Where the Historic District Ends

A month or so ago, in reporting on the changes originally proposed for 258-260 State Street, Gossips recounted the history of designating historic districts by way of explaining why, for the most part, neighborhoods on the south side of town are designated and neighborhoods on the north side are not: "Another Chapter for the William Ball Place." 

The good news for the William Ball Place, a major house located outside any local historic district, is that, at the last meeting of the Planning Board, the current owner of the building was present to correct and clarify what was planned for the building. The original slate on the mansard roof is to be repaired not replaced with asphalt shingles. The vinyl siding will be replaced with a composite product that is similar to Hardiplank but is wood-based rather than cement-based. There was never a plan to replace the double hung windows with casement windows. The Planning Board had been told that in error. Instead, the double hung windows will be replaced with new double hung windows. The four studio apartments planned for the ground floor will not be short-term rentals; rather they will be long-term, market rate rentals.  

The owner of the building told the Planning Board, "My vision is to make the building look very similar to The Maker. Anything that we can maintain we will." 

It is a cause for celebration that this major historic house on the north side of town will be appropriately restored, but the fact that, on the north side of Warren Street, the historic district ends at Prison Alley remains a problem. The Historic Preservation Commission could have very little to say about the siting of wireless communications antennas on Providence Hall because, although the roofline of Providence Hall is visible from the rear of houses on the one of the few blocks considered worthy of preservation back in Urban Renewal days, Providence Hall is on the north side of Prison Alley, just outside the historic district. Now a house, just across Second Street from Providence Hall, is set to be demolished and three new houses constructed, and the HPC will not be able to weigh in on the necessity of the demolition or the compatibility of the new houses.

The proposal, which went before the Planning Board on August 10 and the Zoning Board of Appeals this past Wednesday, involves the house at 20 North Second Street and the two vacant lots beside it. It will create three new single-family dwellings, but a historic house, dismissed as "in bad shape," will be lost in the process.

Back in 2010, when there was talk of demolishing Bliss Towers and replacing it with scattered site housing, this house and the vacant lots next door were identified as potential sites for replacement housing by Jeff First, then the executive director of Hudson Housing Authority. At that time, the house was unoccupied and owned by a limited liability corporation called North Second Street LLC. 

For the past eleven years, the house has remained unoccupied, and now it is to be demolished. The new owner of the house and the two lots next to it is Digital Fabrication Works. Tax records show that DigiFab purchased all three properties from North Second Street LLC for $240,000 in January 2021.

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