Welcome to Preservation Online! Preservation Online is where old buildings meet new technology to bring you historic property information with modern convenience. It’s a portal to an interactive map application that allows you to access parcel-based historic resource data through the City of Orange Internet site. As you browse through the Preservation Online website, information is at your fingertips to meet all your historic property informational needs.
Preservation Online is an extension of the City’s commitment to provide excellent customer service to the Orange community. The purpose of Preservation Online is to provide the public with easy access to hands-on information, answering questions about historic property characteristics.
The Planning Division of the Community Development Department in collaboration with the City’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is committed to providing the public with the most up-to-date historic resources information in an easy and efficient manner.
The Planning Division of the Community Development Department gathered much of the information made available on Preservation Online as part of the 2010 General Plan Update. The General Plan Update included an update to the City’s historic resources inventory, land use database, and various mapping improvements providing information beneficial to the public. With the cooperation of the Public Works GIS section, the ability for this information to reach a wide range of people at one time is possible through GIS.
Preservation Online is also available and featured at the Main Orange Public Library Local History Room terminals.
What information is available through Preservation Online?
With Preservation Online, you may access parcel based information through web-based maps pertaining to historic structures, view historic district boundaries, view city historic building survey forms, historic tree locations, properties under Mills Act contracts, search for information by addresses, and view 1938, 1947, and 1955 historic aerial photos.
You are able to learn more about specific features by clicking on map features to “query” information.
Below is a list of the interactive web-based maps and data made available in Preservation Online:
Parcel-based historic property information includes Accessor Parcel Numbers, lot size, existing building square footage, General Plan and zoning information, construction dates for existing historic buildings, architectural style, whether a building is "contributing" or "non-contributing" and a link to the City's Historic Building Inventory Survey form for the property, and much more. The shaded parcels denote that a property has been surveyed as part of the City's historic building inventory.
The Mills Act layer identifies the location of properties with Mills Act contracts, contract number, and provides the contract approval date.
Aerial Photographs for 1938, 1947, and 1955 (provided courtesy of the Orange County Archives) can be turned on/off to show an aerial history of a specific parcel and how it has changed over time.
The Historic Trees layer identifies the location of city-designated historic trees and information such as the scientific name of the historic tree, its dimensions, and the closest address.
Preservation Online also provides several static maps in pdf format:
Static Maps show the wide range of architectural styles, contributing historic features, construction dates, Mills Act contracts, historic trees, and floor area ratios within buildings.
As technology and our databases grow we will be able to provide more information to the public through our static and web-based maps. So, keep in mind that there is more to come and keep checking our e-Planning website for more exciting updates!
How do you use Preservation Online?
Now that you’ve gone through a general overview of what Preservation Online is and can do, click below on the Preservation Online icon and see for yourself what the City of Orange Community Development Department Planning Division and Public Works Department GIS section has brought to you through Preservation Online!
If you have any additional questions or if you notice any mistakes in the information provided through Preservation Online, please contact us so we can update our database. Contact Anna Pehoushek, Principal Planner at (714) 744-7220.
