CHP Considers Applications to Raze Six Homes and a Church

An application to demolish 24 Eton Road was approved.The recent Committee for Historic Preservation meeting at Village Hall on September 16th held all the things that make our local board meetings interesting; developers, concerned neighbors, paid consultants, and lawyers.

In order of appearance the CHP reviewed several 8 local structures, of which 2 were holdovers from an earlier meeting as the board reached out to Professor Andrew Dolkart, the Village’s go-to consultant for architectural historic matters. The first item on the agenda was 74 Carthage Road, one of the holdovers, which is a modest mid-century home that through local legend had ties to Yoko Ono. At an earlier meeting the board and neighbors discussed the home at length and unfortunately Professor Dolkart found the home unremarkable and the Architect, although a designer of note, wasn’t a master. The approval for demolition was granted.

The second home on the agenda was 21 Barry Road, of which there were a bevy of concerned neighbors sharing their passion to prevent the demolition of this structure as Barry Road still retains most of its architectural fabric and almost all of its homes are original structures. Professor Dolkart agreed and the developer, Chris Knopp, has altered the plans from the previous meeting and instead of demolishing the home, plans on performing a major renovation with an addition at the rear and sides of the structure and raising the roof height at the front. The proposed revisions to the home will be heard by the Board of Architectural Review at a future meeting, as the intricacies of the project are not the purview of the CHP.

Next on the agenda were both 80 Garden Road and 88 Garden Road. These homes currently sit at the contested site of the proposed development at 80 Garden Road. The home at 80 Garden Road was quickly reviewed and demolition was approved. The home at 88 Garden Road was discussed more in depth, especially with some of the older news and local lore of the home being tied to a love interest of JP Morgan. In the end the certificate of demolition was granted. Surprisingly none of the neighbors came to object to the demolition of these structures but have chosen to be vocal at the Planning Board level. The same builder and architect also presented the following home on the agenda, 17 Highland Way. A concerned neighbor from Larch Lane came to speak of the charm of this home as well as its thoughtful site placement. The Chair commented that the home looked like a “charming structure that you would find on Nantucket”, but in the end the certificate of appropriateness for demolition was granted.

A team of attorneys from Cuddy and Feder along with an architectural historian presented 24 Eton Road, a home in Greenacres that was originally constructed in 1911. This large farmhouse had received numerous additions over the years and much of the original fabric has been lost or altered. There was an interesting exchange between the committee chair and the historian when the expert was asked what he thought of just the original portion of the structures front elevation and he responded that “he loved it”. After much discussion between the board members the demolition of the home was approved as many of the modifications have undermined it historic integrity.

The architect and developer of 80 Garden Road and 17 Highland Way returned to present 54 Drake Road, a 1953 ranch style home that had little provenance. The board reviewed its architect and chain of occupants, but in the end a certificate of appropriateness for demolition was granted as well.

The evening ended with a lengthy presentation about 7 Saxon Woods Road, a property which borders White Plains and hods two structures, a stone cottage built in 1907, and a mid-century church-type structure constructed in 1963. The church was designed by Harry Wenning, an architect with a notable history. The presenters, led by an attorney from Zarin and Steinmetz, were acting on behalf of Sunrise Senior Living, who were going to present to the Planning Board later in the week. Much time was given to their architectural historian who focused on the church structure, which was more of a templated structure using glue laminated beams which were marketed shortly after World War 2. They shared a sampling of these vaulted churches which appear around the country, with as they claimed they has little architectural significance. After much discussion the Board decided to reach out to Professor Dolkart for his opinion on the matter. The application for 7 Saxon Woods Road will be on the next CHP agenda and it will be interesting to see what Dolkart’s opinion is as the structure is identified as a potential landmark in the Village of Scarsdale’s 2012 Cultural Resource Survey Report which he co-authored.