseeing the preservation activities of each states’ government.In Georgia, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner is the SHPO by default.However, because Georgia has established a sub-agency under the DNR, the Georgia Historic Preservation Division (HPD), the Commissioner’s office has little involvement with preservation activities.

On a local level, the NHPA allows for Certified Local Governments to pass enabling legislation to establish a local historic preservation ordinance.  This allows for a quasi-judicial body to be established which is often called a Historic Preservation Commission (HPC).  The NHPA requires that “a majority of the members [be] professionals in history, prehistoric and historic archeology, architectural history, architecture, folklore, cultural anthropology, curation, conservation, landscape architecture, and related discipline.”  HPCs preside over public hearings where they have the power to review or deny demolition permits and certificate of appropriateness (COAs) applications for properties located within local historic districts under their jurisdiction.  Property owners of sites within the local historic district must comply with the rulings of the HPC or else they may face legal action in a court of law.

Arguably, the most important element of historic preservation, with regards to commercial and residential real estate sales and development, are historic districts.  There are two types of historic districts in the United States: National Register of Historic Places historic districts and local historic districts.  A historic neighborhood may be included both a national register historic district and a local historic district, one of the two types of historic districts, or neither.  District designation is not what makes a neighborhood historic.  The integrity and age of the buildings within the neighborhood are what ae considered when evaluating the historic integrity of a neighborhood.

Unlike National Register historic districts, local historic districts are created by enabling legislation that is passed by a certified local government.  The entity within a certified local government that oversees historic preservation initiatives is often called the “historic preservation commission,” or HPC, and it acts as a quasi-judicial body.  Local district boundaries are also determined by the certified local government.  Some cities and towns may have multiple historic districts within its limits, while others may only have one.