HomeMy WebLinkAboutHPC meeting summary 08282024 Orange County
HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION
Approved Meeting Summary
August 28th, 2024
Bonnie Davis Center, 1020 US 70 West, Hillsborough
MEMBERS PRESENT: Todd Dickinson, Rob Golan, Art Menius, Cecelia Moore, Anne Whisnant
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resources Coordinator; Abby Mattingly, Administrative
Support Coordinator
GUESTS: None
ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER: Chair Menius called the meeting to order at 6:31 pm and welcomed
newly appointed member Rob Golan, who has served prior terms on the HPC.
ITEM #2: CHANGES OR ADDITIONS TO AGENDA: None
ITEM #3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES for April 24"d and May 22"d, 2024, meetings:
Moore moved to approve both, seconded by Dickinson; motion carried.
ITEM #4: ITEMS FOR DECISION:
a. Election of vice chair: With Loter rotating off at the end of June, there is now a vacancy.
Dickinson offered to serve as vice chair. Discussion followed. Members voted
unanimously to appoint Dickinson as vice chair.
ITEM #5: DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Landmark Evaluation Exercise: Harris House on Pleasant Green Road: Staff
presented a brief overview and visuals to provide an overview of the historical and
architectural background of this formerly unknown significant Modernist House, built in
1971-72 by Jacquelin and Jerome Harris, both notable doctors who ended up settling here
as a result of their work at Duke. It was designed by Jon Condoret, a noted
French/Algerian architect who practiced in this area from 1962 up until the early 2000s.
This is a new discovery, brought to staff's attention by Jose Nova, the architect hired to
renovate the house for the new owner, St. Phillips Episcopal Church in Durham; the
house remained in the ownership of the original owners until Jacquelin Harris' death in
2019. The house sits at the far corner of a completely wooded 50 acre tract, overlooking a
stream that feeds into Buckwater Creek and then into the Eno. The original owners
purchased the site in 1969. Staff provided current views of the various significant
architectural features, such as the use of natural wood and brick exterior cladding, a
massive central brick chimney mass and wing-like roof extensions with clearstory
windows lighting the interior from above. This use of roof-level lighting creates a dramatic
effect on the principal interior spaces—all finished with varnished wood paneling and the
massive expanses of brick where the chimney is exposed in each room. Discussion
followed about its architectural significance and overall high level of physical integrity. The
site itself most likely possesses archaeological importance given its location near some
other identified Maroon communities. Staff showed examples of some of the other
comparable Modernist houses for discussion purposes to provide context. Members
proceeded to complete the evaluation scoring process. All agree that our current version
1
of the landmark evaluation form is proving to be heavily biased in favor of properties that
are 100-plus years old and that are listed on the National Register, and as a result, tends
to disfavor historic resources associated with underrepresented communities. Because of
this, the final total score for the Harris House, averaged out of all members present, was
48.5, which is just below the minimum score of 50 points needed to potentially qualify for
landmark status.
b. Rigsbee's Rock House: Staff explained that the owners reached out recently to see if the
county could help avert potential damage to the historic stone walls that might be caused
by the current program of installing underground fiber optic cables at the intersection of
US 70 business and Lawrence Road. Since this is a county-designated historic landmark,
staff made a site visit to assess the situation. The current owners, who purchased the
house in 2022, love the house but didn't know the house was a landmark. They're pleased
to learn that it is. Dickinson noted that he did the sill repairs to the house for a former
owner in the 1980s. Staff showed a PowerPoint with views of the exterior and the various
historic walls and site features. Overall, the house and site are very well preserved and in
good condition. The issue with the fiber optic was actually created back in the 1960s or
1970s when NCDOT widened Lawrence Road, and in doing so, widened their right-of-way
from 30' to 60', and thus that line now runs well inside the stone wall. So, when the fiber
optic installers mapped their route, they understandably believed they had that extra right
of way to work with, while in fact the wall was encroaching significantly. Staff provided a
letter asserting that the landmark status required that they obtain a COA before they
would be allowed to install anything near the wall, including boring and trenching. Since it
can take two months to get a COA, the fiber optic folks agreed to shift the majority of their
work to the opposite side of the road to the extent possible and agreed to avoid the wall.
Staff is providing the owners with assistance in locating qualified craftspeople to do
carpentry repairs and install new gutters and other needed work.
c. Blackwood Farm Park: proposed memorial marker for the burial ground: Staff
provided an overview of a new project being proposed by the county's Human Relations
Commission (HRC), to design and install some type of permanent historic marker or
monument/stone at the burial ground for the enslaved workers and their descendants.
This is in the conceptual stages right now. Staff met at the site with HRC staffers Paul
Slack and Courtney McLaughlin, to take them on a tour of the cemetery and provide an
overview of what we've learned about the site through extensive archaeological work. The
HRC will present a more formal proposal at a later date. Staff has offered to take HRC
members on a tour of the site.
d. Old Courthouse Preservation Project Launch: After almost 11 years of lobbying by the
HPC and staff, the county facilities team is ready to initiate a major project to do
preservation work on the old courthouse and to carry out a major landscape master plan
for updates and improvements to the square itself, through a public process involving all
local stakeholders, including the Town, local non-profit groups that use the square like the
Arts Council and the Alliance, and a cross-section of other community members. The
county purchasing officer will soon issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to get
proposals from teams composed of historic preservation architects, structural engineers
and landscape architects. The goal will be to try to select the most qualified team and get
an initial contract signed this fall, with research and planning to take place this winter and
spring. Staff and HPC member Todd Dickinson will be assisting in the selection process.
e. Lynching memorial marker on Courthouse Square: This is an update of a topic that
was discussed at a prior meeting as a preliminary proposal, for a project by the national
group, the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), and the local Orange County Community
Remembrance Coalition, to erect a historical marker on the courthouse square to
commemorate the five documented Lynchings that took place in this county since 1869.
The proposed marker will be identical in appearance to the other markers that the EJI has
placed throughout the deep South. The proposed location remains the same, in the lawn
at the southeast quadrant of the square, near the present stone walkway from Court St. At
present, the groups are hoping to install the marker sometime this fall, date TBD.
2
f. Field trip scheduling: Staff revisited the earlier plan to conduct a field trip of the early
19t" century structure and associated early industrial site located at 752 Rex Drive, just
west of Hillsborough, along with the two historic railroad bridge sites dating back to the
1850s construction of the NC Railroad. This was postponed due to the excessive heat in
July. Members are in favor of rescheduling this for slightly cooler weather, with a
preference for October. Staff will work with the property owner to get some dates and will
share back.
g. Membership: Members discussed the current batch of applications, as updated by the
county clerk's office. After discussion, there was agreement to recommend Eric Deetz to
the BOCC for appointment in September. Mr. Deetz has an impressive professional
background in historic archaeology and cultural resource management work. He will be
able to fulfill the HPC's obligation to include an archaeologist, to allow us to continue to
comply with the state's membership requirement for the HPC's status as a Certified Local
Government (CLG) and thus eligible to apply for special federal grant funds. Staff will
follow up with a letter.
ITEM #6: UPDATES AND INFORMATION ITEMS
a. Log restoration project progress: we continue to face challenges in sourcing
appropriate historic/salvaged or new white oak logs to use for needed restoration of
several important historic log structures, including the barn that houses the David Cotton
Gin. Staff has identified a possible source of logs at a log house in the southwestern part
of the county that's slated for demolition. Staff will arrange to have Dickinson and
carpenter Jeff Bergman visit the site near White Cross to assess these logs.
b. America 250 NC: No new updates to share at this time. Staff will loop back with the
Alliance staff to see what is happening on this effort.
c. Landmark candidates: this item was postponed in the interest of time.
d. Strayhorn House National Register Project: The new consultant, Hanbury Preservation
Consulting, is now under contract and has been at work on the draft nomination. Initial
work has included oral history interviews and historical research.
e. Book Project update: As directed in June, our has done some heavy editing and
successfully reduced the word count of the essay portion of our book by over 50 percent
to bring the length back in line with the initial projections. Our book production consultant,
Dan Pezzoni, is now hard at work reviewing all aspects of the manuscript and photos to
prepare all materials for the upcoming design phase. Pezzoni has accomplished a
tremendous amount of work in a short period of time and is clearly going to help us bring
the project to a successful conclusion. Staff will provide a more detailed update later.
f. Open air time: No topics were presented.
ITEM #7: ADJOURNMENT: The meeting ended at 8:18 pm.
Meeting summary by Peter Sandbeck, DEAPR staff
3