Historic Preservation board conditionally approves new gym at 360 Spring Street, requires mechanical screening

The Portland Historic Preservation Board voted 7-0 on Jan. 8, 2025, to conditionally approve a certificate of appropriateness for new construction of a gym at 360 Spring Street, a project on the Wakeley School campus in the West End Historic District. The board’s approval requires screening for rooftop mechanical equipment as presented in the application.

The project replaces an older gym on the campus with a larger “wellness center” and gym block sited toward the interior of the campus. The applicant presented revised elevations that simplified the Fletcher Street wall, changed window rhythm to two continuous strip windows to align with internal trusses, and relocated additional square footage away from the street-facing sides. The applicant said the proposal keeps the building perimeter low and that additional program area is tucked toward the inner campus.

“...the preservation process on the lower school was, process. It was I was new…