About

After having our second child, our 1,300 square foot Old Town house was a bit tight!  We looked at moving, but love our house, yard, and neighborhood too much.  So instead we decided to add roughly 650 square feet and make our home exactly how we wanted it so we can live here to raise our kiddos.

Here is a pic of what our finished house would look like!  We tried to respect the historic character of our 106 year old home, and to fit in well with the houses around us.  We saved all of the original facade, and only planned to change the old “hipped roof” into a second story for kids rooms.

Because our house is over 50 years old, our addition triggered the city’s historic review process.  In order to protect the city’s character, this program evaluates any major changes or demo of old homes in the city.  We hired an archivist, posted a large yellow sign in front of our house and mailed letters to everyone within 800 feet to make sure the community had no concerns, and our finalized plans made it through every other faction of city planning.  We had no complaints, only support from our lovely neighbors.

We did everything right, and knew that the city’s own preservation planners recommended the project for approval.  So we went ahead and rented a place to live in while our home was being worked on, and moved out our two kiddos, dog and cat and everything we would need for four months.

On December 12, we were shocked by the Landmark Preservation Commission’s decision to delay approval of our project in order to “gather more information” and “look into the benefits of landmark designation” of our property.  (A move that probably would make our addition impossible to build, and at least delay it for six months at great cost to us.)  No one knew what “more information” they needed.  In fact, they discussed nothing about the historic importance of our little home,

The or why we should be forced to maintain the “hipped roof” of our 1907 starter home

A picture of our house with the new second story.