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Applicants revise 325 West Hopkins design; commission continues review amid mass-and-scale concerns
Summary
Applicants for 325 West Hopkins presented a revised scheme that lowers roof heights, separates gables and shifts the new detached house back; commissioners praised restoration intentions for the landmark but expressed persistent concerns about massing, materials and fenestration and voted to continue to November 13 for further revisions.
Sarah Adams, representing Benjen Adams, and architect Wheeler Clancy presented a revised conceptual plan for 325 West Hopkins that keeps the historic landmark in place, proposes underpinning to fix the foundation, and adds a detached new house set farther back on the lot. Adams said the project is “well under the floor area” allowed by the zone and that the design team reduced roof heights and simplified gables in response to earlier commission direction.
Staff and several commissioners nonetheless raised unresolved guideline issues. Stewart, the commission’s staff reviewer, said the proposed rear addition’s proportions and fenestration risked misrepresenting the historic resource and that the new construction did not sufficiently read as a product of its own time. Commissioners debated visibility from the street (applicants said the tree and setback will screen much of the second story) and measured differences in height — Wheeler said the tallest new roof element is roughly nine feet higher than the landmark’s top — but a majority concluded the design needs more revision. The commission voted to continue the hearing to November 13 so the applicants can refine massing, materials and window design.
