The Eighth Installment: In a Historic District, the Most Important Facade

This marks another significant point in our online journey toward seeking an acceptable and beneficial use for the structure located at 1314 2nd St. SW in Roanoke’s “Old Southwest Historic District.” In this post, we will present proposed architectural modifications to the existing structure related to the most publicly dominate facade. past years, we know that it served as a single-family residence and most recently, as a governmentally subsidized “half-way house” for at-risk citizens. Public safety concerns (egress) and contemporary needs (cooling) have inflicted architecturally destructive requirements on the original structure.

The existing entrance from Second St. has been modified in past years to accommodate convenient access by handicapped persons. Historically, as a society, we have focused more attention to physical access needs in the last 30 years. The currently existing solution, while admirable in its functional accommodation, inflicts an awkward, “institutional –looking” element on the curbside entrance. Further, since the old carriage house in the rear has served as a quaint, private residential apartment, the mailbox location for that residence located adjacent the primary entrance to the building imposes inferior value to the public access through the dark, alley-like walkway corridor to the carriage house.

While the carriage house may be sacrificed as a viable residential space, the establishment of an important entrance with “curb-appeal” and presence on Second Street is important to accomplish a successful adaptive re-use of the existing building with a second duplex unit created in the rear half of the primary structure.

In the above proposal we eliminate the steel pipe railing, extend the existing pediment detailing to produce a protective porch entry to the primary entrance and install raised planting beds along the existing concrete ramp. A second “Garden-gate” like entry is introduced on the right side of the building to accommodate one or two mailboxes at a Defined entry to the rear. The architectural detailing carefully reflects the character of the existing side service entry.

COLOR SCHEME

The color scheme is an EXTREMELY important element related to accurate historical reflection upon the architectural character of buildings. While Classical Greek and Roman Architecture have been portrayed as being monochromatic, recent archaeological studies have revealed a dramatic use of color in our historical icons.

As the above photo shows, as recently as 2008, the ARB approved color changes that accepted further deviation from the historical design intent. The second story shingle siding, which appears to have been replaced with a synthetic representation of the original, imposes a dramatic deviation on the original architectural intent. The same is true of the colors of the entry door and the painted stucco on the first level.

Parts of shutter hardware hinges reveal that the widows in the second level full dormer originally included fully functional shutters. The style and colors of these shutters offer a strong historic reflection of the original design of the building.

As a teaser, we might consider how this building might appear with a more earthy color scheme that would include natural colors for stucco, dark-stained colors for shingle siding and moldings, with intense saturated colors for accent details.

While a greatly revised color scheme from what is observed in the 2008 photo, as well as the current scheme, is most desirable; we will reserve a proposal for color scheme changes for later in this project.