B.4 - 809 E. 9th Street — original pdf

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HISTORIC LANDMARK COMMISSION APPLICATION FOR A CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS B.4 - 1 ROUTON-ALVAREZ-LOPEZ HOUSE AUGUST 24, 2020 C14H-2011-0002 809 E. 9TH STREET Construct a mid-rise residential tower adjacent to the house. PROPOSAL PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS The applicant proposes the construction of a mid-rise residential tower to provide affordable housing for seniors at the rear of the historic house. The proposed residential tower will be 9 stories (just over 112 feet) tall, with a flat roof slated to the south. The building will have stucco, glazed brick, and horizontal metal-coated siding that will approximate the look of lap siding as its principal materials, with stucco constituting the exterior material on the first two levels of the building to provide a solid backdrop that will not visually compete with the historic house from 9th Street. The proposed tower will be separated from the southeast corner of the historic house by almost 7 feet, and will have a separation of 16 feet on the southwest side of the house, facing the IH-35 service road (and the primary view of the house for most). The house will be moved forward approximately 6 feet (it is currently 16 feet from the house to the back of the 9th Street curb; the house will be moved so that the distance to the 9th Street curb will be 10 feet). .9 feet to accommodate the new building and yard area between the two structures. The house will be used as a community room for the proposed new affordable housing project, and will have a patio planted with shrubs and trees in the 16-foot separation on the southwest side of the house. 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: This project does not affect the physical structure or the use of the existing house. It had a residential use historically, and is now being proposed as a community room for the adjacent residential project. 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: The house will be moved approximately 6 feet forward toward the street, but will otherwise not be affected by the construction of the adjacent building. The Architectural Review Committee members were comfortable with the move as it still retains a front yard, and recognizing that the context of the house has been severely compromised with the construction of adjacent mid-rise residential buildings. 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. Evaluation: No work envisioned by this standard is proposed for the historic house. B.4 - 2 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 new tower is at least 7 feet back (and in most sections, 16 feet back) from the back of the historic house; the existing open yard on the back of the house will be eliminated. 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 proposed new building could be removed in the future without damage to the historic house. The project meets many of the applicable standards. The principal standard it does not meet involves the move of the house 6 feet towards the street, but the Architectural Review Committee members felt comfortable with that aspect of the proposal. COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS The Committee recommended that the applicant remove the horizontal siding portions of the first two stories of the proposed tower and replace it with stucco to offer a solid backdrop for the historic house, and to continue the theme of stucco around the west and south elevations of the building as well. The Committee members appreciated the inclusion of trees and other plantings between the two buildings to retain a greater sense of a domestic, one-story residential building that used to predominate in this neighborhood. The applicant has incorporated the Committee’s recommendations into the latest set of plans. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Approve as currently proposed with the change of siding materials recommended by the Committee. The proposed new building is very close to the historic house, and increasing the sense of separation between the two will be beneficial to retaining more of the integrity and B.4 - 3 historic context of the house. Vegetation or a planting of small trees between the two might present a greater visual separation between the buildings and retain more of a historic residential character to the site. Current setting of the house from 9th Street B.4 - 4 Current view of the house from the IH-35 northbound service road. B.4 - 5