HALS Belli-Lompa Ranch

HALS Documentation

HALS (Historic American Landscape Survey) documentation is the newest of the historic documentations known collectively as HABS HAER HALS. Started only about 20 years ago, it is also one of the least utilized documentations. By comparison, HABS started during the Great Depression nearly 90 years ago and has thousands of recorded project sites. HALS documentations are required of landscape sites that exhibit historic significance, associated with people or events of historic significance or is a prime example of a master landscape architect.

A recent example is the Belli-Lompa Ranch in Carson City Nevada. Because there are several structures on-site dating to the 1920’s, you’d think that this would call for a HABS (Historic American Building Survey) documentation. Some of the reasons for a HALS documentation are the usage of the property, a major road way (streetscape) dividing the site, naturally occurring water drainage and irrigation. Streetscapes have become a major emphasis for HALS documentations.

In this HALS project, we documented streetscape, fencing, pastures, drainage, irrigation, a barn and several outbuildings associated with ranching in contextual, elevation and detail views.