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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC Packet 10.13.16.pdfThursday October 13, 2016 5:30 p.m. Emma Harvat Hall City Hall MINUTES PRELIMINARY HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 EMMA J. HARVAT HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Thomas Agran, Esther Baker, Kevin Boyd, Zach Builta, Gosia Clore, Sharon DeGraw, Cecile Kuenzli, Andrew Litton, Pam Michaud, Ginalie Swaim, Frank Wagner MEMBERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Jessica Bristow, Bob Miklo OTHERS PRESENT: Alicia Trimble RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: (become effective only after separate Council action) CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Swaim called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Swaim stated that Ben Sandell moved to Cedar Rapids and is therefore now unable to serve on the Commission. She introduced Kevin Boyd as the new at-large representative. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANYTHING NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. NATIONAL REGISTER NOMINATION - BYFIELD HOUSE, 715 WEST PARK ROAD: Bristow said that the Byfield House has been nominated to the National Register. She said that as a Certified Local Government, the Commission is charged with lending its opinion to the State committee that will review the nomination before it goes to the federal nomination board. Bristow said the basic need is to determine whether or not it meets the criterion to be on the National Register. She said that in this case, it is based on architecture. Bristow showed slides of the property. Bristow said the house is located at the corner of Park Road and Lexington Street. She said it is part of the survey area and part of the original first wave of construction in the Manville Heights Neighborhood, in the Manville Addition, which began in 1909. Bristow said that the house was probably built about 1917, according to Marlys Svendsen. Bristow said the property was outside of one of the areas that was identified for the Manville Heights Historic District, but it was marked as one of the important landmarks outside of the proposed district. Bristow showed the southwest elevation. She said the house is a blend of Tudor and Craftsman style of architecture. Bristow said it was designed by an engineer - Stuart Hobb Simms. She said it was built during a period of time when many University engineers were employed on a free-lance basis to design bridges and buildings and infrastructure around Iowa City. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION September 8, 2016 Page 2 of 7 Bristow stated that the current owner has done some research on the house and found a pattern book from 1912 that had an English house in it that matches this house fairly well. She said it shows the source of the style. Bristow showed a slide of the northwest corner of the house, with a two-story porch that is only accessible from the inside. She said that some of the photographs in the packet show the craftsman details on the inside. Bristow stated that the Tudor details are obvious because of the brick; the use of stucco; the board detailing on the porch; the large, decorative chimney; and the tile roof. She said that craftsman details have more to do with the actual fabrication of the details of this house, particularly the interior. Bristow showed photographs of the English house that was the model for his house. Bristow said there are similarities with the door and the brick with stucco above. Bristow said the house is pretty much intact as it was originally built. She said there has been a garage addition and an L-shaped addition connecting the garage to the main house. Bristow said there have been slight changes in the second story floor plan. She said that the first story floor plan changed a little bit when the addition was put on in that the stucco wall on the low part used to be a single-car garage but is now the kitchen. Bristow referred to interior details in the main living room on the first floor off the porch. She pointed out the leaded casement windows. Bristow said that all of the original hardware is here, as is the original internal vacuum system. She showed one of the fireplaces. Bristow said the house is remarkable because of its intact condition, the fact that it is part of this original Manville Heights building, and because of the blend of Tudor and craftsman in the English cottage style. Swaim said this is a good reminder that there are a lot of really important houses on the west side of the river - grand houses like this one and also more modest houses that are equally important. She said it is good to keep these buildings researched and protected. Michaud asked if this would restrict the owner from adding any buildings within view of the street or sidewalk. Bristow said that the National Register listing would not impose any restrictions, and this won't actually fall under the Commission for regulatory purposes unless it becomes a local landmark. Miklo said staff may follow up with the owner about having this nominated as a local landmark in the future. Bristow said the State would look to any comments that the Commission would like to add to the nomination form. MOTION: Wagner moved to approve National Historic Register Landmark designation for the house at 715 West Park Road, based on criterion C for architecture. Clore seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 11-0. CERTIFICATES OF APPROPRIATENESS: 821 North Johnson Street. Bristow said this property is a non-contributing structure close to the end of Johnson Street. She said it was probably built in the 1950s. Bristow said the house is HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION September 8, 2016 Page 3 of 7 brick. She said that the owners want to put an egress window for the basement on the back of the wing of the house. Bristow said the house currently has vinyl windows, and the contractor is proposing a vinyl window. She said that most of the windows on this property are casement windows. Bristow said that because the house is not contributing, staff feels that going ahead with a casement window without divided lights to make it look like a double hung window might be most appropriate. Bristow said she has talked to the applicant about a window well not being a typical, metal curved piece of window well but something that actually matches the foundation. She said that in this case, since one cannot see any foundation beyond brick, she has worked with the contractor to do a concrete block window well that will be topped in row lock brick, basically like the window sill that one sees where they all stand up on the thin edge. Bristow said that will go all the way around the top of the window well. Bristow said the contractor submitted a drawing that she distributed to the Commission. She said it shows that he agrees to put on the brick cap so that there does not have to be anything special with that, and he agrees to use a casement window. Bristow said staff agrees with that and with the vinyl window for this case because of the non-historic, non-contributing house. Wagner said that the brick cap the way it is drawn does not look like the brick cap in the photograph. Bristow replied that she told the contractor to specifically use row lock brick and will make sure that he knows that. Bristow said staff had just received window product information earlier in the day that is proposed to match the other windows on the property. MOTION: Baker moved to approve a certificate of appropriateness for the project at 821 North Johnson Street, as presented in the application, with the following conditions: 1) window product information to be approved by staff and chair and 2) the brick match on the top of the window well to be confirmed by staff. Litton seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 11-0. 422 Brown Street. Swaim said that the applicant is a Commission member, Andy Litton. Bristow said that after the agenda packet had been prepared, the application has changed to no longer include replacement of the internal gutters, so at this point there is not anything that needs to be voted on. Bristow said this property is part of Black's Gaslight Village and is the main front house, which has had many additions. She said the roofline has a nice gentle curve to it, and there are some remaining internal gutters. Bristow said there are obviously some K-style gutters that were put on. She showed where there are some internal gutters and a downspout coming down. Bristow said there is a lot of original woodwork along the windows. She said the original application was to replace the roof shingles, which does not need to be brought to the Commission, but included removal of the internal gutters. Bristow said that at this point, based on the condition of the house and the gutters, staff recommended going ahead and removing them, partly because perhaps some of the PVC downspout and other things can be remedied. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION September 8, 2016 Page 4 of 7 Bristow said that since then, staff has learned that the applicant is actually going to leave the internal gutters and have Mark Anderson coat the gutters with the Acrymax coating that staff is suggesting for people with metal roofs. Bristow said this will probably work fine here. Bristow said staff's only other recommendations had been, instead of replacing the aluminum soffit material if needed, to try to go towards bead board. She said it was used in some of the dormer overhangs. Bristow said staff recommends maintaining any wood trim that needs replacement and putting on downspouts that would be appropriate. She said staff will work with the applicant to find something that is not PVC. Bristow stated that at this point there does not need to be a vote of the Commission, because the roof does not need to come before the Commission, and the internal gutters will not be removed. REPORTS ON CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY CHAIR AND STAFF: Certificate of No Material Effect - Chair and Staff Review. 530 East Davenport Street. Bristow said this house is in the Goosetown/Horace Mann Conservation District. She said the stucco is in poor condition. She said the application it to repair and replace sections as needed. Bristow said the stucco is falling off in many places on the house. 415 Brown Street. Bristow said this is a reroofing project. She said the gutters are not in bad shape and will be repaired. Bristow said that right now the house has a kind of three-tab shingle, and it will be replaced with a more appropriate architectural shingle. 435 and 437 South Summit Street. Bristow said this house has quite a few flat roof areas, including the front porch, a back bump out area, and an area on the top of the roof. She said that all of that will be replaced with a regular, white rubber roof membrane. 1030 College Street. Bristow said this house has a standing seam metal roof. She said the owners plan to replace some of the shingled areas of the roof with new shingles. Bristow said those areas include the front porch, the little bay area, and all of the area in the back. Bristow said there is a flat roof section where there may have originally been a door. She said that will probably be a roofing membrane. Bristow said this will have shingles that looks like weathered, wood shake shingles. 817 Bowery. Bristow said the property was having a porch reconstruction that was found in mid- process. Bristow said the flooring has been replaced, and the floor structure has been replaced. She added that on the back porch, the owner used bead board and on the side of the shed roof for the porch and on the porch ceiling as well. Bristow said that in the course of the work, the owner replaced one single posts. She said that because it was already done and the owner did not actually have to replace any of the other posts, staff is not going back to have the owner replace them all with what would really be appropriate, which would be something much more substantial. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION September 8, 2016 Page 5 of 7 830 Bowery. Bristow said the owner of this property wanted to replace the double hung, original windows in the bays. She said the windows have unfinished aluminum storm windows over them, but in some cases the storm windows are missing or broken or don't operate. Bristow said the actual windows are in good condition, so the owner will be replacing the storm windows and probably putting new putty in, glazing, and painting the original windows instead of replacing them. Minor Review - Staff Review. 506 South Governor Street. Bristow said the garage on this house in the Governor-Lucas Street Conservation District had masonite siding that was deteriorating. She said that staff worked with the owners to put on a siding that matches the house. Bristow showed what the project looks like in process. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES FOR AUGUST 11, 2016: MOTION: Kuenzli moved to approve the minutes of the Historic Preservation Commission's August 11, 2016 meeting, as written. Baker seconded the motion. The motion carried on a vote of 11-0. COMMISSION INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION: Swaim said that the Fisk Reception, which Builta is volunteering on, will be held September 29. She added that the Commission is co-sponsoring the reception with Friends of Historic Preservation and the Johnson County Historic Preservation Commission. Swaim said this fulfills one of the Commission's goals in terms of educating the public and celebrating local historic housing and building stock. Miklo added that Fisk was one of the designers of the City Hall building as well as the Airport terminal where the reception will take place. Swaim said that the Iowa Preservation Summit is next week, and she, Bristow, DeGraw, and Alicia Trimble will be attending. Swaim said it is not too early for Commission members to take note of properties that might be considered for awards at the January awards ceremony. Regarding the house move to College Street, Miklo said that not a lot was occurring over the summer, because the contractor who had done the foundation work had to finish the grading, which took some time. He said that now that it is done, the front porch is starting to appear. Bristow added that the front porch structure was started this past week by Wagner. Bristow said that the back porch structure has been started, and they are looking for porch floor to salvage and use on these porches. Bristow said that some of the next steps involve vacuuming out all of the soot, having some plumbing work done, reconfiguring some things on the second floor, and determining what to do with the fireplace and chimney. She said it is getting to the point where volunteers may be needed. Bristow said some educational workshops will be held, based on the work being done. HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION September 8, 2016 Page 6 of 7 ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m. Minutes submitted by Anne Schulte HI S T O R I C P R E S E R V A T I O N C O M M I S S I O N AT T E N D A N C E R E C O R D 20 1 6 - 2 0 1 7 KE Y : X = P r e s e n t O = A b s e n t O / E = A b s e n t / E x c u s e d -- - = N o t a M e m b e r NA M E TE R M EX P . 10 / 8 1 1 / 1 2 1 2 / 1 0 1 / 1 4 2 / 1 1 2 / 2 5 3 / 1 2 4 / 1 4 5 / 1 2 6 / 9 7 / 1 4 8 / 1 1 9 / 8 AG R A N , T H O M A S 3/ 2 9 / 1 7 X X X O / E O / E X X O / E X X O / E O / E X BA K E R , E S T H E R 3/ 2 9 / 1 8 X O / E X X X X X X X X X X X BO Y D , K E V I N 3/ 2 9 / 1 7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X BU I L T A , Z A C H 3/ 2 9 / 1 9 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X X X X X X CL O R E , G O S I A 3/ 2 9 / 1 7 X X X O / E X O / E X X X O / E X X X DE G R A W , S H A R O N 3/ 2 9 / 1 9 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X X X X O / E X KU E N Z L I , C E C I L E 3/ 2 9 / 1 9 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - O / E O / E X X X X LI T T O N , A N D R E W 3 / 2 9 / 1 7 X X X X X X X X O / E O / E X O / E X MI C H A U D , P A M 3 / 2 9 / 1 8 X O / E X X X X X X X X X O / E X SA N D E L L , B E N 3/ 2 9 / 1 7 X X O / E X X X X X X X X - - - - - - SW A I M , G I N A L I E 3/ 2 9 / 1 8 X O / E X X X X X X X X X X WA G N E R , F R A N K 3 / 2 9 / 1 8 X O / E X X X X X X X X X X X