1232-1234 Louisa St.

Staff Recommendations: 

1234 Louisa is an in-fill residential building located in the Bywater Historic District. The building recently came before the HDLC NO Commission in November 2022 for retention of new construction without permits. The Commission granted retention noting that the ARC's recommendations should be incorporated during construction. Following a final inspection, several items were in deviation from the approved drawings. A number of items in deviation were corrected including the front gallery balustrade, the boxed-in eave condition, fencing, front facing gable vent, R-panel roofing at side entry, and Hardie soffit venting. 

The applicant is petitioning the NO Commission to allow retention of inappropriate windows at the front façade and side elevations and the incorrect side entry door header height. 

Per the approved drawings and standard for all new construction buildings reviewed by the HDLC, windows must be recess-mounted into the plane of the wall and have true or simulated divided lites. Side elevation windows at 1234 Louisa did not follow this guideline, instead installing flush mounted vinyl windows with grilles in between the glass. There are currently ten (10) flush mounted vinyl windows that are visible from the public right of way, four (4) at the right-side elevation and six (6) at the left-side elevation. Of the six (6) at the left-side elevation, four (4) (windows C, B, and D) are the more visible, with limited visibility of the other windows as you proceed further down Louisa Street toward St. Claude Ave. Staff recommends that eight (8) of the inappropriate, highly visible windows be removed and replaced with HDLC approved vinyl windows. 

In addition to side elevation windows, two (2) front façade windows were also installed incorrectly. The approved drawings show full height windows at the front façade, matching the header height of the front façade doors. Per the plans, these windows should end at the decking of the front façade gallery. The installed windows are not full height and terminate at a sill approximately 1-2' from the decking. The HDLC does not allow in-between sized windows at the front façade. Because the header heights of the windows do match those of the doors, the windows do read as full height from some viewpoints. Staff cannot recommend approval of the inappropriately sized windows but leaves the decision at the discretion of the Commission. 

The approved drawings show a recess entry door opening at the right-side elevation as matching the header height of the openings at the front façade. The as constructed header height is much lower and reads as such from the public right of way. It appears that the side entry roofing was constructed correctly, but the opening was not properly framed to align with other header heights. Staff recommends that the header height of the door be readjusted to match other existing header heights. 

The approved front gallery column detail included a simplistic capital and trim (see detail below). The installed column and capital are more decorative than shown in the approved drawing set. Staff recommends denial of retention and that the existing capitals be removed with the existing trim below to remain and thin molding being applied below to match the approved drawing.