The Mills Act was created to let the government pay you for restoring your historic home. This video talks about how to use the Mills Act in Vallejo. Special guest and local expert Bill Tuika of Vallejo City Planning department will tell us all the ins and outs of the program.
• Learn who qualifies and
• Who the program is best set up to help
• We will discuss what is covered and what is not.
• Understand how to estimate the costs and the benefits.
• We will also talk about special circumstances like opting out or selling your home.
City of Vallejo Mills Act Application download here.
Remember the City of Vallejo is always ready and willing to help you take advantage of this great program. Call them for assistance – Phone: (707) 648-4326
If you have questions or want to share your success, I look forward to hearing about it in the comments section. I read every comment and I hope to hear from you there.
6 thoughts on “The Mills Act”
How can someone know if their house is already in the historic home list?
Hello Marilia. I have a published list from 2005 and I dont think much has changed. You can send an email with your address and I will check. I dont think there is any list online that is maintained. The easiest way to verify would be to call the city planning department. They are the ones who maintain the “City of Vallejo Inventory List of Architecturally and Historically Significant Buildings”. I may be able to offer you a bit more assistance with this if you send me a private message. Thanks, Chris
Hi Chris,
I always thought that my Tudor home might be a historic home. Recently, my children found your sight and saw a picture of our home.
Can you please tell me if my home is on the list? How can I send you a private message?
Hello Latressa
I am sorry for not seeing this message sooner. You can use this basic contact to reach me for questions and I will reply privately.
https://www.vallejohistorichomes.com/contact/
Thanks
Chris
Good evening Chris,
Can you tell me a little about the Herber house and why is no one on the historical list?
It’s a shame that the city just let it deteriorate over the years that something was given to them. It’s a fabulous house, and it needs to be preserved.!
Hello Miss Terri
I think the way the Herbert house has been treated is really a shame and I struggle to understand it. I think Brendan Rileys Solano Chronicles on FaceBook has done a great job of detailing this part of the history.
This beautiful home has been neglected. Nonetheless, the Herber house is on the City of Vallejo’s Historic Resource list and it is also on the St Vincent Hill National Registry. Either one of those two lists would give the Herbert House an official historic status, which it does have.
Both of those lists are available as downloads on my website.
I have heard this home described as a Queen Anne. That is an error. It is a Shingle. The Architectural Guide on my website describes the way this style started on the east coast and moved west changing as it did. The Herbert House is very much in the East Coast Shingle Style.
The National Registry did a great job of describing the property. National Registry for St Vincent’s Hill was an amazing grass-roots effort to protect our history and was completed in 2003. The entry is satisfyingly rich in detail. Several of the volunteers who created it have died in the last few years. In respect to them, let me paste in the entry they created.
1 Kentucky Street
(APN 0055-092-160)
Contributing Building (1902) Shingle Style
Herbert House. This imposing, elegant two story, shingle style house was moved to its current waterfront site from Virginia Street in 1969 to save it from demolition. The important stature and siting are more typical of the Heritage District than the simple working class residences associated with the St. Vincent’s Hill District. The house is characterized by multiple, steeply pitched roofs with cross gables, bays, dormers, and a prominent turret capping a complex comer bay. The comer
turret is circular on first floor and transitions to an octagonal bay flared at the second floor line. The triangularly gabled front porch has recessed Tuscan columns with egg-and-dart capitals set on an angled low parapet rail. Paneled entry with a glazed entry door and decorative focal window. A side bay, now facing the waterfront, is semicircular at the first floor and transitions to an open porch with a semicircular roofsupported on Tuscan columns on a partially open parapet flared at the
floor line. A rear porch, now facing the waterfront, is supported on Tuscan columns set on classical turned balustrade with newel posts. There is dentil molding on a frieze band between stories and an exterior brick chimney. Tall wood double hung windows are curved in the bay with small stained-glass transoms over first floor windows. This superb example of the shingle style with complex massing, playful stylistic elements marrying rounded and rectangular shapes, variations in
shingle patterns and cascading roofs with spiked, vertical emphasis make this house an important focal point on the waterfront. Although it has been moved from its original location, it is included as a contributor because the practice of moving houses has been common throughout the historic period and beyond. Modified. Handicapped ramp recently added in the rear does not appear to meet Code requirements.