[MassHistPres] Trompe l'oeil question

[Sullivan, Charles M.]

In Cambridge, cell phone companies have on two occasions installed fibreglass chimneys or chimney extensions. One is at 84 Sherman Street on "The Brickyard," a recycled industrial building; the extension was added to the stub of a brick chimney at 21 Blackstone Street, between Western Avenue and River Street, in 2004.

In at least the latter case the applicant was Omnipoint Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of T-Mobile; their consultant was Adam Braillard of United Wireless Consulting Services, 5 Essex Green Drive, Peabody (401) 864-7025. I don't know who the fabricator was, but in both cases they supplied samples until we were satisfied with the match.

These are good, if not perfect replicas - certainly sufficient to fool the casual observer. Sometimes it seems better to let the antennas hang out there, but in other cases that might not be appropriate. In these cases we were pleased to retain (or return) the chimneys to the skyline.
________________________________
Charles M. Sullivan, Executive Director
Cambridge Historical Commission
831 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Mass.  02139
617 349-4684 voice, 349-3116 fax

-----Original Message-----
From: masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu [mailto:masshistpres-bounces at cs.umb.edu] On Behalf Of marcia m. wengen
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 11:00 PM
To: masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: [MassHistPres] Trompe l'oeil question

The Stoneham Historical Commission is preparing a response to a Section
106 review for cell antennas to be hidden in a stealth chimney atop an
1864 building that is the centerpiece of the town square and listed on the National Register. The engineers state that it is impossible to make the stealth chimney have the same shape, design and mass as the existing chimneys. We think that a talented trompe l'oeil artist might be able to solve this problem, especially given that the stealth chimney will be some 70-80 feet from the ground. See especially page 2 of the attachment.

Are you aware of other chimney examples using trompe l'oeil techniques?
Know anyone who does this work? Other thoughts?

Thanks in advance.


Marcia M. Wengen

Secretary

Stoneham Historical Commission

Town Hall

35 Central Street

Stoneham, MA 02180