Fairfax County’s Historic Overlay District (HOD) program was established in 1969 to preserve general districts and individual structures that have historic, cultural, architectural or archaeological significance.
Currently, there are fifteen historic overlay districts in Fairfax County. Each district was created for the purpose of protecting the unique heritage resources of that district. To assist the Architectural Review Board (ARB) in achieving that goal, the Fairfax County Zoning Ordinance stipulates that the ARB adopt historic district design guidelines to facilitate its review of applications. Each historic overlay district has its own individual set of guidelines.