Solar panels on historic homes in Illinois

No. The Illinois State Historic Preservation Office says listing in the National Register does not require private owners to get approval before changing their property when they use private, city or county funds.

Local designation is different. If your home is a local landmark or sits in a local historic district, your city or village usually requires a review, often called a certificate of appropriateness, before exterior work like solar. Check which kind of designation your home has before you get quotes. In Chicago's Beverly neighborhood, for example, the larger Ridge Historic District is a National Register listing, while Longwood Drive is a Chicago Landmark district.

Most Illinois commissions follow the federal Secretary of the Interior's standards. The National Park Service says solar panels in a spot that can't be seen from the ground will generally meet those standards, while an installation that hurts the property's historic character won't. Its guidelines recommend:

• Panels mounted flat or parallel to the roof to keep them low-profile
• Installations that don't damage historic roofing and can be removed later
• Rear roof slopes that aren't visible from the front of the house, keeping in mind that on a corner lot the rear may still be highly visible

Under Chicago's solar zoning policy, panels on a designated Chicago Landmark or in a landmark district need a separate design review by the city's Historic Preservation Division, which looks at features readily visible from the public way. The Commission on Chicago Landmarks' Permit Review Committee typically approves solar with conditions: in February 2025 it required that panels not be visible from the street, and in November 2024 it set an 11-foot-5-inch setback from the front edge of a steep roof.

Chicago neighborhoods with landmark districts include the Villa District and parts of Beverly. Expect the landmark review to add time to your permit.

Other towns with historic review rules are listed in our solar permits guide.

Commissions usually ask you to move the panels rather than deny them outright. In 2024, Oak Park's architectural review committee suggested moving a homeowner's front porch panels to the garage, and the installer said that would cut production by 5% to 8%. In October 2025, Riverside's Preservation Commission took up a revised plan after asking the applicant to shift the panels down and toward the eaves.

• Use the garage or rear slopes. See solar on a detached garage.
• Consider a ground mount if the yard has sun and space. See ground-mount vs. roof-mount solar.
• Add a battery. It needs no roof space and can back up the house in an outage. See what a home battery costs.

It's a harder sell. The National Park Service's guidance on historic roofs says roofing in good condition should be kept rather than replaced with another material seen as more sustainable. If your slate, tile or cedar roof still has life left, panels on a less visible slope are usually easier to get approved. See solar on slate, tile or cedar roofs and the Tesla Solar Roof in Illinois.