Historic Homes in Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach treats a historic house as the owner’s decision. Nothing in the city’s preservation program lists a house against its owner’s wishes, and the city says so in its own purpose statement: it encourages voluntary additions to the Historic Register. This page explains the lists that exist, what the register does and where the research trail starts.

Three lists, three meanings

Three different lists can apply to an older Laguna Beach house.

• The Historic Register. The city’s own list of properties whose owners asked to be added. The city posts an index, with a July 2024 edition, that gives each registered property’s address, year built, a category (Exceptional, Key or Contributive), and the dates of its recorded agreement and any Mills Act agreement. Register numbers in that index run past 340, and at least one entry is marked as removed, so a listing can end.
• The Historic Resources Inventory. A survey of older homes sorted by neighborhood, from Arch Beach Heights to Three Arch Bay. The Historical Society describes it as information on pre-1940 homes designated as historic in 1980. The city says that older inventory, adopted under Ordinance No. 82.111, does not create a presumption that a property is historic.
• The National Register and State Register. A property on either one meets one of the city’s listing criteria, though it still needs the owner’s agreement to join the city register.

What listing means

Listing starts with the owner. The Heritage Committee reviews the application and can ask for more information and plans for future changes. After the committee designates the property, the owner signs a preservation agreement with the city. The agreement is recorded with the County and applies to every later owner. The property is not formally designated until that agreement is signed and recorded.

The Heritage Committee also advises the City Council and the design review bodies when a historic structure is altered. Its meetings fall generally on the third Monday at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers. For how those reviews fit with building permits, read the permits and design review guide instead of the summary here. The city’s Master Fee Schedule lists a fee of $4,685 for an alteration to a Historic Register structure, effective July 12, 2026.

The city’s listing criteria

The owner must agree, and the property must meet at least one of ten criteria in the city code. The first is a listing on the National or State Register. The other nine, in the city’s own terms, cover:

• cultural, political, economic, social or historical heritage
• a link to a person, event or culture significant locally, statewide or nationally
• the work of a notable builder, designer, architect or artist
• the distinguishing features of an architectural style, type, period or method of construction
• a structural, engineering or architectural achievement
• a location or physical feature that stands out, or a public view point
• one of the remaining examples in the city, region, state or nation with distinguishing architectural, cultural or historical characteristics
• a landscape or garden significant to the city’s heritage
• information the site has yielded or could yield about local history

Where the Mills Act stands

The Mills Act is a state program. According to the California Office of Historic Preservation, it lets a local government offer property tax relief to owners who maintain a qualified historic building. Contracts run at least ten years, renew each year and pass to the next owner. The property’s assessed value comes from an income method rather than market comparison. Each city decides who qualifies and how many contracts it signs.

In Laguna Beach a home has to reach the Register first. The city normally takes Mills Act applications once a year, starting in January. The city’s historic preservation page, as read in October 2026, says it will not accept applications this year while it reviews the program, and that the goal is to re-launch it once the review is done. The fee schedule effective July 12, 2026 lists a Mills Act application fee of $4,410. Ask Planning at (949) 497-0713 whether the program has reopened before you plan around it.

How to apply to the Register

1. Check the Register index and the Inventory documents for your address.
2. Call Planning at (949) 497-0713 to confirm the steps.
3. File the city’s Historic Register Placement Application. If the Heritage Committee wants a rating assessment, you can ask the city’s consultant architectural historian for a scope and cost first.
4. Appear before the Heritage Committee.
5. Sign the preservation agreement for recording with the County.

How to research a house’s history

1. Public GIS viewer. The city’s map viewer holds planning and building files for almost every address. A few homes do not appear, and the city’s Public Records Search can help with those.
2. Inventory documents. Open the index first to find the neighborhood file for a pre-1940 address.
3. Laguna Beach Historical Society. Its Research Your House page collects links, and the society keeps the Murphy Smith Bungalow at 278 Ocean Avenue, a Register-listed cottage the society says dates to about 1923. Visiting hours are most Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.
4. Library. The Glenneyre Street branch has a Local History Collection. See the library guide for hours.
5. County records. The Orange County Archives holds mostly records from before 1960 and sits at 211 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Room 108 in Santa Ana, (714) 834-2536. For newer property records, call the Clerk-Recorder at (714) 834-2500.

More on the town’s past is in Laguna Beach history and the landmarks guide.