Approval to replace non-original weatherboarded porch balustrade with 2x2 wooden picket balustrade with molded handrail as noted in submitted sketch w/following condition: pickets will die into top of bottom rail rather than be sandwiched between.
Replace/Replace non-original weatherboarded porch balustrade to match existing.
One-and-one-half story frame with weatherboard wallcoverving. Hip roof with lower cross gables and shed-roofed dormers, imbricated shingles on dormers and at gables, asphalt shingle roof covering. One-story full front proch with square wood posts on brieck piers and weatherboard balustrade. Brick foundation. Rectangular plan.
STAFF FINDINGS:
1) The weatherboarded porch balustrade, as well as the brick piers and wood posts, are not original to the Queen Anne house. Their Craftsman style and construction type indicates they were added sometime between the 1920s to 1940s. The balustrade, due to its construction and style, appears to have been an even later replacement than the porch posts and brick piers.
2) The wooden porch balustrade is very deteriorated.
3) The opaqueness and heaviness of the solid weatherboard balustrade is an inappropriate design for the aesthetics of a Queen Anne house; therefore, staff contends that the weatherboarded balustrade itself is not a character-defining feature. However, staff contends that the post and brick piers depict a common historical trend in the evolution of porches during the 1920s and 1940s; therefore, they have acquired significance in their own right.
4) No documentation of the original porch has been discovered; however, the porch elements likely comprised turned posts and balustrade for this early Queen Ann style.
5) A square balustrade is simple in design and does not constitute a significant conjectural embellishment. The square pickets would compliment the existing simple square porch posts and piers.
6) The traditional construction of a porch balustrade is with the pickets abutting the top edge of the bottom rail rather than having the pickets sandwiched between two bottom rails.
FOURTH AND GILL DESIGN GUIDELINES
Rehabilitation and New Construction
1. Repair porches on historic houses using wood floors, balustrades, posts and columns, or replace duplicating the original size and design. Reconstruction of the documented original porch is also appropriate.
SECRETARY OF INTERIORS STANDARDS
3. Each property shall 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 architectural elements from other buildings, shall not be undertaken.
4. Most properties change over time; those changes that have acquired historic significance in their own right
shall be retained and preserved.
5. Distinctive features, finishes and construction techniques or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property shall be preserved.
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