(A) Historic character. In addition to site orientation, directional expression, scale, proportion, and rhythm, the character of the city’s historic building stock is also defined by the particular modeling of their vertical facades and roofs. The historic character of the city’s existing buildings is best expressed when the separate elements that make up the modeling of their facades and roofs are retained in either their original or essential form.
(1) Similarity, the unique character of the city’s historic districts, is best conveyed when the design of a new building incorporates forms, details, and treatments that either evoke a sense of the architectural style of the historic district or avoid distracting from an observer’s sense of the predominant historic character of the district.
(2) Among the most important modeling elements that help define the historic character of the city’s buildings are cornices, storefronts, window patterns, roof shapes, siding and roof materials, colors, and textures.
(B) Cornices.
(1) Many of the buildings erected in the city’s Commercial Landmark District during the early historic period were designed with a horizontal cornice on its principal street-facing facade.
(2) The cornice, which protrudes from the plane of the facade, marks and defines the vertical extent of the building and ties it in with adjacent buildings in the Commercial Historic District.
(3) Some cornices in the Commercial Historic District were also embellished with rich architectural details which today serve as examples of the form of aesthetic expression that was typical of the city’s turn of the century architectural design.
(4) Cornices should be retained.
(5) Horizontal cornice lines should be continued.
(6) To help assure continuity from one building to the next in the Commercial Landmark District and to preserve examples of the city’s early twentieth-century architectural expression, existing cornices and cornice lines should be retained. The heights and depths of these cornices on new construction should be consistent with the average cornice dimensions of adjacent buildings from the historic period.
(C) Storefronts.
(1) The traditional storefront is probably the single most important architectural form that expresses the uniqueness and historical character of the city’s Commercial Historic District. The city’s existing storefronts convey a strong sense of the early historic period when commercial architecture and street design were oriented more to the convenience of the pedestrian than that of the passing motorist.
(2) Although architectural detailing in the traditional storefront evolved over time and from region to region, its basic form or modeling remained essentially the same. In the city, it consisted of a consciously-proportioned configuration of less than a dozen interconnected design elements, including (from street level upwards): a low-paneled bulkhead surmounted by an expanse of display windows with transom windows above and a storefront cornice or signboard delineating the vertical extent of the first story. Either side of the storefront was typically finished with vertical piers of pilasters, often of masonry construction, that usually extended to the roof cornice and served to frame the sides of the building. The upper stories of the city’s storefronts typically consisted of regularly-spaced windows, often topped by window hoods, lintels, or voussoirs, and cast against masonry wall. The top of the traditional storefront building was usually finished with a parapet wall and a protruding decorative cornice.
(3) The basic design elements of the storefront should be retained or reclaimed.
(4) Construction work on Commercial Historic District storefronts should retain these basic storefront design elements where they exist, and seek to reclaim them when they have been altered or lost. Attention should also be given to retaining or restoring the original rhythm and proportions of these design elements on all building facades and exterior walls.
(5) New construction work in the Commercial Historic District should consider designs that are either compatible with the traditional storefront or allude to its typical form, rhythm, and proportions. In no case, however, should new construction design seek to replicate or imitate specific motifs or details of the traditional storefront design.
(6) Preapproved siding styles are available from the City Clerk at City Hall. When using one or a multiple of these preapproved items, an application for a certificate of appropriateness indicating the pre-approved choices will not be subject to a public hearing on the application; rather, a certificate of appropriateness may be immediately issued by the City Clerk or the Chair of the Commission to the applicant.
(D) Window patterns.
(1) The predominant window configuration on street-facing facades in the city exhibits a regularity in proportion and size of window openings and in the rhythm and order with which they are arranged.
(2) Preapproved window styles are available from the City Clerk at City Hall. When using any one or a multiple of these preapproved items, an application for a certificate of appropriateness indicating the preapproved choices will not be subject to a public hearing on the application; rather, a certificate of appropriateness may be immediately issued by the City Clerk or the Chair of the Commission to the applicant.
(3) Proposed designs for window arrangements in new construction should be compatible with and avoid distracting from the predominant window pattern of adjacent buildings from the historic period. In cases of remodeling or reconstruction in all historic districts, a building’s historic window pattern should be retained or reclaimed. Where that is not possible, the predominant window pattern of existing buildings from the historic period should be followed as a design guide.
(4) Window patterns should be retained and reclaimed.
(E) Window replacement.
(1) In cases where the replacement of a window is required, the replacement should match the original window, fill the entire opening, and duplicate the original window pattern. If possible, the original sash and frame material should be matched.
(2) Window replacements should match the original window, fill the entire opening, and duplicate the original window pattern.
(3) In circumstances where metallic windows must be used, the metallic sashes and frame should be of a dark anodized or baked enamel finish so as to minimize the obtrusiveness of the bright metallic color.
(F) Storm windows.
(1) When storm windows are required, they should be designed and installed in such a manner that they appear to be an integral part of the building. If mounted on the exterior of the building, they should resemble the inner window as closely as possible in shape and appearance and should be painted to match the color of the inner window sash. On street-facing facades, it may be desirable to consider installing storm windows on the inside where they will not be seen from the street.
(2) Storm windows should resemble the inner window as closely as possible in shape and appearance.
(G) Blocking windows and doors.
(1) The practice of blocking-up or blocking-down window and door openings substantially alters the historic appearance of a building and the historic rhythm of forms and openings of adjacent buildings along the block.
(2) Blocking should always be avoided in reconstruction work on existing structures.
(3) If, pursuant to this chapter, it is found absolutely necessary to alter an interior ceiling beyond an original alley or street-facing window head or sill, such alteration shall be done in a manner that retains the full exterior height of the window, preserves its original proportions and rhythm on all of the building’s street-facing facades, and retains or replicates the historic siding material and modeling forms on all surfaces affected by the altering of the ceiling.
(H) Roofs.
(1) The principal roof form in the city’s Commercial Historic District is the flat roof with parapet wall. Many of the city’s parapets are also finished with pediments, corbelling, protruding cornices, and/or molded friezes. The predominance of this roof form contributes an important element of order to the Commercial Landmark District, especially when the city is viewed from higher elevations. The parapeted flat roof also serves to integrate the city’s diverse facades into a coherent whole and provides a strong sense of the historic period in which the city rose to prominence.
(2) Parapet roofs and their decorative embellishments should be retained.
(3) Preapproved roofing choices are available from the City Clerk at City Hall. When using any one or multiple of these preapproved items, an application for a certificate of appropriateness indicating the preapproved items or an application for a certificate of appropriateness indicating the preapproved choices will not be subject to a public hearing on the application; rather, a certificate of appropriateness may be immediately issued by the City Clerk or the Chair of the Commission to the applicant.
(4) Reconstruction work on all buildings in the Commercial Landmark District should always seek to retain existing parapeted roofs and their respective decorative embellishments. Roof designs for new construction in the Commercial Landmark District should seek compatibility with adjacent buildings from the historic period through the use of roof forms and horizontal cornice lines that allude to the predominant parapeted roof pattern of the Commercial District.
(I) Materials and textures.
(1) Variety in the use of materials and textures is important for the interest and intimacy it conveys and the historic character it is capable of evoking.
(2) (a) The choice of materials and textures for reconstruction designs should be limited to those that were available and typically used at the time the building in question gained historical significance. In cases where a historic building’s roof or siding material has deteriorated beyond repair, or for any other necessary reason requires replacement, the choice of a new replacement material should match the original material as closely as possible in terms of composition, size, shape, color, and texture.
(b) Material choices for new and reconstruction designs in all historic districts should avoid, whenever possible, the use of contemporary synthetic, metallic, and similar building materials that imitate the appearance of historic building materials such as iron, wood, or stone.
(3) Designs for new construction should incorporate only those materials and textures that either allude to or are compatible with the predominant materials and textures from the historic period.
(J) Colors.
(1) In the city, historic color schemes varied by availability of pigments, stylistic preferences of the period, the type of surface to which paint was applied, and the dictates of climate.
(2) Whenever possible, paint choices in all historic districts should be limited to those colors, if any, that are known to have been used on the structure in the historic period. In the absence of such information, color choices should be limited to those that were available and appropriate for the building’s style and historic period, and their compatibility with adjacent structures in the historic district.
(3) Preapproved color choices are available from the City Clerk at City Hall. When using any one or a multiple of these preapproved colors, an application for a certificate of appropriateness indicating the preapproved color choices will not be subject to a public hearing on the application; rather, a certificate of appropriateness may be immediately issued by the City Clerk or the Chair of the Commission to the applicant.
(4) Care should be given to avoiding the application of paint to surfaces that were not painted in the historic period, and, conversely, paint should not be entirely removed from historic surfaces that required the protection of paint or equivalent sealants to inhibit deterioration from the weather.
(5) As a general rule, the removal of paint from historic exterior woodwork, masonry, and metal should be avoided unless absolutely essential. Once conditions warranting removal have been identified, however, paint should be removed to the next sound layer using the gentlest method possible.
(K) Architectural details.
(1) Architectural details and ornamentation represent unique historic elements of the city’s architecture and are important components of the city’s historic character. Their uniqueness, distinctiveness, and ubiquity helps set the city’s historic character apart from all other historic communities in the region.
(2) Significant architectural details should not be lost in the rehabilitation or “modernization” of existing buildings in the city’s historic districts. Reconstruction efforts should respect and enhance the original architectural integrity of a historic structure and should attempt to retain such characteristic architectural detail as:
(a) Modillioned cornices and pedimented parapet walls;
(b) Keystones, voussoirs, and window hoods;
(c) Masonry lintels, sills, and relieving arches;
(d) Transom windows, fanlights, and sidelights around doors;
(e) Multi-colored patterned brick;
(f) Wood window frames and mullions; and
(g) Friezes, entablatures, and string courses.
(L) Fences. Pre-approved fence styles are available from the City Clerk at City Hall. When using one or a multiple of these preapproved items, an application for a certificate of appropriateness indicating the pre-approved choices will not be subject to a public hearing on the application; rather, a certificate of appropriateness may be immediately issued by the City Clerk or the Chair of the Commission to the applicant.
(Prior Code, § 12-8-5) (Ord. 492, passed 7-14-1987; Ord. 2007-01, passed 5-9-2007; Ord. 2013-01, passed 5-8-2013)