Our house (the lovely new house we closed on yesterday!) is in Fort Wayne’s West Central Historic District, which means that anything we wish to do to the exterior of the home needs to be cleared for maintaining the historic character of the building. For example, if we want to put in an exhaust fan for the bathroom, and also move the washer and dryer to the second floor closet, we need to have a vent to the outside. I don’t know for sure yet, but I’m thinking we probably need to run it by them first, just to make sure it doesn’t get anyone all bothered.
Don Orban, in the City Planning Department Preservation Office, is apparently the guy to talk to about these sorts of things. He can be reached at 427-1140 or 427-2160. It’s also worth looking at the preservation guidelines.