[MassHistPres] Architectural Shingles

[Dennis De Witt]

I think our commission, perhaps like the preservation community as a  
whole, is not yet of one mind about "architectural" shingles.   I  
guess that's probably one reason they have not been more directly  
addressed in our guidelines.

My personal feeling is that flat asphalt roofs are basically tar paper  
-- the equivalent of aluminum siding (compared to wood shingles,  
slate, or even the typical "industrial" looking tile roofs in Europe  
-- even the Eternit ones.)  While I think "architectural" shingles can  
get too "fuzzy," I'd argue the only place tab shingle look right is on  
simple post WWII houses with relative low slope roofs.

One issue with some "architectural" shingles can be scale and  
excessively articulated slate-like delineation.  They might make sense  
(as faux slate) for a mansard but would look awful on most other places.

Having said that, there were some interesting ca 1900 large scale,  
interlocking, hexagonal or square-laid-diagoinally asphalt  
"tiles" (you cant really call them shingles") that were used on very  
modest workmen's cottages -- for siding as well as roofs -- that I  
think are just right in their place.  They were also common on early  
20th C gambrel barn roofs.  There is a good example used as siding  
near the Baker Chocolate Factory in Boston and I think an architect  
designed house that used them in Cambridge in the '80s.  They were,  
for instance, an absolutely characteristic feature of the working  
class, old post Chicago fire neighborhoods that I knew as a kid.   
Maybe I like them because it's a real "honest" use of tarpaper.

Truth is, our commission has always been rather laid back about  
shingles.  I think we view them as sort of like paint colors (which we  
don't review) but with a longer time horizon.  Maybe, when we take  
another look at our guidelines, we will be ready to reconsider them --  
assuming we can arrive at a consensus.

Dennis De Witt
Brookline