Historic Zoning Commission

Ft. Sanders NC: Level III

5-E-21-HZ

Applicant Request

JUNE 17, 2021 HZC MEETING:

REAR ELEVATIONS: At the May 20, 2021 HZC meeting, application was approved with conditions identified by staff, with the additional condition that the rear elevation drawings be revised and return to the Commission for review. The applicant has provided revised rear elevation drawings. The L-shaped rear elevation features irregularly-spaced double-hung, aluminum-clad windows topped by anodized aluminum headers. Over each secondary entrance door is a flat roof, metal canopy, painted to match window frames and headers. Doors are 3' wide by 7' tall smooth-finished fiberglass doors with a single light. Metal roof coping extends around rear elevations, finished to match window frame colors.

FAÇADE ELEVATION WINDOW PLACEMENT: At the May 20, 2021 HZC meeting, one condition of approval (#2) was "break up large massing with no transparency on rightmost side of S. 17th Street elevation (using three stories of double-hung windows to match, material change, or other visual element)." Neighborhood representative and architect Randall DeFord submitted, as part of the routine neighborhood comment, drawings illustrating where he thought additional windows should be placed. Members of the HZC mistook these suggestions for revised drawings submitted by the applicant, and included the neighborhood suggestions in the conditions of approval. The applicant is not required to adhere to drawings that they did not submit as part of the application.

The applicant is submitting three options in response to staff condition #2: 1) no additional windows on rightmost section fronting S. 17th Street, designating the section as a secondary massing and including existing and new trees and vegetation in the site plan to obscure the massing; 2) the addition of two double-hung windows on the basement-level and upper-story; 3) the addition of three windows, with two double-hung windows on basement-level and upper-story and one smaller, single-light, fixed window on the ground level.

ALL OTHER SCOPES OF WORK (building placement, massing, overall footprint, site plan, material elements) were approved at the May 2021 meeting. See May 2021 staff report, meeting minutes. And recording for prior phase of review.

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MAY 20, 2021 HZC MEETING:
Demolition of non-contributing carwash and billboard fixture. The existing structures on the site are non-contributing to the National Register Historic District and the NC overlay.

Construction of new residential duplex on the corner of Forest Avenue and S. 17th Street. The three-story duplex will utilize an L-shape design, with frontage on both Forest Avenue and S. 17th Street. The massing fronting S. 17th Street measures 66'-8", with a secondary massing (the side of the Forest Avenue elevation) measuring 17'-4" wide. The section fronting Forest Avenue measures 66'-8" wide. The overall massing is 18'-8" deep, with two one-story, flat-roof massings projecting towards the street on both Forest Avenue and S. 17th St. elevations.

The three-story building features a flat roof with metal coping (finished to match window headers and frames); an exterior of modular-sized brick veneer; and one-over-one, double-hung aluminum-clad windows topped by black anodized aluminum headers. The primary entries feature full-light, iron doors on recessed cedar-sided entry vestibules, with concrete steps and concrete on window wells.

The Seventeenth Street (east) elevation features an a four-bay façade, with a two projecting, one-story, flat-roof massings flanking a recessed entry. The entry will feature paired, 74" wide by 96" tall, iron, full-light doors, covered by a flat-roof metal canopy and accessible by cast concrete steps. Both flat-roof massings feature three adjoining windows topped by a single aluminum header. The rooftop of the flat-roof massings will serve as a balcony, accessible by iron doors on the uppermost level. Four fenestrations are evenly spaced along the upper level, with two windows on the outside bays and two doors accessing the balconies. One lower-level window is visible, partially obscured by a window well. A secondary massing is slightly recessed from the east elevation; this structure is the side of the residential unit fronting Forest Avenue.

Due to the site's topography, all three levels are visible on the Forest Avenue (north) elevation. Two, two story, flat-roof massings flank a recessed entry stoop. The flat-roof massings serve as balconies, accessible by iron doors on the upper level (third story). The identical massings feature two single-light picture windows on the first story and three adjoining one-over-one windows on the second story. On this elevation, the doors are set perpendicular to the façade, accessible from the concrete entry stoop clad in 6" wide vertical cedar ship-lap siding. The overall elevation features three levels of one-over-one, double-hung windows topped by metal headers.

The rear (south) and rear (east) elevations feature two brick-clad chimneys topped by metal coping; irregularly spaced one-over-one, double-hung windows on two visible stories; and a series of window wells for lower-level windows. Corner elevation windows will feature aluminum headers to match façade windows. Secondary entries (3' by 7' fiberglass doors) are located on each elevation.

A paved parking lot will be primarily accessible via the alley, with an exit off Forest Avenue. The site plan includes the preservation of several existing trees (elms, magnolia, etc) and the placement of several native shade trees on both facades and fronting the alley.

Site Info

Lot currently features a non-historic, non-contributing car wash building and a billboard.

1. Due to the building's L-shape and frontage facing Forest Avenue and S. Seventeenth Street, the rear elevations will be very minimally visible from the public right-of-way.

2. At the May 2021 HZC meeting, the Commission discussed the lack of ornament or additional decoration on the rear elevation, along with the somewhat irregular placement of windows. The revised proposal includes window headers to match the façade elevations, along with flat-roof metal canopies projecting outwards over the doors.

3. The additional documentation includes three options in response to Condition of Approval #2 (break up large massing with no transparency on the rightmost side of S. 17th Street elevation). The first option, no change to design, shows no additional windows and relies on the slight recession to differentiate the massings and new and existing trees to block the large swath without windows.

4. The second option includes double-hung windows to match the size and design of primary windows on the basement and upper levels. In the opinion of staff, the addition of two double-hung windows is sufficient to break up the large mass of siding with no transparency; any new trees on the site would most likely have the most vegetation around the middle story, and the smaller-sized single-light window in option 3 would be disproportionate to the other windows on the elevation.