HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 2 - ARCH-0339-2017 (546 Higuera) Norcross House546 Higuera Street
ARCH-0339-2017
Norcross House
Continued review of the repositioning, restoration and rehabilitation of the Master List historic structure known as Norcross House, including the construction of an additional two story
unit for consistency with the Historic Preservation Ordinance
July 24, 2017
Applicant: John Belsher
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Recommendation
Recommend the Community Development Director find the project consistent with Historic Preservation Guidelines and Secretary of Interior Standards, based on findings, and subject to
conditions as modified
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Background
September 22, 2014
CHC recommend listing to City Council
November 18, 2014
City Council listing of Historic Resource
April 27, 2015
CHC conceptual review of project
May 22, 2017
CHC continued for additional Historic Review
July 24, 2017
CHC recommend project to Director
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Situation
CHC review due to:
The CHC continuance of the item pending review of further evaluations of the significance of the additions at the rear of the Norcross House by a City qualified architectural historian.
CHC Purview:
Evaluation Criteria in the City’s Historic Preservation Guidelines and compliance with the Secretary of Interior Standards
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Site Information
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Project Description
The proposed project includes:
Remove non-historic additions
Repositioning the historic structure
Rehabilitating the residence to its appearance during its period of significance
Construct a two-story addition to the historic structure
Construct new detached two-story unit to the rear of the Norcross House
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Supplemental Technical Analysis
Conducted to assess whether the additions are associated with the property’s historical significance and eligibility
Identifies that the original design and construction of the Norcross house was built in the “Carpenter Gothic” style to be stand alone
The remaining wall of the single-story addition is described in to be of inferior construction that includes mismatched framing, footing and siding that continues to the newer second
story addition
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Evaluation
The Supplemental Technical Analysis did not provide any additional information or evidence that would alter staff’s initial recommendation
Since the release of the report additional information has been made available for the CHC hearing as it relates to character defining features proposed for demolition
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Discussion
The CHC should determine if the rear additions are essential to the integrity of the Norcross house or convey its historical significance (architectural, persons/history).
Are the additions character defining features that contribute to the period of significance and essential to convey architectural/historical significance?
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Recommendation
Recommend the Community Development Director find the project consistent with Historic Preservation Guidelines and Secretary of Interior Standards, based on findings, and subject to
conditions.
Continuance – not recommended
Recommend the Community Development Director find the project inconsistent with Historic Preservation Guidelines and Secretary of Interior Standards, based on findings.
Alternatives
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Additional Finding
The proposed demolition of the rear structures are consistent with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Rehabilitation because the additions do not include historic character defining
features that account for its inclusion as a Master List historic resource.
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Draft Alternative Findings
The project is inconsistent with the City’s Historic Preservation Guidelines since the project includes demolition of portions of the structure that contribute to the historic significance
of the residence.
The project is inconsistent with the Secretary of Interior Standards for Rehabilitation because the proposed project will destroy historic character defining features that account for
its inclusion as a Master List historic resource.
The proposed removal of the portions of the structure that are character defining features would negatively impact the historic significance of the Norcross House.
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Site Information
Bird’s Eye View 1877
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Project Elevations
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Project Elevations
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Project Elevations
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Site Plan
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Site Plan
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How to evaluate the integrity of a Property
Integrity is the ability of a property to convey its significance. To be listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a property must not only be shown to be significant under
the National Register criteria, but it also must have integrity. The evaluation of integrity is sometimes a subjective judgment, but it must always be grounded in an understanding of
a property's physical features and how they relate to its significance.
Historic properties either retain integrity (this is, convey their significance) or they do not. Within the concept of integrity, the National Register criteria recognizes seven aspects
or qualities that, in various combinations, define integrity.
To retain historic integrity a property will always possess several, and usually most, of the aspects. The retention of specific aspects of integrity is paramount for a property to convey
its significance. Determining which of these aspects are most important to a particular property requires knowing why, where, and when the property is significant. The following sections
define the seven aspects and explain how they combine to produce integrity.
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Understanding the Aspects of Integrity
Location is the place where the historic property was constructed or the place where the historic event occurred. The relationship between the property and its location is often important
to understanding why the property was created or why something happened. The actual location of a historic property, complemented by its setting, is particularly important in recapturing
the sense of historic events and persons. Except in rare cases, the relationship between a property and its historic associations is destroyed if the property is moved.
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Understanding the Aspects of Integrity
Design is the combination of elements that create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of a property. It results from conscious decisions made during the original conception and
planning of a property (or its significant alteration) and applies to activities as diverse as community planning, engineering, architecture, and landscape architecture. Design includes
such elements as organization of space, proportion, scale, technology, ornamentation, and materials.
A property's design reflects historic functions and technologies as well as aesthetics. It includes such considerations as the structural system; massing; arrangement of spaces; pattern
of fenestration; textures and colors of surface materials; type, amount, and style of ornamental detailing; and arrangement and type of plantings in a designed landscape.
Design can also apply to districts, whether they are important primarily for historic association, architectural value, information potential, or a combination thereof. For districts
significant primarily for historic association or architectural value, design concerns more than just the individual buildings or structures located within the boundaries. It also applies
to the way in which buildings, sites, or structures are related: for example, spatial relationships between major features; visual rhythms in a streetscape or landscape plantings; the
layout and materials of walkways and roads; and the relationship of other features, such as statues, water fountains, and archeological sites.
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Understanding the Aspects of Integrity
Setting is the physical environment of a historic property. Whereas location refers to the specific place where a property was built or an event occurred, setting refers to the character
of the place in which the property played its historical role. It involves how, not just where, the property is situated and its relationship to surrounding features and open space.
Setting often reflects the basic physical conditions under which a property was built and the functions it was intended to serve. In addition, the way in which a property is positioned
in its environment can reflect the designer's concept of nature and aesthetic preferences.
The physical features that constitute the setting of a historic property can be either natural or manmade, including such elements as:
Topographic features (a gorge or the crest of a hill);
Vegetation;
Simple manmade features (paths or fences); and
Relationships between buildings and other features or open space.
These features and their relationships should be examined not only within the exact boundaries of the property, but also between the property and its surroundings. This is particularly
important for districts.
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Understanding the Aspects of Integrity
Materials are the physical elements that were combined or deposited during a particular period of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic property. The choice
and combination of materials reveal the preferences of those who created the property and indicate the availability of particular types of materials and technologies. Indigenous materials
are often the focus of regional building traditions and thereby help define an area's sense of time and place.
A property must retain the key exterior materials dating from the period of its historic significance. If the property has been rehabilitated, the historic materials and significant
features must have been preserved. The property must also be an actual historic resource, not a recreation; a recent structure fabricated to look historic is not eligible. Likewise,
a property whose historic features and materials have been lost and then reconstructed is usually not eligible
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Understanding the Aspects of Integrity
Workmanship is the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. It is the evidence of artisans' labor and skill
in constructing or altering a building, structure, object, or site. Workmanship can apply to the property as a whole or to its individual components. It can be expressed in vernacular
methods of construction and plain finishes or in highly sophisticated configurations and ornamental detailing. It can be based on common traditions or innovative period techniques.
Workmanship is important because it can furnish evidence of the technology of a craft, illustrate the aesthetic principles of a historic or prehistoric period, and reveal individual,
local, regional, or national applications of both technological practices and aesthetic principles. Examples of workmanship in historic buildings include tooling, carving, painting,
graining, turning, and joinery. Examples of workmanship in prehistoric contexts include Paleo-Indian clovis projectile points; Archaic period beveled adzes; Hopewellian birdstone pipes;
copper earspools and worked bone pendants; and Iroquoian effigy pipes.
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Understanding the Aspects of Integrity
Feeling is a property's expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. It results from the presence of physical features that, taken together, convey the
property's historic character. For example, a rural historic district retaining original design, materials, workmanship, and setting will relate the feeling of agricultural life in
the 19th century. A grouping of prehistoric petroglyphs, unmarred by graffiti and intrusions and located on its original isolated bluff, can evoke a sense of tribal spiritual life.
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Understanding the Aspects of Integrity
Association is the direct link between an important historic event or person and a historic property. A property retains association if it is the place where the event or activity occurred
and is sufficiently intact to convey that relationship to an observer. Like feeling, association requires the presence of physical features that convey a property's historic character.
For example, a Revolutionary War battlefield whose natural and manmade elements have remained intact since the 18th century will retain its quality of association with the battle
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