As a result of NASA Langley’s more than 100 years of major contributions to aerospace research, testing and development, the NASA Langley Research Center Historic District was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register in December 2011 and the National Register of Historic Places in June 2012.
A brief overview of the historic district is provided in the NASA publication, “From Biplanes to Apollo: The NASA Langley Historic District.”
The historic district comprises the entirety of the center as well as several of the original National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) facilities now located at and owned by Joint Base Langley Eustis. Numerous past and present facilities at Langley are considered historically significant as resources contributing to the historic district, or as resources individually eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
Over the years, a number of historic facilities at the center have been demolished. The decision to demolish a historic facility is determined based on numerous factors, including the facility’s usefulness or obsolescence, ability to be adaptively reused for other purposes, and costs required to maintain the facility. Undertakings affecting historic facilities, including demolition, require consultation with the Virginia State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
NASA Langley has executed three separate agreement documents with the SHPO and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). Two Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) and one Programmatic Agreement (PA) contain stipulations for developing and maintaining information on the center’s public website as a component of mitigating impacts resulting from the demolition of historic facilities. NASA has also entered into a PA with the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers and ACHP to address effects on the agency’s National Historic Landmarks. Additional components of mitigation include intensive surveys and photographic documentation of the facilities kept on file with the SHPO, provision of artifacts as museum exhibits, and incorporation of building elements into new construction projects.
- Building 582, East Compressor Building
- Building 582A, Low Turbulence Pressure Tunnel
- Building 583, Ice Tunnel and 26-Inch Transonic Blowdown Tunnel
- Building 583A, Maintenance and Heating Plant
- Building 585, 6 x 19-Inch Transonic Tunnel
- Building 640, 8-Foot Transonic Pressure Tunnel
- Building 641, 8-Foot High Speed Tunnel
- Building 643, 30 x 60-Foot Full Scale Tunnel
- Building 644, 12-Foot Low Speed Tunnel
- Buildings 1146, 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel
- Building 1149, Stability Tunnel
- Building 1152, Information Media Center
- Building 1153, Heating Plant
- Building 1192, Impact Basin
- Building 1194, Floyd L. Thompson Technical Library
- Building 1212B, 7 x 10-Foot High Speed Tunnel
- Building 1213, Cafeteria
- Buildings 1218, 1218A, Gust Tunnel
- Building 1229, Physical Research Lab
- Building 1229A, 4.5-Foot Flutter Tunnel
- Building 1231A, Helicopter Test Tower
- Building 1232B, Vapor Disposition Facility
- Building 1234, Jet Exit Test Facility
- Buildings 1257, 1257N,S, 1258, 1261, Aircraft Landing Loads and Traction Facility Complex
- Building 1275, Hypersonic CF4 Tunnel
- Building 1283, Test Cell and Radiation Laboratory
- Buildings 1284B,C, Rocket Propellant Processing Building
- Building 1299D, Auto Tracking VHF Antenna
- Building 1299E, Microwave and VHF Communications Tower
