At the end of this morning's meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission, the situation at 501 Union Street was discussed briefly.
When the topic came up, Phil Forman, who chairs the HPC, dismissed it, saying, "That's in Craig's hands," referring to code enforcement officer Craig Haigh. On September 8, Haigh told Walter Chatham, the architect for the project, "You are noncompliant. All work must cease until this is resolved." "This" was the application of limewash when the certificate of appropriateness specifically stated: "Original patina of brick shall be maintained."
HPC historian Paul Barrett pointed out that the chimneys had been limewashed after a stop work order had been imposed on all work except for that involved in the storefront. Haigh then said that he was probably going to issue a "stop everything" order and went on to say, "Now, it's going to be a legal action." HPC member John Schobel concurred, saying, "It's important that nothing else be done."
It will be interesting to see how the situation is resolved. Gossips has it on good authority that any method that would be effective in removing the limewash would also remove the outer surface of the brick, causing irreparable damage.
COPYRIGHT 2023 CAROLE OSTERINK
Paint it a better color.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the black shutters are reinstalled as illustrated in the approved proposal. I think that will greatly enhance the current look.
ReplyDeleteAs annoyed as I am that Galvan has yet again barreled over the HPC, I have to say that I like the limewashing. It appears to be an historically correct choice, even if Galvan didn't know that when it acted. Maybe, since Galvan has gone this far, it should consider another coat of limewash.
ReplyDeletePainting the brick in a red may be the only solution. while the original brick was attractive, leaving the building in limbo for a resolution is a bad idea.
ReplyDeletethe original rendering showed a red color in the brick area.
While Galvan made a mistake, their recent renovations have been vastly improved by Walter Chatham's work as the architect.