Thursday, January 16, 2020

The Way Is Clear

Last night, the Zoning Board of Appeals held a public hearing on the area variances--side and front setbacks and lot coverage--necessary to build this house at 418 State Street.


The application for variances first came before the ZBA in November, at which time a public hearing was scheduled for December 18. But the December meeting of the ZBA was canceled, and the public hearing postponed. There was no indication on the calendar on the City website that last night's ZBA meeting included a public hearing (and Gossips totally forgot about this pending public hearing), so, after the applicant had rehearsed the members of the ZBA about what was proposed and what variances were needed, there was no one present to comment. Without further discussion among ZBA members, a motion was made to grant the variances, and the application was unanimously approved.
COPYRIGHT 2020 CAROLE OSTERINK

2 comments:

  1. The way is clear but the light might be out. What can be seen in this photo is not a great design (the handling of proportions, colors and materials, window openings vs solid walls). In terms of urban scale does not relate to the existing surroundings and clashes in many ways (why the horizontal openings instead of the prevailing Hudson vertical windows ?). This makes the proposal ugly "bunker like" and not beautiful. Precedents are the masterfully and beautifully designed Villa Garches 1926 and Villa Savoy 1928 by Le Corbusier, an architect much copied but seldom excelled. His sculptural villas were built in open county sites, not next to urban traditional structures. His perfectly proportioned spaces were poetic and inspirational. The proposed location in State street makes its modern style more acceptable, but why not do it right so that all Hudson could be proud of this cutting edge addition? And..precedents in Architecture and Art are important, specially today.

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