Historic Zoning Commission

Ft. Sanders NC: Level II

10-E-22-HZ

Applicant Request

Exterior rehabilitation of existing house and new rear addition.

Exterior rehabilitation scopes include removal of wood shingle and vinyl siding and installation of Hardie lap siding, with Hardie shingle siding on side elevation bays. Front porch roof and foundation to be removed and reconstructed in-kind: drawings indicate a low-slope hipped roof supported by square wood posts.

Replacement windows. Some windows on original section of house to be relocated. New one-over-one, double-hung egress windows in side gable fields. Side elevations will retain side-gable massings, including angled bay on right side elevation.

Large rear addition. One section of the house to be removed and reconstructed, with an additional new two-story section to project from the rear. Addition to feature a hip-and-gable clad in asphalt shingles, an exterior of Hardie lap siding, gable fields clad in a diamond-pattern Hardie shingle siding, and two stories of one-over-one, double-hung vinyl windows. Two secondary entries are located on the rear elevation, both accessing a rear two-story deck. Two one-over-one windows are located in the rear gable fields.

Conditions of approval per 10/22 HZC meeting: 1) reconstructed porch roof to match the design and pitch of the existing; 2) angled bay on east side elevation to be retained; 3) final drawings to indicate eave overhangs, cornice returns, and appropriately-sized cornerboards, window, and door trim; 4) final site plan to meet City Engineering standards for parking and dimensional standards of base zoning, with minor modifications to be approved by staff; 5) architect-drawn elevations to be submitted to staff for approval prior to permitting,

Site Info

One-story frame residence with a hipped roof with projecting gables on the front, sides, and rear. Eterior clad in wood shingle siding. Decorative bay window on the façade. One-story, hipped-roof porch projects from the left half of the façade.

1. 1401 Forest Avenue is a contributing resource to the Fort Sanders National Register Historic District and local overlay. The house is a Queen Anne cottage, with a single story above a habitable basement level.

2. The application includes the removal of exterior siding and replacement with Hardie lap and single siding, along with diamond pattern siding in the gable fields, which meets the Fort Sanders design guidelines. The HZC should discuss the use of lap vs. shingle siding on side elevation massings, along with the diamond pattern to be installed on front and rear gable fields. Final drawings should also incorporate appropriately-sized vertical cornerboards, window trim, and door trim.

3. Reconstruction of the front porch roof and foundation meets the design guidelines. The reconstructed porch roof should match the design and pitch of the existing.

4. Windows on the original house (side elevations) are proposed to be shifted and moved. The guidelines recommend that "window proportions and symmetry should be similar to the pre-1940 styles in the neighborhood." As many original window openings as possible should be retained. The application retains the decorative bay window on the façade. Installation of windows in the upper-level gable fields is appropriate within the design guidelines.

5. The site plan for the east elevation (side elevation 1) indicates the existing angled bay will be retained, though floor plans and elevation drawings do not reflect it. Final drawings by architect (submitted for permitting, versus preliminary drawings submitted to HZC by the drafter) should clearly show the angled bay.

6. The west elevation (side elevation 2) indicates a side-gable massing which projects on the left side and is flush with an enclosed section on the right, towards the façade. This indicates a section of front porch which was most likely enclosed. Cornerboards should be used to break up the large massing where the side bay originally projected outward.

7. The applicant is requesting to remove a limited section of the rear elevation, extending the primary roof hip and then reconstructing the existing rear roofline with two projecting gable roofs. The existing, reconstructed, and new sections of roof should retain the eave overhangs and partial cornice returns of the original roofline.

8. In general, the placement of a new addition on the rear elevation is appropriate within the design guidelines. Several adjacent houses feature two-story rear additions, as the block's topography slopes significantly towards the north (rear). The proposed addition is significantly larger than the original house. The addition will reconstruct the projecting gable-roof massings on the existing house.

9. The replacement door on the façade should meet design guidelines ("similar proportions and features to pre-1940 architecture"). The new addition's roof should include ~1' eave overhangs on all elevations.

10. Final modifications to the site plan will be necessary to meet City Engineering standards for parking. The house and parking area need to remain below 45% impervious surface for the RN-5 zoning. The final site plan could be approved by staff, provided there are no substantial modifications to the addition's design and placement.