OLDNBPT

Preservation / Do I need approval?

Windows and doors

Replacing a window or door in its existing opening is the most common question, and in most of the city the answer is no historic review. Downtown and on Fruit Street it is different, and new or moved openings are different everywhere.

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

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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. Fruit Street Historic District Commission decides

    Windows and doors seen from the street are exterior features, so replacing them 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

  2. No review exempt

    Storm windows, screen windows, screen doors and window air conditioners are excluded from review by the ordinance.

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

  3. Design guidelines guidance

    The district’s 2008 guidelines favor keeping and repairing original windows (weather-stripping and insulated glass are encouraged); replacements are to be wood, matching the size, design and number of panes. Vinyl, aluminum and metal sash are not recommended, nor are enlarged or reduced door openings or aluminum storm doors.

    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. Office of Planning and Development reviews at staff level

    On a historic building downtown, replacing, altering or removing windows or doors is approved by the planning staff, not the Board. The application isn’t complete without a window inventory: each historic window’s location and the condition of its paint, frame, sill, sash, glazing and hardware, rated good (keep it), fair (repair or restore it) or poor (replace it). Replacements match the old windows as closely as feasible: true three-dimensional muntins, no snap-in grilles, no tinted, mirrored or reflective glass. The 2019 Newburyport wood-window guidelines are the yardstick.

    Zoning §XXVII-E.3, F.5.d–f, i, k

  2. Planning Board decides

    A new window or door opening in an exterior wall of a historic building downtown needs a Downtown Overlay special permit from the Board.

    Zoning §XXVII-E.3, F.5.d–f, i, k; Zoning §XXVII-C, E, F; §X-H.7–8

  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

    Same-size replacement in the existing openings needs no review. The DCOD rules say outright that replacing windows and doors without changing their dimensions is not demolition, and the City’s quick guide agrees.

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

  2. Zoning Board of Appeals counts toward 25%

    On a contributing building, an opening that is filled in or moved counts toward the 25% of exterior wall the DCOD allows before a special permit is needed, added to everything removed since April 2014.

    Zoning §XXVII-D.5–6; §XXVIII-D.1–2; DCOD demolition diagrams (Apr 8, 2022); Zoning §XXVIII-E.1–6; special permit criteria §X-H.7; procedure §X-H.8

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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. No historic review not reviewed

    Replacing windows or exterior doors in their existing openings, at the same size and with nothing else changed, is not “demolition” under the demolition delay ordinance: it doesn’t touch the walls or the roofline.

    §5-307; Zoning §XXVIII-D.2; DCOD quick guide

  2. Historical Commission decides whether to delay

    New, enlarged or filled-in openings are wall work. If the building is 75 or more years old (in whole or in part; 100 for a garage, barn or other accessory building), listed on the National Register, or designated by the Commission, the demolition delay ordinance counts as “demolition”: removing or altering more than 25% of its exterior walls, any change to the roofline, moving it on its lot, or moving it off. That work needs a Commission hearing, held within 30 days of a complete application. If the Commission finds the building “preferably preserved” it can delay the demolition permit for up to 18 months; it cannot refuse it outright.

    Code of Ordinances ch. 5 art. X §5-307; §5-307; §5-308(A)–(G); ch. 2 §2-103; Zoning §XXVII-C.3 and §XXVIII-C.3 (the carve-outs)

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