Design Guidelines for the Lewiston West End Historic District
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Design Guidelines for the Lewiston West End Historic District December 31, 2019 Design Guidelines for the Lewiston West End Historic District By: Jacqui Gilbert, Regional Initiatives Planner, City of Lewiston; City of Lewiston Historic Preservation Commission; and Ann Sharley, Architectural Historian, Architectural History & Archaeology! LLC Prepared for: City of Lewiston P.O. Box 617 Lewiston, Idaho 83501 December 31, 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE……………………………………………...…………….…………….………………………ii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………….………………………..1 What are Design Guidelines?.....................................................................................................................1 Lewiston Historic District and Lewiston West End Historic District…………..………………...………2 CHAPTER 2: HISTORIC OVERVIEW OF LEWISTON………………….………………………….6 History of Lewiston………………………………………………………………………………......….6 Architectural Character of the Lewiston West End Historic District………..…………………...….….11 Building Types and Styles………………………………………...……….…………………………...17 CHAPTER 3: TERMINOLOGY AND ABBREVIATIONS…………...………………...…………...25 CHAPTER 4: TAX ABATEMENT FOR REHABILITATING HISTORIC BUILDINGS….……...33 CHAPTER 5: CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS REVIEW PROCESS…………………..37 Legal Basis for the Certificate of Appropriateness Review Process………………………...…….…….37 The Historic District Application Process………………………………………………………………37 Lewiston Historic District Application for Certificate of Appropriateness Form………………………38 Historic District Certification of Appropriateness Project Checklist Guideline Form………………….39 Historic District Certificate of Appropriateness Review Form…………………………………………41 CHAPTER 6: LEWISTON WEST END HISTORIC DISTRICT DESIGN GUIDELINES………..45 Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines…………………………………………………...45 General Guidelines…………………………………………………………………………………......46 Specific Guidelines………………………………………………………………………………...…...47 Design Guidelines for Historic Building Materials…………………………………………….……….48 Design Guidelines for Historic Building Elements……………………………………………………..53 Design Guidelines for Additions to Historic Buildings…………………………………………………61 Design Guidelines for Parking Facilities, Lighting, Signs and Streetscapes……………………………63 Design Guidelines for New construction within a Historic District……………………………………68 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………...70 APPENDIX A: MAPS FOR 1975/1984/2018 NRHP LEWISTON HISTORIC DISTRICT ….......A-1 APPENDIX B: HISTORIC PRESERVATION RESOURCES……………………………………..B-1 Cover Photograph: Overview of Main Street between 5th and 7th Streets in the Lewiston West End Historic District. View to the east, 2018. Design Guidelines i 2019 PREFACE The Historic District Design Guidelines is structured around five areas with elements that will support and guide development within Lewiston’s Historic District that implements components and examples from the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Each chapter will guide the reader through the process and information required to rehabilitate, remodel, new construction or a new addition within the Historic District. Chapter 1 – Introduction: explains the purpose of the guidelines, the formation of the Historic District in 1975 with an expansion in 1984 and the subsequent expansion that widened the district further in 2016, complete with maps and historical significance. Chapter 2 – Historic Overview of Lewiston: provides the background of when the city of Lewiston was incorporated in 1861, the history of the City of Lewiston and the architectural character of the Historic District over time. Chapter 3 – Terminology and Abbreviations: an explanation of the terminology and abbreviations used to describe various areas of an historic building. Chapter 4 – Tax Abatement for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings: explains the tax abatement program, the benefits and process of the Federal Tax Abatement for rehabilitating historic buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places. Chapter 5 – Certificate of Appropriateness Review Process: provides the guidance and process needed to apply for a Certificate of Appropriateness that is required for any property within the Historic District that exterior work is being planned on. Chapter 6 – Lewiston West End Historic District Design Guidelines: explains the steps needed to planning successful improvements to historic buildings, definition of the four distinct types of treatments for historic properties and examples of general/specific guidelines for Rehabilitation. Design Guidelines ii 2019 Preface: Document Guidance Design Guidelines iii 2019 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Historic Districts are created by local residents as a means of preserving a valued area’s sense of place, that is, the unique character that differentiates that place from all others. Such districts promote the preservation, restoration, and rehabilitation of historically significant buildings and structures and work to ensure livability of the area, enhanced economic opportunities, and stable property values. Historic District designation can occur at the local level, administered by a city or other local jurisdiction, or at the state or national level, administered by state or federal agencies. Federal National Register of Historic Places designation confirms the historic significance of a property or district based on standard nation-wide criteria, while local designation allows local review of proposed changes to a historic property or district. In practice, a combination of the two types of designation – National Register and local – is often seen as most desirable. What are Design Guidelines? Preservation of the historical, architectural, and cultural heritage of the City of Lewiston is considered essential to the well-being of its citizens. Therefore, the city, like hundreds of others across the nation, has adopted a historic preservation ordinance allowing properties or groups of properties possessing special historic character to be designated as local historic sites or districts (Lewiston Municipal Code 19.5-11, pursuant to Chapters 46 and 47, Title 67, Idaho Code). The City of Lewiston’s historic preservation ordinance created the Lewiston Historic Preservation Commission to administer local historic sites and districts and to carry out other historic preservation duties as detailed in Title 67 of the Idaho Code. The ordinance also established the Certificate of Appropriateness review process to evaluate proposed exterior alterations to locally designated historic properties. The Design Guidelines in the present document were developed by the City of Lewiston and the Lewiston Historic Preservation Commission, assisted by historic preservation consultant Architectural History & Archaeology! LLC of Spokane Valley, to provide guidance to landowners and residents, city personnel, and historic preservation commission members in assessing the desirability, from a historic preservation viewpoint, of actions proposed within the Lewiston West End Historic District. Such assessments occur during the Certificate of Appropriateness review process. Figure 1. Main Street just west of 7th Street. View to the east, 2018. Design Guidelines 1 2019 Lewiston Historic District and Lewiston West End Historic District The original Lewiston Historic District, consisting of 17 late nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings in the oldest part of Lewiston, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1975 (Appendix A). This original district, bordered by 1st Street on the west, B Street (Beachey Street) on the north, 5th Street on the east, and high natural bluffs on the south, was limited to the earliest and most intact examples of historic architecture in the downtown commercial core and included only buildings approved by the Lewiston Chamber of Commerce and the Lewiston City Council (Hart 1975: Section 7, Page 3). This district, although with slightly different boundaries, was also given local designation as the Lewiston West End Historic District (Lewiston City Code, Chapter 19.5). In 1984 the NRHP Lewiston Historic District was expanded slightly, at the request of a number of adjacent property owners, with the addition of 11 commercial buildings dating from approximately 1890 to 1930 (Appendix A). During this expansion, the south and west boundaries of the historic district remained unchanged, the east boundary was extended to 6th Street, and additional buildings were added at the northwest and northeast edges of the district (Attebery 1984). This boundary increase area was designated part of both the existing NRHP historic district and the local historic district. In 2016 the City of Lewiston was awarded a Certified Local Government (CLG) grant by the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) for reconnaissance level survey of 78 buildings within the downtown commercial core, in anticipation of again expanding the Lewiston Historic District. By this time the economic benefits of historic preservation, including the popularity of historical buildings as restaurant, brewpub, and other public venues, were well known. The City contracted with Architectural History & Archaeology! LLC (AHA!) of Spokane Valley for survey and reporting associated with the project. Although only 13 properties were recommended individually eligible for listing in the NRHP during the project, 56 were recommended as contributing elements in a potentially expanded NRHP Lewiston Historic District (Sharley and Hamilton 2016).