Proposed Shaw project clashes with historic code

Source: St.迷你倉沙田 Louis Post-DispatchAug. 18--ST. LOUIS --A plan to build 16 houses on vacant lots in the Shaw neighborhood is clashing with the inflexibility of historic district standards.Urban Improvement Co., known as UIC, wants to build the houses in the 4100 block of DeTonty Street. Brent Crittenden, UIC's managing principal, plans to market the project's two-bedroom houses for $196,000.For now, UIC's project, initially named DeTonty Commons and just renamed DeTonty Close, is stymied by standards of the city's Shaw Certified Local Historic District. Established by ordinance in 1985, the standards require new developments to conform generally in appearance to nearby brick homes, flats and small apartment buildings, most a century old.As determined by the city's Cultural Resources Office, the conflicts between the Shaw historic district's requirements and UIC's plan are many. They include:--Roof style and structure heights:DeTonty Close homes would have gable roofs and 1 1/2 floors, while the remaining buildings on the block have flat roofs and two floors.--Building material: Typical neighborhood structures are all brick, whileDeTonty Close proposes frame buildings, "cementitious" siding, painted walls and only some exterior brick veneer.--Architectural details: Proposed windows and porches at DeTonty Close bungalows are out of place from those of the area's existing homes.In all, UIC's project meets only three of the historic district's 11 applicable standards, the Cultural Resources Office determined last month.A key finding is that UIC's plan disregards the Shaw neighborhood requirement that new homes face the street. The plan for DeTonty Close faces its homes on new interior courtyards.Crittenden said the layout is a reaction to the presence of the embankment across DeTonty Street from his project. On top of the 15-foot rampart is Interstate 44, where 140,000 vehicles roar past the project's site each day.Selling houses facing that hillside and the shrieking stream of traffic would be difficult, Crittenden said. In response, DeTonty Close homes would face sidewalks in landscaped courtyards. New alleys would provide homeowners' access to detached garages.He pointed out that some early Shaw streets -- Hortus Court and Shaw Place -- deviate from the neighborhood's traditional block layout.Crittenden, a member of the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, acknowledged that Shaw historic standards benefit the neighborhood. Barred are ranch-style houses and other incongruous structures put up decades ago, he noted. Also forbidden are cheap windows as replacements for historic originals, he said."We don't want to alter preservation guidelines that are for the broader benefit of the neighborhood," he said.UIC specializes in contemporary homes, many built amid old brick homes in the Botanical Heights area across I-44 from the DeTonty Close site.Crittenden said that on a block where 23 structures once stood, six remain. Over the years, the others were aban迷你倉價錢oned, then demolished. DeTonty Close would occupy empty lots UIC hopes to buy from the city's Land Reutilization Authority.QUALIFIED SUPPORTSteve Conway, the Shaw neighborhood's alderman since 1990, said he believes conflicts between UIC's plan and the historic code can be resolved.Conway said last week he can accept the DeTonty Close courtyard layout. On Friday, he said new revisions to make the homes' appearance more compatible the neighborhood "really do capture the essence" of the Shaw historic code."The street view is very, very good in the new plans," Conway added.Crittenden plans to seek city Preservation Board approval of DeTonty Close at its meeting Aug. 26. He said Friday he hopes to have by then full aldermanic and city staff support for a code variance that would allow his project's construction.Michael Allen, an architectural historian and head of Preservation Research Office, a consulting firm, said he backs UIC's request for the variance. Facing DeTonty Close homes away from I-44 is "not inappropriate," he said."It's a very nice place to do something innovative," Allen added.St. Louis has nine certified local historic districts. Conway said Shaw's code is "medium-level" strict. Other areas, including Soulard, have more restrictive codes, he said.DeTonty Close already has qualified support at City Hall. Mayor Francis Slay's spokeswoman said the city's Community Development Administration is backing the project with land acquisition and site clearance. Along with the Shaw Neighborhood Housing Corp., CDA has approved the DeTonty Close concept but stopped short of signing off on the design, Slay's office said.Maggie Crane, the mayor's spokeswoman, said city officials "are confident that UIC can provide a project that represents a more modern aesthetic, yet still meets the requirements for new construction in the historic district standards, which again, are based on compatibility with the Shaw neighborhood."While historic districts' codes should be reviewed periodically, there is no need to amend the Shaw code, Crane added.Courtney McCray, a developer in the Shaw neighborhood, said Crittenden should build traditional homes and abide by all the historic code's standards. He said he obeyed the code in a 2011 rehab of a two-family building next to theDeTonty Close site."I couldn't tear the old house down," McCray said. "I had to fix the old house."The Cultural Resources Office kept close tabs on the work, he added."I wasn't allowed to make no funny changes," McCray said. "You have to be very cautious about what you do over there."He said Conway is fair with developers trying to cope with the code's intricacies. Conway said property values tend to rise more in city neighborhoods covered by historic codes."If you step back and look at the big picture, look at where the property values are growing," he said.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at .stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉庫