The Beacon Hill Architectural Commission unanimously voted to allow Clevergreen Cleaners to install a blade sign outside its new Charles Street location during Thursday’s public hearing at City Hall, but only on the condition that it is made of wood.
Farshad Sayan, the business owner and applicant, had intended to relocate a 20-by-28-inch sign made of a composite material with an aluminum front that had hung outside the business’s old 109 Charles St. location to an existing bracket outside the new storefront at 81 Charles St. He said Clevergreen has signed a 20-year lease for the new location, and that he expects the sign would last the duration.
The commission informed Sayan that while the signage concept was appropriate, the existing materials were not.
“The sign is okay, but the material is wrong,” said Commissioner Miguel Rosales. “Plastic in the area isn’t acceptable…you should make it out of wood.”
In addition, the commission instructed Sayan to remove additional exterior signage as a condition of the application’s approval while allowing him to relocate an existing awning to the business’s new location.
In regard to a matter continued from the Feb. 21 hearing, the commission voted unanimously to approve an application for 8 Joy St. to replace 16 wood and widows and 14 window casings in-kind at the front façade and side elevation, as well as to repair five windows and seven window casings at the front façade and side elevation.
Provisos for the approval include the removal of an existing skylight; that slate is installed on the side roof; and that drawings of the windows, as well as details on masonry, shutters and fencing be remanded to staff, among other stipulations.
The commission voted to continue on an application for an extensive rehabilitation of 81 Charles St., which is home to the Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro.
Andrew Keating, the project architect, outlined proposed exterior alterations, including relocating the entry to the center bay on the Charles Street façade as part of the planned restaurant renovation; lowering the sill heights on the Charles Street side and at the corner of Branch Street to 2 feet, 3 inches from the current levels of 3 feet, 1 inch; and creating new window openings on the Branch Street side that would be aligned and relate to the existing windows above them.
Both Rosales and Commissioner Paul Donnelly said they would prefer to see the sill heights remain at their exiting levels while Rosales said the new window openings on Branch Street as proposed “look like scars in the façade.”
In another matter, the commission voted unanimously to approve an application for 20 Charles St. that included removing an existing patio and steps and replacing them with a new poured-concrete patio and steps, as well as installing three exterior wall light-fixtures, with the provisos that the patio stairs are made of granite, and that the number of light fixtures is reduced to two, among other stipulations.
The commission also voted to approve an application to install a new intercom system at 11 Irving St., with the proviso that it is consistent with other intercom systems in the area, in a matter continued from Aug. 16 of last year.