HomeMy Public PortalAboutTOL PR 2013-06-11 Old & Historic District 50th Anniversary
Town of Leesburg
News Release
For Immediate Release
Leesburg Celebrates 50th Anniversary
of the Old & Historic District
Leesburg was the first town, and the fifth jurisdiction,
in Virginia to enact a local preservation ordinance.
Leesburg, VA (June 11, 2013) – Fifty years ago yesterday, on June 10, 1963, the Leesburg Town
Council established the Old and Historic District. In the enacting ordinance, the Council
expressed the need to “preserve the unique cultural heritage represented by the original
section of the town.” At that time, there were only four other local historic districts in Virginia,
in the cities of Alexandria, Charlottesville, Richmond and Williamsburg. This evening, the
Leesburg Town Council will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Old & Historic District
with a proclamation.
The original boundaries of
Leesburg’s Old & Historic
District followed the town limits
as depicted on the 1878 Gray’s
New Map of Leesburg (pictured
at right). Since then, the district
has been expanded several
times. Leesburg’s Old & Historic
District was added to the
Virginia Landmarks Register in
1969 and to the National
Register of Historic Places in
1970. However, both of those
designations are honorary and
do not protect properties within the district from inappropriate alteration or demolition.
At the same time that the Leesburg Town Council created the Old & Historic District, they also
created the Board of Architectural Review. Mayor Frank Raflo appointed the following seven
members to serve on the first Board: Elliott Vandeventer, Lewis B. Taylor, Maurice R.
(more)
TOL PR 2013-06-11 Old & Historic District 50th Anniversary
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Lowenbach, Mrs. Frank T. Osborn, Robert C. Forbes, Mrs. T. N. Delashmutt, and Alexander
Sweney. The first meeting of the BAR was held on Tuesday, July 9, 1963. An application for
alteration to the Loudoun Times Mirror building (9 East Market Street) was considered and
approved at that first meeting.
“Leesburg’s Old & Historic District predates the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966,
placing our district among the oldest in the country,” commented Kim Del Rance, the Town’s
Preservation Planner. “That distinction is an amazing legacy, of which Leesburg should be very
proud.”
Contact:
Betsy Fields
Research & Communications Manager
bfields@leesburgva.gov
703-771-2734
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