Many houses in Old North Knoxville are zoned under an H-1 historic overlay. The H-1 overlay was voted into law by Knoxville City Council in 1992, and Old North Knoxville property owners subsequently voted to apply the overlay to many streets in the neighborhood in order to protect and preserve architectural features specific to our district. Exterior repairs and modifications to houses in Old North Knoxville that are zoned H-1 must be approved by the Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission.

You can read more about the history of Old North Knoxville and the H-1 review process for designated properties. You can also read a brief summary of the design guidelines used by the Historic Zoning Commission as the basis for determining the appropriateness of exterior rehabilitation projects and new construction, which are derived from the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation (1990).

All this information and more appears in the official Old North Knoxville Historic District Design Guidelines document, provided by the Knoxville Historic Zoning Commission and the Knoxville-Knox County Metropolitan Planning Commission.

Knox Heritage is also an excellent resource regarding historic preservation.