Staff recommends approval of the installation of new siding, with the front, side, and rear gable fields to receive wood shingles to reflect the original siding pattern; providing for discussion between the Commission, applicant, and neighborhood on the second-story sections outside of the gable fields.
LEVEL 1 SCOPE OF WORK:
Repair to existing wood lap siding on first story only (including original wood lap siding on porch columns and porch railing). Replacement in patches where warranted; all new siding elements to be replaced in kind, matching exposure, dimensions, design, and detail of original wood siding. Repair to existing windows and entry doors. Repair to window trim. Repair to front-gable attic vent.
All siding work to occur on first story. Second-story siding pattern, all other scopes of work, for review at 8/19/2021 HZC meeting. Level 1 COA issued 7/27/21.
LEVEL 2 SCOPE OF WORK: No siding currently exists on second-story elevation; removal of vinyl siding uncovered wood sheathing only. Applicant requests to install wood shingle siding, replicating general size and pattern of historic siding, on façade elevation gable field only. Side elevations would receive wood lap siding to match the first story.
Two-story frame residence, with a brick foundation, exterior originally featuring wood clapboard and shingle siding, covered in vinyl siding, and a gambrle roof clad in asphalt shingles. Façade features double-hung, one-over-one windows with a half-light dooor with sidelights and a transom.
1. 1404 Kenyon Street is a contributing resource to the Old North Knoxville National Register Historic District and the local overlay.
2. Removal of the vinyl siding and repair to the first-story wood lap siding meets the design guidelines and will better contribute to the overall character of the neighborhood.
3. An archival photo from 1992 shows the façade's second story clad in wood shingle siding. Dating to 1992, the NR nomination also lists the
weatherboard and wooden shingle wall covering" as character-defining feature of the house.
4. The house features a roofline characteristic of Dutch Colonial Revival style ("a front-facing gambrel roof, occasionally with a cross gambrel at the rear [...] influenced by the typical gambrels of the earlier Shingle style" (McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses, p.410). This style is less prominent in Knoxville but examples exist in Old North Knoxville, North Hills, and other comparable neighborhoods. In general, wood shingle elements would not have been applied to one single gable field on the house; the detail would be carried around to other gable fields (see 1365 Armstrong Avenue in ONK). There are also numerous examples of large two-story houses in Fort Sanders with the entire second story clad in shingle siding.
5. Due to the slope of the roof sections outside of the gable fields, and drawing on comparable house designs, that section could have also originally been roofing shingles. There are examples of Dutch Colonial Revival style houses with both options (roofing shingles or siding shingles).
6. Guidelines recommend that replacement siding "must duplicate the original," including trim or patterned shingles. Guidelines also note that entire wooden features that are completely missing shall be replaced in-kind, with materials that are compatible with the original in size, scale, and material. Replacement elements should be based on historical, pictorial, and physical documentation. Existing conditions on the house show visible ghost marks (namely, small vertical lines) where the original shingle siding was located on all second-story gable fields.
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