Historic Zoning Commission

Fourth and Gill H-1: Level II

4-H-18-HZ

Applicant Request

Level II. Major repair or replacement of materials or architectural elements

Install shingles of "straight-edged" fiber cement board in front porch gable. Removal of a portion of the non-original horizontal board siding reveals wood shingles which previously covered the gable.

Site Info

Two-story frame with weatherboard wall covering. Low-pitched side-gable roof with asphalt shingles. Replacement windows. One-story full projecting front porch with front gable roof, exposed rafters, truncated splayed wood posts on brick piers, pierced brick balustrade. Currently the gable is covered with horizontal siding, which is covering earlier wood shingle siding. Two interior offset stuccoed chimneys. Brick foundation. Rectangular plan.

1) The houses is a contributing resource in the Fourth and Gill H-1 Zoning Overlay.
2) Wood shingles are visible underneath the horizontal wood siding in the front gable of the porch.
3) Wood shingles would have been typical in the gable of a Craftsmanbungalow porch. The exising shakes provide physical documentation to guide to replicate the size, shape,and texture of new shingles to be installed.
4) Fiber cement board shakes have been installed on new renditions of Craftsman houses at 817 Deery and 809 Gratz Street.
5) The fiber cement board shakes provide a good rendition of a wood-shingle appearance, moreso than fiber cement board horizontal lap siding. Approval fiber cement board shingles on historic houses would not extend approval to fiber cement board for horizontal lap siding. However, staff believes the proposed fiber cement board shingles are compatible with the early ones in size, scale, and texture.
6) Staff believes the exising shingles are too deteriorated to repair, and that it would not be necessary to salvage this material from another source.