Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Historic Preservation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves Stranahan House site changes with conditions, asks for future signage and mural reviews
Summary
The Historic Preservation Board approved amendments for the Stranahan House site — including a new two‑story administration building, removal of a nonhistoric gazebo, and other site changes — subject to conditions requiring clear glazing, raised‑profile mullions/buttons, exclusion of murals from this COA, and retention of prior COA conditions.
The Fort Lauderdale Historic Preservation Board voted to approve an amendment to the Certificate of Appropriateness for the Stranahan House site with conditions aimed at preserving the historic house as the visual focal point while allowing new, subordinate buildings on the parcel.
Staff summarized the application (case referenced as UDPHP25022) that proposes exterior modifications to an existing administration building, construction of a new two‑story administration building, removal of a non‑historic gazebo, an events pavilion and welcome center, and landscape and circulation improvements. Staff recommended conditions including clear glazing for windows, raised‑profile buttons/mullions, archaeological testing and monitoring, and maintaining several previously approved COA conditions.
The applicant team — Alex Bogdanoff (owner’s representative), landscape architect Devin Bouton and architect Pete Ebersole — said the decision to separate the new administration building from the historic house was driven by constructability and flood‑proofing constraints: making the addition an independent structure helps avoid a requirement to dry flood‑proof the existing historic building to current code. They described revisions to protect an on‑site historic oak, changes to window placement for balance, and material choices (stucco for new buildings, dimensional shingles) to differentiate new work from the historic fabric. The team said murals and signage will be returned to the board as separate COA applications.
Board members discussed color differentiation, the visual relationship of new buildings to the historic house, fenestration placement, and signage/wayfinding to make clear what is historic and what is new. The motion to approve the amendment with conditions (including conditions 1, 2, 3, and 8 from the staff report) was moved, seconded, and carried. The applicant was reminded that murals and signage must return in separate applications and that prior COA conditions remain in effect.
