1989 Renovations

I dropped by the Planning Department today, and got a copy of a 1989 application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for work on our house. In 1989, the then owner, Brian Kent, applied for permission to replace the roof and add the rear dormer. The (much simpler!) application form lists the building as built in 1911 (nope!) and describes the proposed project very briefly:

Tear-off of existing shingles & cedar shakes. Replace w/ new plywood decking, felt & shingles. On rear hip of roof construction of one 8' wide gable roof dormer, shingles, siding & glazing to match existing house.

This implies that the current roof of the house was the one put on in 1989 (and was not new in 1995-7, as our seller told us; if it's 21 years old, no wonder we need a new one.) Attached drawings and photos show that the front dormer was already in existence in 1989. The back deck was not in existence; instead, there was a staircase down from a small back porch. The front porch had no railings on the East side, and a different railing (looks like it's made out of wood trellis lattice) on the West side. The front porch looks much the same as now, otherwise, and the swing is there. The mention of cedar shakes in the roof tear-off implies that was the original roofing material, later covered with asphalt shingles. (I have heard that wooden shakes are a pretty common historical roof in my neighborhood.)





I stopped by the Building Permit office on my way out and asked them to look for any permits related to the house. I got a call back this afternoon saying there were 6 pages waiting for me to pick them up, so that will be interesting to see!