Urban contexts are characterized by high density population, and may exist in anything from a relatively small town to a large city. Large cities often present an urban context at its core, and a suburban context at its periphery. At their worst, urban contexts bring lower quality of life for their occupants, and at their best, they bring the best that a community has to offer.
Functionally-Related Complex
A significant concentration of buildings, structures and objects that have been functionally related historically by plan or physical development are “those which have functioned together to serve an overall purpose during the property’s period of significance.”
– Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 36 CFR Part 67 -
Historic Preservation
According to Secretary of the Interior publications, historic preservation is "the act or process of applying measures to sustain the existing form, integrity and material of a building or structure, and the existing form and vegetative cover of a site including stabilization and ongoing maintenance." More simply, historic preservation is a procedure that conserves irreplaceable resources - resources that often give variety and character to what would otherwise be visually bland residential neighborhoods and commercial areas. Historic preservation is not only the preservation of physical relics from the past, more importantly it is the conservation of ideas - the intentions and fulfilled dreams of our ancestors and the exemplification of their way of life as reflected in the built environment.
– Secretary of the Interior -
The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties are common sense principles in non-technical language. They were developed to help protect our nation's irreplaceable cultural resources by promoting consistent preservation practices. The Standards are a series of concepts about maintaining, repairing and replacing historic materials, as well as designing new additions or making alterations. They cannot, in and of themselves, be used to make decisions about which features of a historic property should be preserved and which might be changed. But once an appropriate treatment is selected, the Standards provide philosophical consistency to the work.
There are Standards for four distinct, but interrelated, approaches to the treatment of historic properties--preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction.
Preservation is defined as the act or process of applying measures necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and materials of an historic property.
Rehabilitation is defined as the act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values and character.
Restoration is defined as the act or process of accurately depicting the form, features, and character of a property as it appeared at a particular period of time by means of the removal of features from other periods in its history and reconstruction of missing features from the restoration period.
Reconstruction is defined as the act or process of depicting, by means of new construction, the form, features, and detailing of a non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object for the purpose of replicating its appearance at a specific period of time and in its historic location.
Choosing an appropriate treatment is critical and depends on the buildings relative importance in history, current physical condition, propose use, and intended interpretation. Other factors that may influence the treatment approach include code and ADA requirements. Rehabilitation is the most appropriate treatment for the purposes of this Thesis because the Lemp Brewery Complex is not a National Landmark, but is a contributing portion of the Benton Park National Register District. Because of the existing conditions the buildings will require extensive repairs and modifications to accommodate the proposed use. Since the proposed use is different from the original use, alterations will be vital to the redevelopment. Preservation and Restoration Standards are used when a significant amount of the historic fabric remains and is not deteriorated beyond repair. Reconstruction is only used when entire building is non-surviving and replication is the only approach. If the developer will pursue Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives the Secretary of The Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation will apply.
The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, commonly known as “The Standards”, are used to evaluate the appropriateness of proposed building alterations for projects seeking to qualify as “certified rehabilitations”. The Standards are applied to projects in a reasonable manner, taking into consideration economic and technical feasibility. The Standards (36 CFR Part 67) apply to historic buildings of all periods, styles, types, materials, and sizes. They apply to both the exterior and the interior of historic buildings. The Standards also encompass related landscape features and the building's site and environment as well as attached, adjacent or related new construction.
What are Historic Preservation Design Guidelines?
In general, Historic Preservation Design Guidelines provide criteria that can be applied uniformly in the evaluation of the appropriateness of proposed changes to historic properties. The goal of the design guidelines is to protect the historic character of our significant cultural resources. To help achieve this goal a set of Design Guidelines will be structured to comply with The Standards, and shall:
protect the historic character and integrity of the building
provide guidance to property owners undertaking rehabilitation projects
identify and recommend appropriate design review approaches
increase public awareness of historic structures
Design guidelines are policy statements that guide communities on historic preservation matters. Guidelines enable local preservation and planning review boards to make consistent and fair decisions based on a uniform standard when property owners seek to renovate or construct new buildings in a historic area. Design guidelines typically address both rehabilitation and new construction in the district. Some guidelines also cover signs, site design, demolition, moving structures, streetscapes, and treatment of individual landmarks.
Design guidelines can be either prescriptive or performance-oriented. Prescriptive guidelines mandate a certain design solution. These guidelines generally tend to be quantifiable. It is clear when one has met the guideline. For example, a guideline that states: "New buildings shall be set back twenty-five feet from the front property line" is prescriptive.
Performance-oriented guidelines devise several design solutions that would meet a desired qualitative outcome. For example, "New buildings should appear to be set back from the street a distance that is similar to those of historic structures in the area" is a performance-oriented guideline addressing the same issue of front yard setback.
What will the Guidelines Look Like?
Design guidelines appear in many forms, some of which are discussed later in this document, but comprehensive ones will contain the following four elements.
First guideline element:
A Description of the significant features of the design topic to be discussed, along with a statement of broader, related policies.
Second guideline element:
The Guideline text itself, addressing the design topic. This defines a quality of performance or provides a specific measure that one should meet.
Third guideline element:
Any amplifications of the design guideline, where appropriate; these may suggest specific ways in which property owners or developers may meet the guideline’s requirements.
Fourth guideline element:
Photographs and illustration(s) are used to give real world examples and clarify the intent of the guidelines. Typically, an illustration of an appropriate solution will be drawn adjacent to an example that depicts an inappropriate action.
How will the Guidelines be Organized?
Design guidelines can be organized in a variety of ways: by construction activity, by specific building component or by building type. For example, all work related to rehabilitation of historic buildings may be presented in one chapter, while guidelines for new buildings may be in another.
Building Component
For example, guidelines for windows, for both their rehabilitation and standards for new windows, may be presented in one section.
Building Type
For example, design guidelines for commercial buildings may be presented in one section while guidelines for single family residential-type buildings may be in another.
In fact, most guideline documents will use a combination of these organizing principles, in a hierarchical arrangement as described earlier. Some design guidelines may also include zoning items. For example, prescriptive standards that define setback limits, building heights and floor area ratios are traditionally found in zoning ordinances, but may also appear in the design guidelines. Some communities even opt to provide separate zoning regulations for historic districts or as overlay zones.
I have decided to organize the guidelines by building component. Since the Lemp Brewery Complex is a functionally related group of buildings the historic architectural style is the same for all of the buildings, Italianate/Renaissance Revival. Therefore, distinguishing by building type would not be prudent.
How will the Guidelines be Used?
Design guidelines will be used by a neighborhood review board to insure mandatory compliance the Standards, and with special incentive programs that encourage investment in the historic complex. For example, the Historic Preservation Tax Incentive program offers a 20% tax credit to certified rehabilitations of buildings, on the condition that certain design guidelines are followed. In this case, the owner voluntarily enters into the program, but then compliance is required in order to receive the tax credits.
Design review will be mandated under a historic preservation agreement, and property owners must participate in the review discussions and they must abide by the findings of the review board. This application is the basis for the model process that follows.
It is important to distinguish the requirement of an owner to submit a design for review from the requirement to comply with design recommendations of a review board. This system requires that owners submit their design for discussion and receive approval of the review board.
How will the Guidelines Affect the Character of the District?
If well-written and informative, the design guidelines themselves will encourage appropriate design in the complex, but those that are administered through an ordinance requiring approval of the review board will have a more noticeable effect. In essence, the greater the degree of control that is applied, the more direct the effect of the guidelines will be. If review and control is voluntary outcome of the complexes character is not predictable.
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