Historic Resources Board votes 3-1 to keep 1680 Bryant as Category 2

The Palo Alto Historic Resources Board voted 3-1 at its October meeting to retain 1680 Bryant on the city\'s local historic inventory as a Category 2 resource, preserving the property\'s current review protections and demolition delay.

The board considered a staff report and a historic resource evaluation from Page & Turnbull recommending reclassification from Category 2 to Category 3, a change the property\'s owners requested to gain more flexibility for future alterations. Staff and the consultant argued that demolition of a southern wing and other permanent changes mean the building now represents a fragmentary example of its original plan. The applicant\'s representative said the owners seek the flexibility to update the house for contemporary habitation.

The house, on the corner of Bryant Street and Lowell Avenue in Old Palo Alto, was described in the staff presentation as built in 1914 and designed by architect John Hudson Thomas in a Prairie-style idiom. The staff…