Resurvey of Cottage Hill Historic District for the City of Montgomery Local Register of Historic Places

The City of Montgomery (COM), Alabama, desires to perform a new survey of the Cottage Hill Historic District.
The COM is seeking requests proposals from a qualified firm/organization (“consultant”) to conduct an intensive level architectural survey of the Cottage Hill neighborhood. The purpose of this RFP is to hire a consultant fully capable of conducting the architectural survey of the Cottage Hill neighborhood, and with the skill to prepare a report for an updated nomination of the neighborhood for inclusion on the local register of historic places in Montgomery, Alabama.

Cottage Hill is the oldest extant residential neighborhood in Montgomery. Like the African American neighborhoods of Peacock Tract (or West Montgomery) and Centennial Hill, Cottage Hill was negatively affected by the construction of the Interstate Highway System which purposely bisected these communities. Cottage Hill was designated as an Historic District at the local level in 1974 and, except for an additional Annex designation in 1982, the neighborhood’s documentation has not been revisited since. Of note, the original submission is missing the architectural survey data and robust historic context report required for the designation. The subsequent National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination from 1976 provides some data and a modified district boundary, however its statement of significance does not meet modern professional standards for historic preservation. Upgrading the documentation for this long-standing historic district will strengthen the defensibility of the district’s boundaries and increase awareness of the historic significance of the neighborhood in the public’s memory and for posterity.