Adding Insult to Injury

On September 8, the Historic Preservation Commission discussed an unexpected development at 501 Union Street. Despite the fact that the certificate of appropriateness expressly stated the "original patina of brick shall be maintained," the building had been sprayed with solution of lime and water to "even out the appearance of the brick," because "the client [i.e., Eric Galloway] thought it looked terrible" in its natural state. At the September 8 meeting, Craig Haigh, code enforcement officer, told Walter Chatham, the architect for the project, "You are noncompliant. All work must cease until this is resolved." He conceded, however, that work on the storefront could proceed because it had been approved by the certificate of appropriateness.

The next day, workers were observed spraying water on the brick, apparently in an effort to remove the limewash, but their efforts had little effect.

Although Chatham attended the HPC meeting on September 22 on Zoom, the building was not discussed at that meeting. If the noncompliant status of the building was resolved, the resolution wasn't reached in a public meeting, and the resolution was not made public. It is interesting to note that, although the building had been limewashed, the recently rebuilt chimneys continued to be natural red brick.

Today, I decided to check up on the building. The storefront has been completed, in conformance with the plans that were presented to the HPC, but, much to my surprise, the pristine brick of the rebuilt chimneys has been limewashed, too. The chimneys now look as dreadful as the rest of the building.

Limewash on the chimneys pretty much signals that this is the appearance of the building we're going to have to live with. There are, however, shutters still to come.

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