Friday, January 26, 2024

Thank You, SHPO

In 2022, the Historic Preservation Commission granted a certificate of appropriateness to the restoration/renovation proposed for 702-704 Columbia Street. Because the building's owners are seeking historic preservation tax credits, the proposal was subsequently reviewed by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). 


Today, the project was back before the HPC seeking approval for the changes requested by SHPO. What was proposed and approved by the HPC is shown in the first elevation drawing below; what SHPO is requesting is shown in the second elevation drawing.  


It was explained that SHPO wants the building to look as much as possible the way it does in historic pictures. 

Photo: History Room | Hudson Area Library
Photo: Columbia County Historical Society
Instead of the windows in the storefronts being divided into eight sections, SHPO requested that they be divided into only four. SHPO also asked that all the windows--the arched windows on the Columbia Street facade as well as the windows on the east and west sides--be restored rather than replaced, and that the arrangement of windows on the west side be the same as that of the windows on the east side. 


A proposal to replicate the cornice on the east side of the building has been eliminated because evidence from the historic photographs suggests that it never existed.

The HPC agreed to accept all the changes to the plans requested by SHPO.
COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK

1 comment:

  1. I am looking forward to that building being completed, occupied and looking as historical as possible. I just hope it doesn't take forever - the fence surrounding the building has already been around for too long (for my taste, at least).
    Why is the fence even there if no one is working on the exterior AND the machinery is all utilized and parked in the rear lot? Fence the lot off, not the entire building!
    How many years/decades will Galvan's lovely fence across the street in front of the Tennis building stick around for while they never work on the building? Not all fences make good neighbors. If the city is going to encourage and allow development, it needs a better strategy about keeping Hudson from looking like a perpetual construction zone. Orange cones, fences, false Work In Progress signs, huge company banners (7th & State, Galvan's contractor), dumpsters in the streets and on sidewalks (6th and Columbia!), blocked sidewalks, etc. It's all ugly and should be limited, not ignored to allow contractors to do as they please. Of course, there's no one at City Hall capable of, or interested in, doing this kind of enforcement.

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