(a) The following criteria are used in determining eligibility in being placed on the Tennessee register of historic places:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 4-11-202

(1) The quality of significance in Tennessee history, architecture, archaeology, engineering and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association, and that:

(A) Are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history;
(B) Are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past;
(C) Embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or
(D) Have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history; and
(2) Ordinarily cemeteries, birthplaces or graves of historical figures, properties owned by religious institutions or used for religious purposes, structures that have been moved from their original locations, reconstructed historic buildings, properties primarily commemorative in nature, and properties that have achieved significance within the past fifty (50) years shall not be considered eligible for the Tennessee register. However, such properties will qualify if they are integral parts of districts that do meet the criteria or if they fall within the following categories:

(A) A religious property deriving primary significance from architectural or artistic distinction or historical importance;
(B) A building or structure removed from its original location but that is significant primarily for architectural value, or that is the surviving structure most importantly associated with an historic person or event;
(C) A birthplace or grave of an historical figure of outstanding importance, if there is no other appropriate site or building directly associated with such historical figure’s productive life;
(D) A cemetery that derives its primary significance from graves of persons of transcendent importance, from age, from distinctive design features, or from association with historic events;
(E) A reconstructed building when accurately executed in a suitable environment and presented in a dignified manner as part of a restoration master plan, and when no other building or structure with the same association has survived;
(F) A property primarily commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition or symbolic value has invested it with its own historical significance; or
(G) A property achieving significance within the past fifty (50) years, if it is of exceptional importance.
(b) Revisions to the criteria in subsection (a) may be made by the Tennessee historical commission in order to enhance the historical quality of the register.
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