[MassHistPres] Demolition

[Nancy Dole]

My committee has asked me to write and ask if any other HDC s have allowed the demolition of an historic building. 
The Howes House in West Tisbury is owned by the Town and was a tavern built in the 1800s.  It is now occupied by the Council on Aging and they need to expand. There have been inappropriate additions to the original building, which is basically a box,  and alterations, esp windows, that were also inappropriate. The proposed plan the town has shown us is yet another inappropriate addition that attempts to work around the structure as it now exists. 
If anyone has any information about a situation where demolition was allowed, what did you do to be sure that the building that replaced it was in character with the original, or with the district surrounding it, before agreeing that a demolition might be acceptable under what circumstances. Did you treat it differently because it was a municiple building? 
The WTHDC has never allowed any historic property in the district to be demolished. We have had more than one request, the answer has been we would not approve it. 
Nancy Dole
Secretary, WTHDC