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Call Before You Hammer!

 

Exterior changes to your house or garage, other than painting and minor repair, must be reviewed by the Tacoma Landmarks Commission. This includes:

-changing or replacing windows.

-changing siding.

-adding, replacing or changing a porch or deck.

Before starting any exterior work, contact Reuben McKnight, our city Historic Preservation Officer, at 591-5220 or Reuben.McKnight@ci.tacoma.wa.us. He can tell you if your project needs a design review and how to proceed if it does.

 

Click here to download the guidelines.

 

City Building Permits and Historic Preservation

in the North Slope
 by Roger Johnson
 

As one of the North Slope Historic District Representatives to the Tacoma Landmarks Preservation Commission, I have been aware of a problem in the NSHD that perhaps needs some clarification.
The City of Tacoma has a building code to ensure safety and consistency in systems and engineering. Whenever a residence is being altered, a permit is usually needed. There are exceptions but these are few. Call the permit desk 591-5030 and tell them what you are considering and they will get you started.

In the North Slope Historic District we have another set of guidelines that apply to the exterior of our homes. These guidelines help us make decisions on changes to the exterior without losing or significantly altering the historic features and character of our homes. These guidelines are the compass that keep the ever-changing NSHD from drifting too far from the unique, diverse, vibrant and historic area that we all enjoy now. There are many examples in Tacoma where a fine historic home or area was altered, and in just a few years it had lost the features that made it special. Our guidelines keep us focused.

Once you have applied for your permit there is one more step to actually getting it. Your plan is reviewed by the Tacoma Landmarks Preservation Commission. The process is very simple. Fill out a form, get some pictures and drawings of your project, and discuss your plans with the commission. It will work with you to make them happen with in the historic guidelines. Once your plans are approved by the LPC your permit will be issued.

The North Slope Historic District has had a rash of major changes made to primary and secondary historic homes without permits or LPC review. Some of the changes were done with sensitivity and common sense and respect to the historic nature of the house and neighborhood. They won approval of the LPC without a battle. On the other hand some changes were clumsy and inappropriate and the cheapest method of making the desired changes were employed. This approach not only devalues the home but it is a blight on the neighborhood. The neighborhood has an appearance and spirit that is easily understood and whenever inappropriate changes are made the appearance and spirit are damaged.

The next time the weather allows, go for a walk through your neighborhood and take a close look at all the styles of architecture and notice how changes and additions alter the look and spirit of homes. Think of all the generations of people who have lived here before and all those who will follow. It is our responsibility to preserve the NSHD so that the spirit of the Tacoma pioneers is easily understood by future generations.

 

 

Landmarks Preservation Commission

 

 

  • Appointing Authority: Mayor, from recommendations submitted by SW Chapter of AIA, Director of Planning & Development Services, and Tacoma Arts Commission

  • Number of Members: 15

  • Term of Membership: 3 years

  • Composition of Membership: Three architects, one historian (background in American history), one art historian (background in the history of art and architecture), one City Planner (possibly as an alternate a representative of the Planning Department with a degree in urban planning serving in an ex-officio capacity), one landscape architect, one realtor, one representative from the Tacoma Arts Commission of Tacoma, one banker, and five interested citizens.

  • Liaison Department: Tacoma Economic Development

  • Staff Liaison: Reuben McKnight

  • General Information: (253) 591-5220

  • Meeting Information

 

House Style & Color

During the May 2005 North Slope Historic District program, NSHD Board Member

Marshall McClintock guided us toward resources that can help determine your house style and selecting what colors are appropriate.  Here are his suggestions:

 

 

Determining Your House Style:

James Massey & Shirley Maxwell, House styles in America (1996) is an overview of house styles from the 1600s to the present day.

 

Casey Rosenberg, A streetcar suburb: Architectural roots of a Seattle neighborhood describes the house styles in Seattle’s Capitol Hill, which is similar to the North Slope.

 

Queen Anne. See “Queen Anne and why we love her so” in Old House Journal (March/April, 2005). The Stick style is the most common variant of Queen Anne in the North Slope. See “The Stick Style” in Old House Journal (May/June, 2003). To see how its ornamentation has often been stripped off, compare the twin houses at 318 and 320 North I. The Shingle style was also a popular variant of Queen Anne. These low, broad houses are sheathed all in shingles with a variety of “quaint” windows. See “Shingle vision” in Old House Journal (Sept/Oct 2003).

 

Craftsman (often called Bungalow in its 1½ story version). This popular style is found throughout the North Slope. See “In search of Craftsman homes” in Old House Journal (July/August 1996).

 

English Revival (often called Tudor). Half-timbered facades characterize this style. In the North Slope, see 624 and 702 North I and cottage variety with its rolled eaves at 815 North L. These were painted like Craftsman style homes.

 

Neo-Colonial and Neo-Classical styles have some minor architectural differences but were typically painted similarly., see “Neoclassical style (1890-1920)” (Feb 2002) and “Early Colonial Revival” (June, 2004) in Old House Journal.

 

Foursquare. The foursquare is more of a floor plan than a house style. Its style can vary from Queen Anne to Neo-Colonial to Shingle to Craftsman and interesting combinations of these as well. See “The American Foursquare (1890-1935)” in Old House Journal (Sept/Oct, 2001).

 

Cape Cod. This small cottage became ubiquitous in the 1920s eventually replacing the bungalow. They were typically painted as Neo-Colonials. See “The Cape Cod Revival” in Old House Journal (April 2003).

 

On Selecting Colors:

Roger Moss. Century of Color: Exterior Decoration for American Buildings 1820-1920. (1981) is the bible for historic color schemes. While it covers a broader period than is relevant to the North Slope, it gives excellent paint history and examples,

 

Roger Moss and Gail C. Winkler. Victorian Exterior Decoration: How to paint your Nineteenth-century American house historically (1987). This is an update of Moss’ earlier book with more photographs and a chart mapping Victorian paint names to contemporary paints from Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, Glidden and Devoe. Later styles (especially the Four Squares) often used the same colors in simpler schemes.

 

Blanche Cirker, Victorian House Designs in authentic full color (1996) and E.K. Rossiter & F. A. Wright, Authentic color schemes for Victorian houses (2001) reproduce period color illustrations of house paint schemes.

 

Robert Schweitzer. Bungalow Colors: Exteriors. (2002). This new book focuses on the period from 1900 to 1920. The title is somewhat of a misnomer since the book covers most house styles of this period, especially Four Squares and not just bungalows.

 

Old House Journal has a number of articles on historic house colors. See “Colors for a New Century: Picking exterior paint for post-Victorian houses” (June, 2003), “Bungalow porch colors” (August 1997), and “The vary best colors” (August 2004).

 

True Colors Palette. (2003). www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org

The Heritage Foundation of Vancouver, B.C., has developed in conjunction with Benjamin Moore a palette of historical colors based on paint matching research from over 50 historic Vancouver homes. The Heritage Foundation also provides excellent pamphlets on identifying the decorative style of your home and developing historically appropriate color schemes. Historic Seattle is currently working on a similar project.

 

Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams have developed their own historic palette cards to help you select colors. These cards are limited in the colors they can show, but remember that colors from earlier periods were frequently used in later periods.

 

Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen have published several books on the elaborately detailed color schemes known as “painted ladies”. These include Painted ladies: San Francisco’s resplendent Victorians (1978) and Daughters of painted ladies: America’s resplendent Victorians (1987). These books provide a good source for identifying complementary trim colors, but many of the houses pictured are not painted historically.

 

Selecting paint. Consumer Reports, June 2004 (p. 30) and June 2005 (p. 29).evaluate brands of paints for their appearance over time, ability to resist dirt build up, color change over time, and mildew resistance.

 

Color consultants. Clint Miller (206-841-3054) specializes in historic renovations. Karen McClain (253-572-9320), Rhonda Canales (253-232-3289)