Career Path

Architectural Historian

Overview

In this career, your responsibilities may include:

Assessing the condition of historic properties.
Conducting the research necessary to understand the history of the property and how best to restore it. May require use of software such as CAD, ArcGIS, and Sketchup.

Job Titles

You may find more information about this career here.

Academic Requirements

Typically requires at least a bachelor’s degree, but most employers prefer a master’s degree. Adding another degree can make you eligible for careers with greater responsibility and higher salaries in this pathway. Your existing education might give you advanced standing or transfer credit towards a higher degree, reducing the time it would take you to graduate.

Certification

Certification is not required.
Licensure
No licensure is required to work as an Architectural Historian.

Bachelor’s degrees in architecture fall into two categories: professional degrees (five years in length) and pre-professional degrees (four years in length).
- - A four-year Bachelor of Arts in Architecture (BA) or Bachelor of Science in Architecture (BS) degree is considered “pre-professional” and does NOT qualify graduates to practice as a licensed professional architect.
  - Only a five-year Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) degree allows graduates to become licensed.
  - However, a BA or BS can qualify you to work in fields related to architecture, such as architectural history, interior design, industrial design, construction management, and computer-aided design or drafting. It will also allow you to pursue a Master of Architecture degree, which will then qualify you to apply for licensure.
Mutual Recognition Agreement
A Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) is an agreement between two or more countries to accept the educational or professional credentials granted in each other’s countries. This means that if you graduated with a specific degree or earned certain professional qualifications in a country covered under an MRA, your credentials may be automatically recognized here in the US. Several professions in the US participate in MRAs, including accounting, architecture, and engineering.
- MRAs are not legally binding, and some states may choose not to recognize credentials covered under an MRA. If your credential may be covered under an MRA, always check with your state licensing board to be sure that they accept the agreement.
If you are an architect with active licensure in Australia, Canada, Mexico, or New Zealand, you may be able to pursue architectural licensure in the U.S. through the appropriate mutual recognition agreement.

Through the Canberra Accord, certain professional degrees in architecture from accredited programs in Australia, Canada, China, Korea, Mexico, and members countries of the Commonwealth Association of Architects may qualify for accelerated EESA evaluation processing from the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB).

In addition, NAAB has evaluated a number of international architecture degree programs outside the Canberra Accord for “substantial equivalency,” meaning that these programs have been found to be comparable to NAAB-accredited programs. If you hold an architecture degree from one of these programs with NAAB International Certification, you may also qualify for an accelerated EESA evaluation.

There is no MRA for Landscape Architecture.