Historic Zoning Commission

Market Square H-1 (Continued from 10/18/2018): Level II

10-D-18-HZ

Applicant Request

Level II. Major addition of materials or architectural elements

Install rooftop 3'-6" -high guardrail to be set 10+ feet back from building's front edge. To match railing at 28 Market Square which is wire mesh. The top and bottom rail is to be a 2x2 steel angle and welded to 2x2 posts.

Site Info

Two story brick with stuccoed second story, replacement windows. Altered storefront. Originally matched 22-24. The A. L. Young Dry Goods Store occupied this building from 1880 to 1900. Dry goods merchants such as the McBee Trading Company and J.H. Webb continued to occupy the building until 1950, when a ladies clothes shop, a beauty shop, and a record shop could be found there. In 1965, the building became Bell Brothers Shoe Store.

1) The building at 26 Market Square is a contributing building in the Market Square H-1 Overlay and National Register Historic District.

2) The HZC precedent since at least 2004 has been to deny permanent rooftop features including guard railings that can be seen from any distance from within the Market Square public way when viewing the roof edge from directly in front of the building (from 25-27 Market Square).

3) In 2004, a rooftop guardrail was approved for 29 Market Square, which is four stories high, based on the Technical Preservation Services Brief Number 36; Interpreting the Secretary of Inteior's Standards for Rehabilitation: "Rooftop additions are almost never appropriate for buildings that are less than four stories high."

4) The guard railings installed for #1 and 32 Market Square are partially visible only when viewing the building roof edge from an angle (secondary elevation) from within the Market Square public way.

5) The top portion of the proposed guard railing for 26 Market Square will be visible above the top of the building's parapet from the opposite side of the Market Square public way when viewed from directly in front of the building (primary elevation as viewed from 25-27 Market Square).

5) The roof guard railings approved by the HZC to date have been for simple designs with a degree of transparency afforded by small diameter horizontal metal cables or vertical pickets spaced no more than 4 inches apart.

6) The proposed mesh material is pratically opaque as opposed to the type of guardrails previously approved on rooftops in Market Square, and would therefore be more obtrusive.

7) The proposed guard rail is to match that at the adjacent north 28 Market Square. The appearance of the guardrail for 28 Market Square was not specifically reviewed by the HZC since was not approved to be visible from Market Square.