19th c. rowhouse. National Park Service.
The historic character...
This late 19th century, 3-story, brick rowhouse located in a small-town historic district, is typical of other Victorian buildings with its Italianate window and door trim and bracketed cornice (see right, top). Also characteristic of many buildings in the district, it has a two-story kitchen wing at the rear with a second-story porch featuring a decorative balustrade (see right, below).
...and how it was lost in the rehabilitation.
Rehabilitation of the building essentially involved work to convert the residence into a dress shop. The owner felt that the existing interior space was inadequate for the retail operation, and, as a result demolished the historic rear wing in order to build a much larger addition. Beause of the loss of the distinctive rear porch coupled with construction of a massive new addition that has a non-residential scale and appearance, the work did not meet Standards 6 and 9. Finally, the addition, below, radically changes the exterior form of the rowhouse.
Distinctive rear wing and porch
No rear wing, but a new addition and parking.
What should you know?
Attaching a new exterior addition usually involves some degree of loss to an external wall or walls. For this reason, it is generally recommended that an addition be constructed on a secondary side or rear elevation where significant materials and features are less apt to be present. However, where side or rear elevations are architecturally significant or where they display either a distinctive individual plan or a plan characteristic of buildings in the neighborhood, they need to be retained and preserved--not damaged, destroyed, or hidden.
Suggestions from the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation:
Standard 6: Deteriorated historic features shall be repaired rather than replaced. Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive feature, the new feature shall match the old in design, color, texture, and other visual qualities and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing historic features shall be substantiated by documentary, physical, or pictorial evidence.
Standard 9:New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction shall not destroy historic materials that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated from the old and shall be compatible with the massing, size, scale, and architectural features to protect the historic integrity of the property and its environment.
Source of Story: National Park Service
