Board recommends 500 Nassau Street South for local register, citing Mediterranean Revival significance

The Historic and Architectural Preservation Board voted Aug. 28 to recommend that City Council designate the house at 500 Nassau Street South for the local register of historic places. The motion to forward the nomination to council, based on staff-recommended criteria, passed on a roll-call vote by members present.

Harry (historical resources manager) presented the staff report: the building dates to about 1927, was built from a pattern-book design, and the builder was identified in records as Graham Walker. Staff described the house as Mediterranean Revival in style and recommended nomination under criteria for significance in the city’s history, as a distinctive example of a type/period/style, and as a contributing structure to the Venezia Park National Historic District. Staff advised removing criteria that would claim the property represented a geographically defining area or that it met an association-with-a-person standard (staff did not recommend criteria 3 or 9 for this nomination).

Board members asked about the owners’ renovation intentions and whether a nomination would require additional evidence of planned restoration. Harry said the nomination should proceed on the property’s existing condition and that designation often precedes and informs rehabilitation work; he also said the owners have submitted a follow-on application that will come before the board when scheduled. A board member voiced concern that designation without subsequent work could leave a neighboring restored property next to an undeveloped parcel; staff replied the board will review any future renovation applications and that delisting is possible only after demolition or loss of integrity.

The motion presented to the board asked that the nomination be recommended to City Council under nomination criteria 1, 4 and 8 (as numbered in the application/staff memo). The board approved the motion by voice and then by roll-call; staff will work with the applicant to remove criteria 3 and 9 from the application prior to transmittal to council. The public hearing on the nomination had been advertised as required by the City Land Development code; proof of publication is on file in planning and zoning.