Board okays windows, doors and garage door at 206 West First

The Madison Historic District Board of Review voted Feb. 24 to grant a certificate of appropriateness for a rehabilitation project at 206 West First Street that includes adding fixed windows, replacing a ground-level door with French doors, installing a garage door and removing exterior stairs.

Applicant Tony Steinhardt presented plans and photos showing Dutch-lap siding to be retained where possible and stone foundation work that would reuse existing stone where cinder block had been added. The building was described in the meeting packet as a 1980s non-contributing structure that the applicant plans to restore for continued use.

Board members reviewed design guidelines for doors and entrances and agreed the work generally complies with the standards. “You are repairing damaged foundation and siding and you are not enclosing or concealing an original door opening,” one board member said during findings of fact. Because the property is non-contributing and the work aims to restore viable use, the board agreed an exception for a new garage door is acceptable.

The board voted unanimously to grant the certificate of appropriateness. The applicant was told to coordinate with staff to preserve significant historic material where present and to reuse existing stone in foundation repairs.

Board and staff discussion also covered the building’s history — the applicant reported the upper portion of the structure was relocated from Freeman Field after World War II and rebuilt on a stone foundation — and confirmed the property is not in the flood plain.

Staff will issue the certificate and the applicant may collect it from the Historic District office.