OLDNBPT

Preservation / Do I need approval?

Siding and trim

Replacing siding is not demolition under the City’s overlay rules. Whether it is reviewed at all depends on where the building is and whether the new material matches the old.

Last reviewed against the ordinances September 30, 2026

Or read the part for your area: Fruit Street district · Downtown · Rest of the historic district · Elsewhere in the city

Your building is here

Fruit Street Local Historic District

Fruit Street and a few neighboring lots on High and Prospect Streets, sixteen buildings in all. Its own commission reviews any exterior change seen from the street.

  1. No review exempt

    Ordinary repair or replacement with no change in design, material or appearance is excluded.

    Code ch. 16 §§16-6–16-8; M.G.L. c. 40C

  2. Fruit Street Historic District Commission decides

    A change of material or appearance on a wall seen from the street is reviewed. Before any building or demolition permit, you need one of three certificates: of appropriateness (the work suits the district), of non-applicability (nothing reviewable is involved), or of hardship. The Commission decides within 14 days whether the work is reviewable, holds a hearing within 45 days, and decides within 60 days of filing; if it doesn’t act in time, a certificate of hardship issues automatically. It looks only at what can be seen from a public street, park or the river, never at interiors.

    Code ch. 16 §16-2; Code ch. 16 §§16-6–16-8; M.G.L. c. 40C

  3. Design guidelines guidance

    The 2008 guidelines favor keeping the original siding and repairing or replacing it in the same material; clapboard, wood shingle and brick are appropriate, and removing later non-original siding is encouraged. Vinyl and aluminum siding will generally not be approved.

    Code ch. 16 §§16-6–16-8; M.G.L. c. 40C

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Downtown Overlay District (DOD)

The downtown part of the Newburyport Historic District. The Planning Board reviews work on historic buildings and all new construction.

  1. Zoning Administrator determines

    Like for like (the same material, profile and exposure) is ordinary maintenance and excluded from downtown review.

    Zoning §XXVII-D.2, 13; Zoning §XXVII-C.3, §XXVII-E; §X-H.5

  2. Planning Board decides

    Changing the material or appearance of the walls (vinyl over clapboards, say, or stripping original shingles for something else) is an alteration. On a historic building (individually listed on the National Register, or contributing in the 1984 nomination), this needs a Downtown Overlay special permit before any building permit, judged against the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. Before applying, the owner gives the Historical Commission photographs, the inventory forms and the plans at least 30 days ahead; the Commission sends the Board an advisory report.

    Zoning §XXVII-D.8, §XXVII-F.7; §XXVIII-D.3, §XXVIII-E.7; Zoning §XXVII-D.2, 13; Zoning §XXVII-C, E, F; §X-H.7–8; Zoning §XXVII-F.4.b–c, F.5.a.iii; ch. 2 §2-104

  3. Zoning Administrator determines

    Downtown review doesn’t reach everything. Excluded, on a written determination: ordinary maintenance or replacement in kind (no change in design, material or appearance; a new paint color counts as in kind); work on a building or feature that isn’t historic; and alterations (not demolition, not new construction) of a one- or two-family house whose lot is in one of the residential (R-1, R-2, R-3) pockets downtown. Work excluded from downtown review falls under the demolition delay ordinance instead, if it is “demolition” of a building 75 or more years old.

    Zoning §XXVII-C.3, §XXVII-E; §X-H.5

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Demolition Control Overlay District (DCOD)

The rest of the Newburyport Historic District, outside downtown and Fruit Street. The Zoning Board reviews major demolition of contributing buildings; the Historical Commission keeps roof changes.

  1. No historic review not reviewed

    The DCOD rules say outright that replacing siding is not demolition. Removing the walls behind it is another matter: see the 25% rule under Demolition.

    Zoning §XXVII-D.5–6; §XXVIII-D.1–2; DCOD demolition diagrams (Apr 8, 2022); Zoning §XXVIII-D.2, E.1; §5-307

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Everywhere else

Outside Fruit Street and the two overlays: most of the city, and a few lots at the edges of the historic district. Only the citywide demolition delay ordinance, for buildings 75 or more years old.

  1. Usually no historic review not reviewed

    The demolition delay ordinance is about walls coming down and roofline changes. The overlay districts say in so many words that replacing siding is not demolition; the demolition delay ordinance doesn’t, so if the work also opens up sheathing or framing over a large part of the walls, ask the Zoning Administrator before you start.

    §5-307; Zoning §XXVII-D.5–6; §XXVIII-D.1–2; DCOD demolition diagrams (Apr 8, 2022)

Wherever the building is

  1. Zoning Administrator first stop

    Every project starts with a zoning determination. The Zoning Administrator says which of the reviews on this page apply to your building and your plans, and whether the work also needs zoning relief. The site can tell you what the ordinances say; only that determination tells you what applies.

    §5-308(A); Flowchart

  2. Holder of a preservation restriction consents

    If a preservation restriction is recorded on the property, whatever it covers needs the holder’s consent, on top of everything else here. The City lists the restrictions it holds; the building pages on this site say when the state inventory records one.

    M.G.L. c. 184 §§31–33; the recorded restriction

Repair first

Guidance