“This Looks Like North Haven In The 1960s”

Local developer Andrew Consiglio wants to turn a long vacant empty square of prime real estate at the corner of Olive and Greene streets into a two-family house.

That was well and good with the members of the Historic District Commission (HDC), to whom he applied for a certificate of appropriateness, because the proposed house sits in the heart of the Wooster Square Historic District.

However, commissioners said Consiglio did not provide enough detail — about the porch, windows, doors, roof, and general style. They urged Consiglio and his design colleague to look around the neighborhood and come back with a context, a vision, and a lot of the detail that the Historic District Commission (HDC) requires.

That was two years ago.

On Wednesday night, Consiglio and a new designer whom he brought on to the project, Max Ruggiero, were back to revive that old application — or present a new one.

Yet the results were the same: Before we give approval, show us the vision that acknowledges the historic district context and, especially, details that support it, the commissioners ruled.

Consiglio and Ruggiero took notes and said they’ll be back with all of that at the next HDC meeting in January.

The half-hour discussion, at the tail end of a full-agenda, three-and-a-half hour regular meeting of HDC, centered on the absence of what Commissioner George Knight called the ​“contract” between developers and the commissioners.

He meant that what is ultimately agreed upon in proposals, photos, and construction-ready drawings must be ​“field ready”: sufficiently detailed so that when the builder puts in a window, he doesn’t just plunk it into a wall, but does so with the precise alignment and casement detail in the plans and drawings.

The commissioners found Consiglio’s project, a proposed brick structure, and the accompanying documentation, woefully absent of that level of detail to justify a ​“contract,” or approval of the certificate of appropriateness being requested.

“It’s to be a two-family, all brick, similar to [houses on] Greene, St. John, Olive,” Ruggiero told the commissioners. ​“We feel we made all the responses, addressed all the issues …”

“… You mean [those raised in] 2016?” queried HDC Chairwoman Trina Learned.

Ruggiero nodded in the affirmative. ​“It’s brick.”

“If it is, it’s going to be a long night,” replied Learned. She pointed out that the submitted drawings she and the commissioners had before them showed a clapboard house. ​“A clapboard structure that you say is brick is hard to verify in the field.”

So the discussion went, with commissioners probing details large and small, and the applicants responding with an easy willingness to make suggested changes. That only made the commissioners feel there had not been enough thought yet put into the submission, especially about the historical context.

They cited the squat brick fence that surrounds the property on both Olive and Greene streets for instance. Knight asked if the plan for the house included retaining the wall.

Consiglio replied, ​“It was a brick fence put in by the Parking Authority.”

Knight: ​“Do you plan on keeping it in place?”

Ruggiero: ​“Yes.”

Knight: ​“That’ll be massive impact on the house, the wall.”

Consiglio: ​“I was thinking of removing the wall and replacing it with iron fencing.”

Knight: ​“How do you arrive at your design decisions? For example, the existing wall. Your decisions seem to be coming out of the blue, it’s so de-contextualized.”

Another example of the commissioners’ concerns was raised by Commissioner Doug Royalty, about doors shown in the drawings. The doors open not onto Olive Street, as do all the doors in existing houses, but onto Greene.

“Our guidelines ask us for, in the case of new construction, to pay heed to the street’s [architectural] rhythm. This suggests you’re ​‘turning your back’ on Olive Street,” Royalty said.

“We did have an entrance on Olive. We can change that.”

“It’s not a question of a door, but of how does your building enhance Olive Street,” said Commissioner Susan Godshall. ​“Your building at present looks like North Haven in the 1960s.”

The intense grilling did not faze the applicants. Ruggiero thanked the commissioners. ​“I’m more aware of what you people are looking for,” he said.

Consiglio was laid back and generally sanguine about the process as well.

“It’s exciting,” Knight said of the general concept, in an attempt to end the session on a positive note.

Then he led the way in a motion, which passed unanimously, to continue the conversation at the next regularly scheduled HDC meeting, on Jan. 9.

“Thanks very much,” said Ruggiero.