Deciding an architectural style for the city
July 7, 2009
Historic City News has learned that the question of style goes to a City Commission public workshop at 3:30 p.m. July 13th, being held before its regular 5:00 p.m. meeting.
The workshop is the result of the commission recently overturning a 2003 resolution which allowed styles compatible with surrounding buildings in Historic Preservation (HP) District One, south of the Bridge of Lions.
Somehow, HP 2 and HP 3 later appeared in the resolution, though commissioners of that time can’t remember including them.
HP 3 is the restoration area north of Hypolita and HP 2 is the area between the others.
City Commissioner Don Crichlow is in the middle of the style issue as he gained HARB approval, then commission denial, to recreate the turn of the 20th century Bishop’s Building that stood at St. George Street and Cathedral Place.
Crichlow promises to stand his ground in the style workshop.
“Certainly HP 3 should be colonial,” Crichlow says. “And HP 1, even though it’s our city’s earliest area, has long since been developed in Victorian and other styles. But HP 2 is a mix of time periods, and the Secretary of the Interior’s standards state that new architecture should not be conjectural, but fact based.”
“We are a city of more than four centuries,” Crichlow says. “We should highlight our different eras in architecture.”
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VOTE NOVEMBER 2, 2010
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A proposal by Architect Don Crichlow – who is also a city commissioner – to reprise the turn of the 20th century Bishop’s Building at St. George Street and Cathedral Place, ignited debate on what architectural style the heart of our historic district should be.
Of the three Historic Preservation (HP) Districts in our core area, HP 1 at the north end of St. George Street – our restoration area – is generally accepted as colonial style. Commissioners in recent years have endorsed the area south of the Plaza, HP 1, for mixed styles. While it’s our earliest town, development over the years has turned more toward Victorian.
It is HP 2, the area from the Plaza north to Hypolita Street, that will challenge commissioners. A majority appears to favor restricting it to colonial, while Crichlow maintains that much of its development was after 1821, and new construction should be “fact-based” on documented previous use rather than “conjectural.”
He poses the question, “If a Territorial Period structure, like 76 Spanish Street, has to be torn down, does it make sense to replace it with a colonial structure that never existed there?”
Historic architectural style
Tabling of discussion on architectural style in our historic district brought agreement to hold that discussion during a future commission meeting, to include public comment, and to pre-arm commissioners with guidelines from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Vice Mayor Errol Jones noted that afternoon workshops are not convenient for most residents, and Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline asked that copies of the publications on modifying and new construction be provided to each commissioner to prepare for that discussion.