B.7 - Pope House, 1612 Gaston Avenue — original pdf

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HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION APPLICATION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS B.7 - 1 JANUARY 27, 2020 C14H-2006-0029 POPE HOUSE 1612 GASTON AVENUE PROPOSAL Construct a two-story addition at the rear of the house with a two-story glass connector between the original house and the proposed addition, demolish the existing garage and construct a new garage; replace the non-historic front door with a six-panel solid wood door. PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS The applicant came before the Certificate of Appropriateness Review Committee last year for review and input on the proposed addition to the house; the Committee made some recommendations regarding the scale of the proposed addition, its roofline, and its connection to the existing house, which the applicant has incorporated into the latest set of plans. The proposed addition will be located on the site of the existing one-story addition, breezeway, and garage, on the west side of the house; these sections of the house will be demolished. The proposed addition will have smooth hardi-plank siding, an asphalt shingle roof, and a standing seam metal roof at the framed glass connector between the house and the addition. Windows in the addition will be aluminum-framed. Existing French doors on the back of the house will be replaced with new door units. The previous proposal for a street-facing gable over the garage has been replaced with a design that has the gable at the back of the addition, lowering the roofline along the west elevation of the house. The roof ridgeline will be lower than the ridgeline of the existing house to reduce its visibility from the front; the connector will have a standing seam metal roof that is lower than the roof on the house and the proposed addition. STANDARDS FOR REVIEW The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation are used to evaluate projects on historic landmarks. The following standards apply to the proposed project: 1) A property will be used as it was historically or be given a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features, spaces, and spatial relationships. Evaluation: N/A. The use of the property will remain residential. 2) The historic character of a property will be retained and preserved. The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces, and spatial relationships that characterize a property will be avoided. Evaluation: While the addition is large, it is at the back of the house along the west elevation and does not compete with the historic character of the existing house. The features and sections of the house that will be removed for the construction of the addition do not appear to be original and their removal will not compromise the historic character of the property. 3) Each property will be recognized as a physical record of its time, place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development, such as adding conjectural features or elements from other historic properties, will not be undertaken. B.7 - 2 Evaluation: The proposed addition will have hardi-plank siding and a neo-traditional design that will complement the rock-faced house but not mimic its architecture, massing, or fenestration patterns. 4) Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in their own right will be retained and preserved. Evaluation: N/A 5) Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property will be preserved. Evaluation: N/A 6) Deteriorated historic features will be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature will match the old in design, color, texture, and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features will be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence. Evaluation: N/A 7) Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, will be undertaken using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic materials will not be used. Evaluation: N/A 8) Archeological resources will be protected and preserved in place. If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures will be undertaken. Evaluation: N/A 9) New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction will not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships that characterize the property. The new work will be differentiated from the old and will be compatible with the historic materials, features, size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of the property and its environment. Evaluation: The proposed addition will be constructed on the back of the house and will be only minimally invasive to the historic elements on the house. The proposed addition will have a glass-framed connector to the original portion of the house that both minimizes the removal of historic fabric as well as separating the proposed addition from the original house. 10) New additions and adjacent or related construction will be undertaken in such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be unimpaired. Evaluation: The addition will have a glass-framed connector that preserves the essential form and integrity of the historic property. The project meets the applicable standards. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS The Committee recommended approval of the project. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Approve the Certificate of Appropriateness but require the completion of a modified City of Austin Documentation Package consisting of photographs of all elevations, and the garage, for archiving at the Austin History Center.