Our beautiful house at 516 W. Jackson, The Phillips- Johnson House, is a local historic landmark. This came about in 1996 by the approval of a local ordinance. The ordinance included the home next door (which is gorgeous) and one around the corner as well.
I will be honest. This made me a teensy bit nervous. I wasn't sure exactly what this would mean for our renovations. I had some experience in my real estate sales that involved owners/ buyers getting approval for changes to homes in a local historic district, but nothing specially with a local historic landmark. Thankfully I have been friends the current Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Muncie for several years, so that made the information gathering a little less intimidating.
So, on Wednesday, I called Brad King (the HPO) to discuss changes/ approval process. He was extremely helpful and knowledgeable (both of which I knew going into it) and the conversation was painless. In order to make certain exterior changes, I must get a Certificate of Appropriateness for each change. This ensures that changes made won't compromise the look of the neighborhood or the historical integrity of the home. He outlined three guidelines to remember when making changes to the exterior to determine whether at COA is needed:
Are you making a change to:
The Design
The Material
The Color
A separate application and as much detail as possible is needed for each item, so I went to work!
Here is what we are asking to do to the exterior:
Some changes require approval by the entire commission and some can be approved by the HPO on his own. So now we wait!
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