News of the Armory Roof

As Gossips has previously reported, at the end of August, the Galvan Foundation applied to the Historic Preservation Commission for a certificate of appropriateness to remove the slate roof on the Galvan Armory, which undoubtedly was installed when the armory was rebuilt after the devastating fire that happened on New Year's Eve 1928, and replace it with asphalt shingles meant to look like slate. 

The HPC was not thrilled with the faux slate product Galvan was proposing, which looks very little like slate, and recommended an alternative product. At the HPC meeting on September 12, Walter Chatham, representing Galvan, argued that there was a significant price difference between the product they were proposing and the one the HPC was recommending, noting, "It's an enormous roof." 

At the September 12 meeting, Victoria Polidoro, legal counsel to the HPC, asked a simple question: "Did anyone check to see if the roof could be repaired?" The question prompted HPC chair Phil Forman to say, "If there is a repair option, it should be pursued." Chatham argued it was impossible to figure out where the leak is and where the water, which is leaking into the library, is coming from. 

Since then it seems things have changed.

Early this afternoon, Forman informed Gossips that the public hearing on the proposal to replace the roof scheduled for Friday was being canceled because Galvan had withdrawn its application. Soon after that, a different source told Gossips that Galvan had "taken another look at the armory roof and concluded that the existing slate is repairable and can stay." It's a win for the armory, the HPC, and for historic preservation in Hudson.

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