82 Dover Street update: a 9-month demolition delay

[ron_newman]

[from Amie Hayes at City Hall, via Ward 6 Alderman Rebekah Gewirtz]

The Historic Preservation Commission determined 82 Dover Street Preferably Preserved at their monthly meeting last night. This determination begins a 9-month Demolition Delay period. During this period the HPC will work with the Applicant to determine if there are alternatives to demolition.

Currently, the Applicant is scheduled to discuss this building at the Public Meeting for Preferably Preserved Structures on Feb. 7. At this meeting, Historic Commissioners, Staff and the Applicant will discuss potential alternatives to demolition and, hopefully, come to a compromise regarding the demolition/development of this property.

Please let me know if you have questions or would like more information.

- Amie Hayes, Planner, Mayor's Office of Strategic Planning & Community Development, 617-625-6600 x 2534, ahayes@somervillema.gov

(Earlier discussion here.)

Comments

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think a lot of the homes in Somerville have more potential than most people see on the surface, and would much rather see a restoration than a tear-down in most cases. While most are not homes of grandeur, these are truly antiques that we live in. It's pretty amazing what some paint stripping, skim coating, floor sanding, and removal of vinyl siding can do for an old house. When we renovated I refused to remove any of the wood trim and instead I stripped all of the paint myself and we repainted it. I kept all of the bennington doorknobs, mortise locks, and hinges because as they have been in the house for 115 years and are still working perfectly fine. A little sanding and painting and they were like new.

I had a civil engineer in our house looking at a beam and he said the staircases built in these houses are structurally superior to the ones built now, and most carpenters today are unable to reproduce them. Not to mention they have much more character.

The beams are made with hardwoods that are probably 200-250 years old and stronger than any trees left in the northeast after 1930 when most of the old growth was gone.