HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.hpc.19870113MINUTES:
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
REGULAR MEETING
JANUARY 13, 1987
ROLL CALL:Charles Cunniffe,Pat O'Bryan, Zoe Compton,Nick
Pasquarella, Georgeann Waggaman, Bill Poss, staff,Steve Burstein.
NEW BUSINESS:
Elli's of Aspen 101 S. Mill-preapplication/preliminary review
Representing the prospective new owner, Gideon Kaufman,Heidi
Leary Houston, John Cottle.
0!
Burstein review his memo of 1/9/87 of the fourteen question to
concern in regards to the addition of Elli's.
There is a representative of the owner of the property also
present.
Staff asked that the board look at the plans and see if they show
compatible massing,if the general design concept, in materials
and scale,are appropriate, if the loss of trees is a loss on Main
Street and should be preserved?
Kaufman open the meeting by saying that his client is interested
in preserving the historic nature of the building, Elli's was
built in the mid 1880's, this building did not score high on the
inventory sites and structure's,rating a notable, The applicant
would like to preserve the character of this building.
Breaking the plan down into three parts: The expansion of the
existing Elli's building,and a addition on the Mill Street , and
a addition on the Main Street side of the building. You will not
see or feel all the additions: When you are on Main Street you
only see the existing Elli's Building and the addition on Main
Street,When on the Mill Street side you will be able to see the
Mill Street expansion and the existing Elli's building.
This plan will maintain the importance of the Elli's building,
and will prevent the over power of this historic structure.
Gideon Kaufman said that he is willing to give the city the trees
that need to be taken down for other open space with in the city,
if the city would like them, if it is economically feasible.
John Cottle said they would like to get some feed back on the
general massing of the addition and how they fit with the
existing ELLi's building, and where they fit on the street and on
the side, second the architecture concept, of how this should fit
into a historical structure.
1
MINUTES:
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
REGULAR MEETING
JANUARY 13, 1987
John Cottle showing the board the drawings on the board 1-4.
The plan is to bring the additions out to the street
front,stating that ever historic structure is built to the
property line. The additions will be set back enough to have the
Elli's building will be framed by these buildings. The set back
on Main will be 10 and 14 feet and on Mill Street 2 to 3 feet.
Giving a pedestrian walk way and a small court yard as shown on
the plans.
These will be a two story addition, Elli's though looks like a
one story 50 % is two stories, but the roof of the Elli's portion
will have to be replaced to do this plan.
The plan is to form a family of additions,belong to each other
but are not colon. The addition on Main street will have three
bends in it, as shown on the elevation drawing.
Elli's has some elements that are on the building, it appears as
a one story building, the big band the false front that goes
across this elevation, single pane windows,with wide border
trims,a corner entrance, and several punch openings as it goes on
the false front around the building. The addition on Main Street
show columns, and will be wood as Elli's is now. They would like
to see the columns done in steel, and perhaps some of the
material would not be straight wood siding, they will come back
with more color and detail of material.
Waggaman asked the members to give a consensus to the plan.
They like the scale and material suggesting that the applicant
stay close to the wood material, most of the board with the
exception of O' Bryan and Waggaman did not have a problem with
the trees being removed. The open space 25 % will be up to code
and in accordance with the requirements of the code.
Elli of Aspen said that the roof on the building now is a
butterfly roof and will have to replaced for a second floor.
The present owners Gothic-Limited plan to have Elli's stay in the
same spot, even thought the ownership will change to a
partnership for the three proposed buildings.
Burstein said a zoning requirement of 25% open space, and how it
MINUTES:
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
REGULAR MEETING
JANUARY 13, 1987
relates to the building site, and the question of a design to
save the trees are some of his concerns.
O' Bryan said she would like to see a Mill Street elevation at
the next meeting.
Poss said this is a perfect example of letting the city historic
preservation of this building and letting the owner get addition-
al floor area without going through the GMP process.
Waggaman said that the trees give a high vertical element that
she feels is important to a counter balance to the Hotel Jerome
on the other side.
Waggaman asked about the square in the back, and she had some
concern about this, Cottle said this will be the pedestrian walk
way which will go to the bank, and this is part of the open
space.
Waggaman said she would like them to use new trees that will give
them the horizontal as well as a vertical element. She would like
to see something wood and like in scale, she likes the different
heights of the buildings,she does not feel that contemporary
looking material the shapes and portions of the building will
give that effect.
Cottle said that the second floor over Elli's will have to remove
the old roof and replace and add the second story, where the
exterior wall is not shown will be removed and rebuild it.
The facade of Elli's on Main and Mill will not be changed.
Burstein asked if they have look at the siding and what condition
is it in, can it be reused?
Waggaman said she does not want to se this building taken down
even if every board needs to be replaced, let it be one board at
a time, and very suddenly.
The floor area will be 4,000 4,000 and 5,000, the building will
be close in size.
The next schedule meeting that has not had the agenda set will be
February 10th.
MINUTES:
Meeting adjourn
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
REGULAR MEETING
JANUARY 13, 1987
AGENDA
~ISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
REGULAR MEETING
JANUARY 13,1987
4:00 P.M. (SPECIAL TIME)
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
addition 101 S. Mill
II. Old Business
III. Minutes
IV. Adjourn
NEW BUSINESS
A. preapplication/preliminary review:
Heidi O'Leary Houston,
Elli's of Aspen
John Cottle
MEMO
TO: HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
FROM: STEVE BURSTEIN
DATE: JANUARY 9, 1987
RE: ELLI'S STORE ADDITION
Because the Elli's store addition is a very important project the
planning office has prepared a memorandum.
The applicant is requesting HPC's preliminary review of a
proposed addition to Elli's store. The expansion would not be
subject to competition in the Growth Management Quota System if
Elli's received individual historic designation. Therefore there
would be no P&Z or Council review; only HPC must give approval.
At the present time, this building does not possess individual
designation and is being considered along with other undesignated
structures on the Inventory. The present owners have not yet
joined the applicant in requesting individual designation.
Staff views this project to be very important in
restoration of an historic commercial building,(b)
of the addition with the commercial core historic
(c)visual and land use impacts on Main Street.
terms of (a)
compatibility
district,and
This preliminary review should help the applicant understand the
HPC's general priorities and standards to be applied to the
development of this property.
Staff recommends that the committee deals with the proposal in a
general way and should not feel compelled to give any approvals
at this first meeting. Following are some conceptual issues that
might be discussed, and that we have included for the applican'st
benefit for future submittals:
e
Is the general approach of adding on to Elli's Main
Street and Mill Street elevations, surrounding the
historic building and its first and second additions,
acceptable in terms of compatible massing?
The Mill Street facade of the addition is basically on
the property line, maintaining the existing edge along
the sidewalk.The Main Street facade is stepped back in
four sections, creating a small courtyard. The design
generally maintains a strong vertical edge on both
streets. Do you find this approach more appropriate
than providing usable open space such as characterized
by the court yard design? As we know,some commercial
courtyards in Aspen have not worked well. Does this
design feature reinforce the pedestrian character of
the block?
APPLICATION FOR NISTORZC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE REVI
A. Name of Applicant: Heidi O'Leary Houston
Authorization by owner for Representative to Submit Appli-
cation:
Ce
Name and Location of Property:
Elli's of Aspen
101 South Mill Street
De
Descriptto'n of Proposal:
and two story buildinq.
Two story addition to existinq one
List elevation plans, site plan, detail drawings, historic
photographs, current photographs, eto. which are being
submitted with this application:
Existin9 Conditions Plan; Main Level Plan; Illustrative Concept
Building Materials:
Wood siding, wood trim
Ge
S.
I.
J.
Colorst Not determined at this time
Illumination: Not determined at this time
Signage: Not determined at this time
Effect of the proposal on the original design and architectural
elements:
See attached drawings
Ke
Identify encroachment
needed by applicant:
licenses or
other City approvals
GIDEON I. KAUFMAN
LAW OFFICES
GIDEONi. KAUFMAN
A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
January 7, 1987
Mr. Steve Burstein, Staff Advisor
Historic Preservation Comatittee
Aspen/Pitkin County Planning Office
130 South Galena Street
Aspen, Colorado 81611
Re: HPC Review for Elli's Building
Dear Steve:
This letter shall serve to supplement the enclosed
existing condition, main level plan, and illustrative concept
drawings for the expansion to the Elli's building located at
101 South Mill Street. This building has an interesting
history that goes back to the mid-1880s. It was first
utilized as a boarding house, and by the 1890s it contained
offices, as well as lodging. It was converted to retail
shops in 1893. In the early 1900s it became a candy store.
By the 1930s, it housed an assaying office. Thereafter, it
stood vacant until its present tenant, Elli's of Aspen, moved
there in the 1950s.
Despite this interesting and unique history, the
building did not score particularly high in the inventory of
historic sites and structures, and therefore, has only been
designated as a notable structure. With this low score and
notable category, a developer could justify the demolition of
this building in order to efficiently develop the site. Our
proposed development, however, will retain the building, even
though it will create a more difficult building situation for
our project. We are doing this in order to preserve a
building that we feel is important and historically
significant.
Because we are.retaining the b6ilding, we do have a
problem with the existing large trees on the property. If we
find it is economically feasible to relocate some of the
trees to a City location, we will work with the City to
accomplish this. Howe~er, if this is not possible, the trees
will have to be removed. It is easy for us to tell you that
we would attempt to save the trees on site, but that is not
practical with the open space requirements and the retention
of the existing building. Sometimes community goals require
compromise. We feel it is more important to preserve the
Elli's building, with its 100 year history and secure future,
rather than trees whose remaining life span is unknown.
Mr. Steve Burstein
January 7, 1987
Page 2
One of the reasons that we have chosen to retain the
existing Elli's building is to maintain an important aspect
of Victorian style that is being lost in the downtown area -
wood siding. We will not only be maintaining the wood
siding on the~existing building, but we also intend to use
wood siding on the addition. Wood siding was a typical
material used in the Victorian era that is no longer used in
contemporary buildings in the central core of Aspen. We feel
that by retaining the building in wood siding motif, we are ·
preserving a very important Victorian detail in the downtown
area that is being lost. By retaining the Elli's building,
we also will be able to maintain the corner entrance, a
unique element of the Victorian era. Unlike the Chitwood
building across the street, where the corner entrance of the
old Epicure building was lost, we will maintain this corner
entrance.
During our analysis of the development site, it became
apparent to us that the balance of the existing Elli's
building, with its corner location and proximity to other
buildings in the area, could be lost if we did not retain the
existing building with its wooden materials. We felt if we
were to convert the building to a brick or masonry building,
the corner would become heavy and out of scale with the
setting that exists there today.
Some very important architectural decisions molded our
plans for the building. The design of the addition to Elli's
is intended to fit with and enhance the existing historic
Elli's structure. By wrapping the addition around Elli's,
the addition is broken into two separate and distinct
building fronts. Together with Elli's, they form a family of
wooden structures - additions which are not identical or
recreations, but buildings which relate to each other through
the use of similar features and materials.
The key elements which are incorporated into the
addition include the use of wood as the major exterior
material, a false front above what appears to be a one-story
facade, and the incorporation of paned or double-hun~ windows
in the storefront glazing.
By sinking the Ma'in Street elevation approximately 2%
feet, a small courtyard is formed and the height of the
addition is only 2 feet above the Elli's facade along Main
Street. We have also sought to vary the setback 10 to 14
feet. This, along with broken massing, further reduces its
impact on Main Street, and forms a scale relationship with
Elli's and other structures of the era.
Mr. Steve Bursteln
January 7, 1987
Page 3
We feel that we have responded responsively and
creatively to a very important corner in the downtown of
Aspen. We feel that our retention of the existing Elli's
building, and its incorporation into the expansion, will not
only create a good project for us, but will also serve to
preserve a very unique and important Victorian era style,
scale and motif.
We intend to supplement these written materials with a
presentation at the HPC~ meeting. If we can supply any
additional information, ~lease feel free to contact us.
Very trUly yours,
GK/bw
LAW OFfiCES OF GIDEON I. KAUFMAN,
a Pro~'~gration
Gideon ~q~fman
GIDEON I. KAUFMAN
January 7, 1987
Mr. Steve Burstein
Staff Advisor, Historic Preservation Committee
Aspen/Pitkin County Planning Office
130 South Galena Street
Aspen, Colorado 81611
Dear Steve:
This letter requests individual historic designation of
the building located at 101 S. Mill Street as per the
provisions of Section 24-9.4 of the Municipal Code of the
City of Aspen. We are hopeful that action can be taken by
the Historic Preservation Committee at their meeting of
January 13, 1987, and the request forwarded to the City
Council for final action at a public hearing.
The inventory information supplied by your office
indicates that the structure was built in the mid-1880s, was
orginally a commercial structure, sits on its original site,
and is in good, as well as, unaltered condition. Actually,
an addition has been added. The architectural style is
simple "Western storefront", with the only notable special
features being bracketed ornamentation on the soffit.
Thank you for your consideration of this request. If
you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Very truly yours,
LAW OFFICES OF GIDEON I. KAUFMAN,
a Professional Corporation
¢.
By Gide~Kaufman
GK/bw
NEW COMMERCIAL
ALLEY
TRASH
.EXISTING
TREES.~
NEW COMMERCIAL
PEDESTRIAN WALKWAY --
MAIN STREET
EI_~!~S OF ASPEN..