Please Say " Yes"!

Once you have established that a house in a historic district is for you- well, it's like knowing you want to get married and having to ask a lot of related parties for their consent.  How is the house currently zoned?  If it isn't single family and you need it to be then you need to ask the zoning department to change the status. If the gas and electricity are installed on a commercial basis then you are looking for each utility's assistance to change it back once you have received the "thumbs up" from zoning.  Once you are sure that it is zoned correctly with all the correct size utility installations based on the new use of the building, you are ready to get a building permit.  But before you get a building permit, here in Richmond, Virginia, we have a group that you need to see called the Commission of Architectural Review (CAR).  This is their website if you want more information: http://www.richmondgov.com/CommissionArchitecturalReview/index.aspx  They are interested in preserving the architectural fabric of neighborhoods and pretty much any detail on your house that someone would see walking by is something that CAR wants to make sure is restored or changed as sensitively as possible.