Endorses some updates to historical society building
The Town of Washington Architectural Review Board (ARB) voted 4-1 Monday to approve a tower addition to The Parsonage — a guesthouse on Main Street owned by The Inn at Little Washington — after board members were provided with additional details on the project.
The application was first considered at the board’s April meeting, but was tabled despite pleas from chef proprietor Patrick O’Connell to move the project along. At the time, the chief concerns of the board were how the tower would meld with the rest of the town, and a desire for more detailed plans.
During public comment, Vice Mayor Fred Catlin said town residents voiced concerns to him about the tower. He said the town has largely been preserved through the work of people like Patrick O’Connell, but cited several of the town’s Historic District Guidelines that the tower does not comply with.
“I’m really in a difficult spot, because this town has been preserved because of the work of people like Peter Cramer and Patrick O’Connell … so I have enormous respect for what the inn has done,” Catlin said. “I am here tonight because I have had 15 to 20 different incidents where people have come up to me and expressed distress about the tower.”
Chair Deborah Harris said the ARB also received four or five emailed comments about the tower addition.
Board members largely thanked the inn’s team for providing the details and 3D renderings requested at last month’s meeting, but still “wrestled with” the decision, as ARB Secretary Ryan Crabbe said in his remarks.
ARB member Drew Mitchell said the decision to support the tower was a “51/49 decision” for him, and that rare opportunities to add accents and flair to make the town unique should be considered.
“I think we should be open to occasional follies for the purpose of making the town unique — so very controversial, I’m sure — but that’s where I ended up,” Mitchell said.
Nanette Edwards was the only dissenting vote, and said although she was happy to see the additional details in the updated materials, she was still “stuck on the interpretation of the guidelines,” and said nothing like the tower exists in the town.
“I’m struggling very much with having this in the heart of town,” she said. “We’ve added all different types of styles and details over many decades, and in this particular case, I still find this addition detracts from the symmetrical beauty of The Parsonage … And I just find it incompatible with other residences in the historic district.”
Historical society improvements
The ARB also voted to approve part of an application presented by the Rappahannock County Historical Society allowing it to update shutters, doors and windows on the Gay Street building. An additional request — reconfiguring the opening of a stone wall in front of the building to widen it for ADA compliance — was tabled for next month’s meeting.
Kees Dutilh presented on behalf of the historical society, and said the new board is “trying to bring new life” to the society, which he said “has been semi-dormant over a decade.”
Members of the ARB voiced concerns about distorting the historic wall, and asked for more details and site plans to review to ensure the appearance of the altered portion of the wall will remain cohesive with the rest of it.
Dutilh said the improvements will hopefully make the building more welcoming to visitors as well, and would center the opening of the wall with the front door of the building.
“I completely understand all the reasons that you want to do this. I appreciate all those, it should have been that way from the beginning,” Crabbe said “But I think this probably deserves more study. I think it probably deserves a site plan.”
Mitchell recused himself from discussion and voting because of his involvement with the historical society’s application. The other four members voted in favor of approving improvements to the windows, shutters and doors, and in favor of asking for additional information on the stone wall plans.
