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Proposed Rehabilitation of Garage, Prospect Hill
Green Springs National Historic Landmark District » Proposed Rehabilitation of Garage, Prospect Hill » Document List
The National Park Service proposes a "No Adverse Effect" determination for the rehabilitation of a c. 1930 frame garage at Prospect Hill, a privately owned property in the Green Springs National Historic Landmark District. This proposal by the owner is being reviewed under the terms of a NPS-managed conservation easement. For several decades, the owners have operated a bed-and-breakfast/restaurant in the property's manor house and various dependency buildings.
Item 1 of the restrictions-section of the Prospect Hill easement assigns the highest level of preservation consideration ("will be maintained and preserved in its present state as nearly as practicable") to each of the "18th and 19th Century" historic resources on the property but not to the c.1930 garage. The easement goes on to list those 18th- and 19th century resources as: the manor house, six dependencies extending to the south of the manor house (and facing one another across its entrance path and central grounds in two rows), the Overton Cemetery, and a slave cemetery. The garage and the other remaining buildings on the property are also addressed in the easement but more generally, in Item 3 in the restrictions-section. This stipulates that the garage and the other remaining buildings may be altered if, in the opinion of the Park Service, such work would be "in keeping with the historic character of the manor house, its setting and the character of the Green Springs Historic District." The focus of this review is therefore on the proposed changes to the exterior of the garage. Overall, the proposed rehabilitation would create three additional guest-suites at the bed-and-breakfast, through the conversion of the garage's extant interior to one suite, and through the construction of a 2-story, frame addition, gable-roof, east/west-oriented addition at the garage's (east) side and on its sloping rear yard- -sufficient for two additional suites. The exterior of the existing garage measures 24' 3" in width and 16' 3" in depth; for details on building and its setting/landscape, see attached Internal Documents files "Prospect Hill garage Existing Conditions," and "Prospect Hill garage Photographs." For rehabilitation proposal, see measured drawings in "Prospect Hill garage Proposed Conditions" Internal Documents file; pdf-pages referenced below. Specifically, the rehabilitation would entail converting interior of the existing garage into a guest-suite (page 3), and replacing the garage's deteriorated exterior trim and board-and-batten front (west) doors in-kind, and installing an inner front wall revealing two windows and a new door when the existing front doors are opened (pages 4-5). The proposed rehabilitation would also entail construction of a two-story addition, housing two more suites, on the rear (east) façade of the garage (pages 6-8) that: (1) measures 18' in width, 28' in depth, and 19 ' in height; (2) on the addition's east facade, a brick chimney measuring 22' in height and 4' in width at the base; (3) on the first floor of the addition's north façade, a wooden, board-and-batten entrance door for the lower rear suite; (4) on the second floor of the north façade, a wooden, board-and-batten entrance door for the upper rear suite and accessing the grade via a stoop and wooden stair extending five feet down to grade; and (5) windows consisting of three six-over-sixes on the north façade of the addition, four six-over-sixes on the east façade, and four six-over-sixes and two hexagonal windows on the south façade. As per the attached Internal Documents, a comparison of the proposal embodied in these measured drawings with that embodied in an earlier set submitted by the owner ("Prospect Hill garage First Proposal," attached), reflects major design-revisions for the final proposal, to accommodate the existing character of the manor house and its setting of the parallel rows of dependencies, and the character of the NHL District.
Item 1 of the restrictions-section of the Prospect Hill easement assigns the highest level of preservation consideration ("will be maintained and preserved in its present state as nearly as practicable") to each of the "18th and 19th Century" historic resources on the property but not to the c.1930 garage. The easement goes on to list those 18th- and 19th century resources as: the manor house, six dependencies extending to the south of the manor house (and facing one another across its entrance path and central grounds in two rows), the Overton Cemetery, and a slave cemetery. The garage and the other remaining buildings on the property are also addressed in the easement but more generally, in Item 3 in the restrictions-section. This stipulates that the garage and the other remaining buildings may be altered if, in the opinion of the Park Service, such work would be "in keeping with the historic character of the manor house, its setting and the character of the Green Springs Historic District." The focus of this review is therefore on the proposed changes to the exterior of the garage. Overall, the proposed rehabilitation would create three additional guest-suites at the bed-and-breakfast, through the conversion of the garage's extant interior to one suite, and through the construction of a 2-story, frame addition, gable-roof, east/west-oriented addition at the garage's (east) side and on its sloping rear yard- -sufficient for two additional suites. The exterior of the existing garage measures 24' 3" in width and 16' 3" in depth; for details on building and its setting/landscape, see attached Internal Documents files "Prospect Hill garage Existing Conditions," and "Prospect Hill garage Photographs." For rehabilitation proposal, see measured drawings in "Prospect Hill garage Proposed Conditions" Internal Documents file; pdf-pages referenced below. Specifically, the rehabilitation would entail converting interior of the existing garage into a guest-suite (page 3), and replacing the garage's deteriorated exterior trim and board-and-batten front (west) doors in-kind, and installing an inner front wall revealing two windows and a new door when the existing front doors are opened (pages 4-5). The proposed rehabilitation would also entail construction of a two-story addition, housing two more suites, on the rear (east) façade of the garage (pages 6-8) that: (1) measures 18' in width, 28' in depth, and 19 ' in height; (2) on the addition's east facade, a brick chimney measuring 22' in height and 4' in width at the base; (3) on the first floor of the addition's north façade, a wooden, board-and-batten entrance door for the lower rear suite; (4) on the second floor of the north façade, a wooden, board-and-batten entrance door for the upper rear suite and accessing the grade via a stoop and wooden stair extending five feet down to grade; and (5) windows consisting of three six-over-sixes on the north façade of the addition, four six-over-sixes on the east façade, and four six-over-sixes and two hexagonal windows on the south façade. As per the attached Internal Documents, a comparison of the proposal embodied in these measured drawings with that embodied in an earlier set submitted by the owner ("Prospect Hill garage First Proposal," attached), reflects major design-revisions for the final proposal, to accommodate the existing character of the manor house and its setting of the parallel rows of dependencies, and the character of the NHL District.