Staff recommends approval of replacement of the existing canvas awning, but denial of the proposed standing-seam metal material due to a lack of historic precedent. Staff could approve a replacement canvas material on the existing frame. Staff recommends approval of the associated wood fascia repairs on storefront systems.
Removal of existing canvas awning on façade and installation of metal awning. Metal, standing-seam awning will be installed on existing framing for canvas awning; size, shape, profile, and placement of new awning will be identical to existing. Proposed awning will be 4' tall at its highest point, approximately 18" tall at the most shallow height of awning, and 10' deep. Like existing awning, the proposed awning is located below the transom windows and extends the length of the first four pilasters on 4 Market Square's storefront.
Scope of work also includes replacement in-kind of rotten wood trim along the fascia on the storefront system.
Miller's Annex: Three story, four bay, brick with limestone trim and sills, altered cornice has replaced elaborate pressed metal cornice. Pilasters dividing bays of upper stories. c. 1970 storefront. Wood windows date to 2007.
1. The building contributes to the Market Square National Register Historic District and local historic overlay.
2. The existing canvas awning dates to 2007. The applicant is proposing an awning of the same size, shape, and placement as the existing, utilizing the existing frame. The placement of the awning reinforces the frame of the first-story restaurant's storefront, does not obscure the multi-light clerestory windows or other architectural features, and extends evenly across the outside piers. Placement of the awning is appropriate. The existing awning is large in scale and massing, compared to others in Market Square, as it covers approximately two-thirds of the large building. The 2007 review recommended that the existing awning be visually "broken at the building lines" with vertical detail to provide some visual break in the overall massing of the large awning.
3. The shed shape of the proposed awning, which mirrors the existing, is typical of those in historic photographs in Market Square and of a comparable size and massing to other Market Square awnings. While flat metal canopies have been approved in Market Square, especially on modified storefronts, metal shed awnings have not yet been reviewed by the HZC. Historic photographs of Market Square indicate that sloped awnings were generally canvas. There is not sufficient historic precedent for standing-seam metal awnings in Market Square.
4. Preservation Brief 44, "the Use of Awnings on Historic Buildings, Repair, Replacement, and Design," notes that "historically awnings were covered with canvas," until the second half of the twentieth century when canvas was "superceded by vinyl and other synthetic textiles." The use of metal was usually reserved for flat canopies. In other commercial historic districts in Tennessee (Franklin), "modern metal awnings" are not considered appropriate and it's recommended to apply a canvas overlay to existing metal awnings.
5. Standing-seam metal is a material commonly used for roofs. On an awning of this scale and massing, the installation of standing-seam metal would make the awning resemble a roof structure which is permanently fixed to the building.
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