[MassHistPres] RE historic looking convenience store/gas station

[Jill Fisher]

Design review is tricky - there are lessons to be learned from past applications of the Secretary of Interior's standards for rehabilitation/renovation, wherein the goal of distinguishing new construction from old has resulted in very jarring, unappealing, and inhuman streetscapes.  On the other hand, commissions that conduct design review must be vigilant not to simply impose personal taste and what seems most visually comfortable (i.e. creating a false historical look).  Establishing clear design criteria that seek to protect the beloved qualities of particular environments (downtowns, commons/greens, neighborhoods, districts, etc.) will serve to walk the fine line between these two extremes.  Attention to compatible scale, materials and rhythm of the streetscape is key.  And while I am a big fan of Modern architecture, anything we can do to beat back the incessant application of "franchise" designs that turn every community into an anywhere place, is alright in my book.


Jill Fisher, AICP
Larson Fisher Associates
PO Box 1394
Woodstock, NY  12498
845-679-5054
jillfisher47 at hotmail.com
 
www.larsonfisher.com

 From: jworden at swwalaw.com
To: MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:10:16 -0400
Subject: [MassHistPres] RE historic looking convenience store/gas station

Apparently my suggestion of a reproduction 18th c. “skin” for a modern building has caused some distress among our distinguished colleagues.  I think the point here is that the context is everything.  In the particular context to which I made reference, the site was immediately adjacent to an early 19th c. church, considered by many to be the most architecturally significant property in town, across the street from the town’s most significant historical site (preserved 18th c. house), and just down the street from where the referenced old tavern had stood (coincidentally, there has just been a story & picture of it in the local newspaper – it had been torn down about 100 years before to expand a commercial building). A brick/concrete box with a lot of glass (as proposed by Osco) would have been particularly jarring.  What subsequently got built is not all that great but does suit the street-scape better.  I don’t know the context of the area in the original question, but the issue, it seems to me is the same – will the new structure be a cookie-cutter standard design or something in scale, siting, and materials that looks not out-of-place in the location? John WordenArlington HDC  
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