Historic Zoning Commission

Fourth and Gill H-1: Level II

2-F-12-HZ

Applicant Request

Level II. Replacement/repair

Add spindlework balustrade with the top rail mounted at 36 inches high to front porch (in place of a late-added balustrade that had been removed at some earlier point.)

Site Info

Two-story frame with weatherboard wall covering. Hip roof with lower cross gables, asphalt shingle roof covering. One-over-one double-hung windows. One -story full front porch with round columns with Ionic capitals, dentil molding under shed porch roof, tongue and groove floor, beadboard ceiling. Exterior side brick chimney. Brick foundation. Irregular plan. Projecting one-story bay on front elevation under porch roof One- story rear porch with columns and shed-roofed read addition at second story balcony with round wood posts on weatherboard balustrade.

For consideration in the HZC's decision, there are approved COAs dated 6-18-2009 and 8-20-2009 for installation of a spindlework balustrade on the rear porch, which was installed. A copy of those COAs are attached to this report. The applicant asserts that she worked with Historic Zoning Commission staff to obtain approval. She was under the impression that these COAs were to have included approval for the spindle balustrade throughout the house, although this is not noted in writing. Samples of the balustrade were provided at the 8/20/09 meeting. The applicant has provided photos of several Queen Anne houses in the neighborhood with this incorrect type of later-added balustrade and staff is researching the extent possible whether or not these are approved. These photos are attached to the end of the report. There is evidence that the porch did at one time include a balustrade given there are notches for attaching to the column bases.

The 4th and Gill Design Guidelines (listed below) state that porch details should be replicated if good documentation exists. There is no documentation that this porch originally had a balustrade. The Guidelines also state for new construction (this balustrade is newly constructed, not a repair) that "details such as . . . balustrades. . . must . . .present a visually and physically appropriate appearance historically." The new balustrade does not replicate a height that is correct for the style (as some others in the neighborhood also do not) due to the owner's intent to meet building code (top rail must be mounted a minimum of 36" high next to a 30" drop). However, there are design options as illustrated in the photos that accompany this report for installing a balustrade to meet the height required by the building code. The application for a building permit provides the opporutunity to consider these options.

Regarding the design of balustrade, there are characteristics that are particular to the type of house style. In this case, the house is a Queen Anne with classical or Colonial Revival influence. These house-styles are a sub-type referred to as "Free Classic Queen Anne ." This type of Queen Anne evolved at the turn-of-the century as societal taste began to turn toward a preference the classic design of the Colonial Revival era. The delicately turned porch posts, brackets, and spindled balustrades became outmoded in favor of more classical detailing such as greek columns, a sturdier, or no, balustrade and a dentiled entablature along the roof of the porch. The Free Classic Queen Anne was a turn-of-the-century transition to the asymmetrical Colonial Revival style which fully supplanted the traditional Queen Anne style by c. 1910. The subject house falls within that transitional era, as do many in the neighborhood, and exhibits the fluted classical columns with ionic caps and dentil molding along the porch roof line.



4th and Gill Design Guidelines p. 12:
These individual [porch] details should be repaired and preserved, or replicated if good documentation of the original porch exists. Properly proportioned porches are important to new buildings constructed in Fourth and Gill, helping new construction blend better with the neighborhood.

Porch Guideline Recommendations:

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.

4. In new construction, the proportion of the porches to the front facades should be consistent with the historic porches in the neighborhood. Details such as columns, posts, piers, balustrades and porch flooring must use materials that present a visually and physically appropriate appearance historically.