Board of Architectural Review

City of Charleston Board of Architectural Review Design Guidelines for Elevating Historic Buildings Adopted: TBD Charleston has historically been plagued by significant flooding issues, due to the development on infilled land where marshes once stood. However, in recent years there has been an intensification of flooding due to hur- ricanes, severe rainstorms, and high tide. The City concluded the best policy for the long-term preservation of historic structures was to support their need to elevate to the necessary FEMA requirement. In an effort to be proactive, two workshops were held in November 2017 and March 2018 with the public, architects, engineers, contractors, and preservationists to develop a set of guidelines to ensure elevations were done as sensitively and appropriately as possi- ble. This resulting document focuses on four key areas to guide elevation projects for historic buildings: considerations for streetscape/context, site design, foundation design, and architecture/preservation. Flooding from Hurricane Matthew, Oct. 2016 Halsey Map (1972) - historic high tide water line shown Building Categories Category 1 (Exceptional) and Category 2 (Excellent) Buildings :  Require Board approval.  All Preservation and Architectural Guidelines in this document are mandatory for these structures.  Encourage use of FEMA Variance to minimize change to only that necessary to avoid flood hazard.  If approved, applicants must provide documentation of the building in its existing state, to include as-built elevations, floor plans, site plan, and photographs. Category 3 and 4 Buildings :  Elevating 3’-0” or less may be staff approved. Anything above 3’ requires Board approval.  If approved, applicant must provide documentation to include as-built elevations, floor plans, site plan, photographs.  Streetscape and Context Considerations Guidelines Successful Examples  Broadly, submittals should include careful study of the following:  Impact on important streetscape fea- tures (fences, walls, etc.).  Impact on relationship to immediate context and neighboring buildings .  Impact on streetscape scale and build- ing pattern  More specifically, submittals should include careful study of contextual examples including but not limited to elevated buildings, typical Adjoined townhomes (Rainbow Row) materials, and the following specific architec- tural details:  Relationship of entrance to street  Staircases  Piazza Screening  Railings and Ironwork  Foundation Treatments  Walls (garden and site)  Fenestration Patterns  Eave Heights  Stair Configuration  Landscaping Sister Houses  Relocating buildings on the same lot may be more sympathetic to the context. For example, moving a house back to allow for the construc- tion of steps typical to the context.  Elevation of sister houses should be architec- turally coherent within the grouping. The first sister house to be elevated shall instruct prece- dent for the future elevation of structures with- in the grouping. The BAR should demand the highest quality of design of the first building in a sister house grouping to be elevated. Common site features (walls, fences)  Site Considerations Successful Examples Guidelines  Buildings should not be moved to accommo- date additions, parking, etc.  It is preferred to maintain a district stair con- nection to the sidewalk.  Entry stairs are preferred to be constructed of masonry, unless context dictate otherwise.  Buildings should remain in their original loca- tion on the lot, unless doing so prevents the reasonable introduction of stairs.  It may be acceptable to move buildings back on a lot to correspond to adjacent properties (i.e. Terraced Landscaping / Raised Planter Beds to align with neighboring properties).  If necessary to move the building on the prop- erty, minimize the impact with transitional porches, low walls, iron fencing, planting beds, and terraced landscaping.  An alternative entry location might be consid- ered in cases where the structure does not have a traditional sidewalk entry.  In instances where a structure has to be raised a full story, look at introducing entry at the ground level (maintain piazza entry to unfin- ished space)  Maintain existing historic hardscape features, Coping Walls & Fencing such as planter walls, fences, gates  Retain to the greatest extent existing circula- tion paths from the street/sidewalk to the building  Introducing planter walls (approximately 30’’ max.) will help mitigate transition in height  Front fencing should be relatively transparent (wrought iron or wood picket)  Encourage use of plantings or other pervious materials to help absorb water Transitional Porch  Preservation/Architecture Considerations Successful Examples Guidelines  Quality of historic material and detail should be maintained at the pedestrian level  Buildings that have a direct architectural re- lationship with its neighbors (such as sister houses or adjoined row houses) will be con- sidered within their context and the effect on one another and future elevations  Historic, character defining features should be retained first, salvaged and reused sec- Historic, character defining features ond, or rebuilt when necessary as a last op- tion.  Piazza screen and all associated elements should be conserved at current elevation (including doorway surround, steps, and rail- ing). Stairways within the piazza and piazza screen dimension may increase to mitigate the elevation change  Stairs should generally occur in front of or within piazzas, rather than extending from the side Piazza Screens  Chimney options (in order of preference):  Preferred method: retain chimney and elevate with the structure  Elevate the house around the chimney  Least preferred method: remove in- ternal portions of the chimney and only elevate that which extends above the roofline Significant Chimneys  Preservation/Architecture Considerations Successful Examples Guidelines  Primary entries should maintain the existing circulation pattern  Employ architectural devices relating to the specific context to lessen the overall impact of the raised structure:  Continue siding down foundation  Lowering window level to relate to streetscape pattern and pedestrian scale  Add a skirt board/water table  Introduce a coping wall  Significant elevation changes should create the appearance of an additional floor that propor- tionally relates to the floors above and fenes- tration patterns on the streetscape. Lowered siding and windows Elevated full floor Water table at foundation  Foundation Design Considerations Successful Examples Guidelines  Generally, should be based on historically elevated foundations in Charleston  Foundation should also be based on neighbor- hood/context specific examples.  Foundation components should complement existing façade features:  Visual support of columns  Pilaster expression  Solid foundation wall under main body of house, especially at the street front, Historically elevated foundation and piers at piazza with infill screening  Use traditional masonry materials  Use existing elements as visual refer- ences to be repeated and extended throughout foundation design  Pier infill should be:  Recessed  Use louvers or custom lattice  No “beachy” style horizontal slats or stock lattice Extension of column line to pier foundation Solid foundation at front Recessed Louver Infill  Foundation Design Considerations Successful Examples Guidelines  New foundation material should match the his- toric foundation material, and when possible, use salvaged material from the historic founda- tion.  Any required venting should be limited to the sides and rear of the house, however if using decorative ironwork, it may be acceptable at the front of the house.  Front elevation mitigation strategies include decorative iron vents/grilles, water tables, ele- vated planters, etc.  Use of creative openings/windows to break up wall expanse is encouraged.  For buildings elevated 6ft or more, parking un- derneath the structure is discouraged.  For new construction, parking underneath the structure may be possible, but only where gar- age openings are located toward the rear and not visible from the ROW. Garage doors on front elevations are prohibited. (Note: Eleva- Fenestration in foundation tion in excess of 6’-0” will count as a story in height districts by story). Elevated Planter in front of foundation Decorative ironwork at venting