[MassHistPres] Hardiplank In Historic Districts

[rhayw12345 at aol.com]

Good Morning Everyone
The Medford Historical District Commission would like to get everyone's opinion on the following subject. 

We have two homeowners (the house has been divided into condos) who had the desire to take their circa 1890's shingle style house and restore the exterior to the best of their ability. One of the homeowners is the architect, who brought in drawings for the building. He originally proposed to remove all the aluminum siding and reuse the wood underneath which he believed was in good enough condition from his investigation work. We approved his work.
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He has since returned to us with the problem that much of the house's original wood is in poor condition and needs to be replaced due to cracking, cupping, and numerous patching and nail holes from the siding. Because of this the homeowners wish to replace all the siding on the house. The homeowners have priced both?wood (which every home in the district?is already) and the hardiplank material. ?The homeowners are claiming a $13,000 price difference between wood and hardiplank material, however, this would be the first house to have the item allowed as a whole construction building material. The commission worries about the allow for one, allow for all rule where if we allow one homeowner to build in this material, we will be setting a precedent for all the other homes in districts city wide for similar substitute materials.

The other issue the commission has is that our bylaw states that materials clearly need to relate to the existing neighborhood, which has been, to this point, wood.

Our questions for you are, have other commissions approved this in their districts? How generally do preservationist feel about this material. I am a purist and feel that preservation is not about a dollar figure but about preserving those structures, places, etc significant to our nations history. No figure can ever be put to that. Your opinions would be appreciated quickly as possible, as we need to make a decision on the subject soon.

Thank you!
Ryan D. Hayward
Medford Historical Commission