Historic Commission Approves Large Front-to-Rear Addition at 442 Ridgewood Avenue

The commission's biggest project of the night was at 442 Ridgewood Avenue, where owners Eliza and Anthony Perna won approval for an addition spanning from the original front of the house to a rear garage, replacing an existing 1980s addition with a new kitchen, mud room, family room, powder room, and stairway. The design uses hierarchical porch columns -- fluted at the front to match the original house, plainer at the rear -- along with neoclassical dormer trim and a new red-brick chimney. The commission approved the application with three conditions, including that architect's supplemental memo be incorporated into the final permit drawings and that cut sheets be provided for doors and windows; Vande Stouwe recused herself from the vote.

Two other applications were approved with recusals but no dissent. At 35 Hathaway Place, owners Sherri and Bob Finlay won approval for a wider front door with detailed sidelights (McMahon recused). At 10 Ardsley Avenue, owners Carol and Joe Harpster returned with a two-story rear addition after two earlier versions of the same project had been withdrawn in June and July; this version was approved with drawing revisions required on the porch approach and a new dormer (Darby recused).

At the subcommittee level, a brick sample and mortar mock-up were approved for 418 Ridgewood Avenue, revised drawings for 7 Highland Avenue were approved pending more lattice detail, and a garage-door design change for a previously approved garage at 16 Appleton Place was approved. The consultant reported three previously approved projects -- 39 Stanford Place, 78 Essex Avenue, and 175 Hawthorne Avenue -- still have no permit activity.