HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/18/2020 Item 16, Papp
From:James Papp <
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:1144 Chorro Street
Dear Council,
CHC's recommendation to make the materials consistent between the bottom three and top three floors of
1144 Chorro was accepted by the developer's representative at the hearing. "I agree that brick all the way up
may be better. Support that idea"—text sent by Mark Rawson to me Monday, June 22, 7:24 pm, as CHC was
discussing the issue.
The recommendation was based on the history and tradition of architecture in San Luis Obispo and across the
world: that if you have no reason to suddenly alter materials in midstream, you don't, because it looks weird
and draws attention to the alteration.
Though I say it who love him, if Kyle had seriously wished to find examples of brick- or masonry-faced
buildings that step back on the upper levels, he could have found literally thousands across the United States:
the Chrysler Building springs to mind; closer to home, Los Angeles City Hall; in front of his nose and a few steps
from the project in question, the now notorious Johnson Block at Higuera and Chorro.
The point CHC also wished to make was that on some historic buildings, vertical additions are made in a
distinct material to the original in order to make it clear that the addition is not historic. Where a building is
built all at the same time, there is no reason to use contrasting materials, and to do so in a historic district is
misleading. Additional floors on unlisted brick buildings in down-at-heel urban areas are often added in
cheaper materials like white stucco, and that looks like a jury-rigged afterthought. Of course people's eyes are
drawn to the anomaly.
Why bother having a CLG-sanctioned preservation commission of experts and community members if they can
be overruled by one planner without expertise in the historic preservation field and who didn't do his
homework? It makes it look as if city staff are doing the developers' bidding.
James Papp
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