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Home My WebLink About1986C-36 - POLICE BOOTH - PROJECTMay #: Lot #: • Unit #:: Name: ��e"3meo iC Streel. Unit #: Permit 19')''6c- 3C Department: Hist rife District Commission Document 'hype: January 14, :198* Ctrs. Bebe Falliak Town Clerk Town Office Bui4lding, Lexington, NA 0217E Dear Mrs. Failickt Enclosed for filing with your records please find original Notice of ..etermination on the .applioation of the Town of Lexington for d Ceti% tificate of Appropriateness with respeet.to the condrruction.of a new police booth at the' intersection of Nass+echueettsAvenue and Walth40 Street, which JO within the Battle Green District, with a copy of the'' Certificate issued to the applicant attached to the Notice. Also elosrd is a copy of the above Notice which, after acknow» ledgment of receipt of filing thereon, would you please send to' Clerk Barbara Gilson in the enclosed addressedtenvelope Very truly yours, ...John L. >levies 'Chairman JLDs-bg JLDabg Enos. ICE u pajx9 It ATIoN Notice is hwtaby given thet at a hdtrin of the Historic D1s Commission h *. 4 on Wednesday. Nocomber 19, 1906, the Coasat sad an a Certificate of Ap:xrtrpriat .nese to tirr Town of Lexington with to the construction of a now police booth at the intersection o chusetts hvenue and Waltham Stzeset, which is within tha Battle G District. Par t*. Cipsting in this decision were Commissione rs John L. ,bastion. Chaizavanr Linda J. NCAnlay, Secretary: John L. Ryan :. and A sociat* Cede saiseionors Stephen b. Cripps and Walter 8. Pie co, dISTORIC AIBTIiICTS GOHNI5SION ray, John L. - DAvies Chairman Nova 19 , 19 TOWN OF LEXINGTON Massachusetts 02173 HISTORIC DISTRICTS COMMISSION CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS This certificate is issued pursuant to Chapter 447, Acts of Massachusetts, 1956, as amended, to Town of Lexington withrespectto the construction of a new police booth at the intersection of Massachu- setts Avenue and Waltham Street, which is within the Battle Green District. The removal of the existing booth and the site plan and floor plan of the proposed booth are hereby approved as shown on the drawings submitted at the hear- ing of November 19, 1986. The design of the elevations of the proposed booth are not approved hereby and shall be the subject of a continued hearing. Date November 19, 1986 HISTORIC DISTRICTS COMMISSION by John L. Davies Certificate No. ...OA . .. CHAI IK N TOWN OF LEXINGTON Ma sacburetts 02173 December 29, 1986 Dear HDC members: HISTORIC DISTRICTS COMMISSION I am enclosing a copy of a letter from Walter Pierce which raises some fundamental points about our approval of the proposed police booth. Walter suggests that rather than confine our discussion to a review of the classical details on the booth, we should also discuss the basic premise of whether the booth should be "neo- classical" in the first place. Implicit in his argument is the suggestion that in the case of a Town -owned structure the HDC might appropriately take a more active role than is our usual practice in dealing with a private owner. Certainly the police booth, because of its prime location and public function, deserves our maximum attention. The Lexington Center Committee has also been given an advisory role in the case of this structure. I have therefore, through Chairman Margery Battin, invited any of their nine members who may be interested to attend our meeting on January 14. Unfortunately Mrs. Battin will be out,of Town, but she will raise the matter at the LCC meeting on January 10 and relay our invitation. I have also spoken to Manny Coscia and advised him that we plan a general discussion of the booth on January 14, and he may wish to delay any further major architectural work until after that time. I suggested to Manny that the architect could give us a brief design history at the meeting which might help us understand the decisions that have been made. In this connection, it is important to remember that the booth is a gift to the Town from a private donor whose wishes are important and whose budget must be respected. Very yours, . Davies, Chairman 23 December 1986 Mr. John Davies, Chairman Lexington Historic District Commission Lexington, MA 02173 Dear John: The police booth proposed for Lexington Center remains for me a troublesome issue. As a public structure, its importance will be disproportionate to its size. For better or worse, it will reflect an attitude, the town's attitude if you will, about design in an historical setting. The Center Committee in its meeting with the selectmen last week (as reported in the Minuteman) expressed serious reservations about its appearance and its potential "obtrusiveness ", concerns which we on the HDC, so far, have only addressed peripherally. And here we come to the question of our approval procedures. As you have aptly put it, by the very nature of our review role, we react to proposals that are brought before us, usually accepting the basic design premises of a petitioner's proposal (and mindful of his rights and his budget), and making verbal suggestions on details that might improve things a bit. In the case of a private owner where we're often dealing with signs or minor alterations, this may be appropriate, as Dick Morehouse suggested the other night. But here we have a public structure where the HDC, it seems to me, can be much more assertive, becoming, in effect, design advisors to the town. Why accept, for instance, the designer's (or the sponsor's?) premise that it be r� p "neo- classic "? Right away it comes close to being T-f T14"O4 �"-'- "obtrusive ", even pretentious, when one considersAlqeliackm4410e. A5 C.OWSer a 014e414 approach from scratch I might conceive of an all -glass enclosure, perhaps with a solid wainscot to counter height, functionally affording the police complete visibility -- in and out, and at the sametime being.as quiet a piece of street furniture as one could make one which would not pretend to compete with the buildings around it, or to attempt any literal "historic" expression. Mr. John Davies Lexington Historic District Commission December 23, 1986 Page Two I don't intend by this to be promoting a particular solution, but merely to illustrate how, once we extract ourselves from the present proposal we might move this small but significant project towards a more appropriate solution, adopting a more aggressive role as custodians of the District. I would welcome discussion. Sirnferely, Walter S. Pierce Touiv Let, October 23, 1986 John L. Davies, Chairman Historic Districts Commission 18 Prospect Hill Road Lexington, MA 02173 Dear Mr. Davies: The Town of Lexington respectfully requests a hearing for a Certificate of Appropriateness for the purpose of constructing a new Police booth located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Waltham Street. Your kind attention to this matter will be greatly appre- ciated. incerely, EC /j Original: Barbara Gilson 7 Russell Square Copy: John L. Davies 18 Prospect Hill Road Walter J. Tonaszuck, irector Dept. Public Works /Engineering Director, Public, Works lEngineering 1626 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02179 • TELEPHONE (617) 062-0500