Town of Georgetown
Design Guidelines
Book I Appendices
Appendix
A
The Secretary of the Interior's Standards
for the Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings
The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Rehabilitation of
Historic Buildings are general preservation principles established
by the National Park Service to guide preservation, rehabilitation, restoration
or reconstruction projects. These standards are also serve as the basis
for many of the design guidelines presented in this document. The Secretary
of the Interior's Standards state that:
- A property shall be used as it was historically or be given a new
use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials, features,
spaces, and spatial relationships.
- The historic character of a property shall be retained and preserved.
The removal of distinctive materials or alteration of features, spaces,
and spatial relationships that characterize a property shall be avoided.
- Each property shall be recognized as a physical record of its time,
place, and use. Changes that create a false sense of historical development,
such as adding conjectural features or elements from other historic
properties, shall not be undertaken.
- Changes to a property that have acquired historic significance in
their own right shall be retained and preserved.
- Distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques
or examples of craftsmanship that characterize a property shall be preserved.
- Deteriorated historic features shall be repaired rather than replaced.
Where the severity of deterioration requires replacement of a distinctive
feature, the new feature shall match the old in design, color, texture,
and, where possible, materials. Replacement of missing features shall
be substantiated by documentary and physical evidence.
- Chemical or physical treatments, if appropriate, shall be undertaken
using the gentlest means possible. Treatments that cause damage to historic
materials shall not be used.
- Archeological resources shall be protected and preserved in place.
If such resources must be disturbed, mitigation measures shall be undertaken.
- New additions, exterior alterations, or related new construction
shall not destroy historic materials, features, and spatial relationships
that characterize the property. The new work shall be differentiated
from the old and shall be compatible with the historic materials, features,
size, scale and proportion, and massing to protect the integrity of
the property and its environment.
- New additions and adjacent or related new construction shall be undertaken
in such a manner that, if removed in the future, the essential form
and integrity of the historic property and its environment would be
unimpaired.
Design for alternations and additions to existing properties should not
be discouraged when such alterations and additions do not destroy significant
historical, architectural or cultural material. Such design should be
compatible with the size, scale, color, material and character of the
property, neighborhood and environment.
Appendix B
Glossary of Terms
Alignment. The arrangement of objects along a straight line.
Appurtenances. An additional object added to a building; typically
includes vents, exhausts hoods, air conditioning units, etc.
Asphalt Shingles. A type of roofing material composed of layers
of saturated felt, cloth or paper, and coated with a tar, or asphalt substance,
and granules.
Association. As related to the determination of "integrity"
of a property, association refers to a link of a historic property with
a historic event, activity or person. Also, the quality of integrity through
which a historic property is linked to a particular past time and place.
Baluster. A short, upright column or urn-shaped support of a
railing.
Balustrade. A row of balusters and the railing connecting them.
Used as a stair rail and also above the cornice on the outside of a building.
Bargeboard. A projecting board, often decorated, that acts as
trim to cover the ends of the structure where a pitched roof overhangs
a gable.
Board and Batten. Vertical plank siding with joints covered by
narrow wood strips.
Bracket. A supporting member for a projecting element or shelf,
sometimes in the shape of an inverted L and sometimes as a solid piece
or a triangular truss.
Building. A resource created principally to shelter any form
of human activity, such as a house.
Character-Defining Features. A series of design features that,
taken together, form the visual identity of an historic district, site
or structure. On an historic structure for example, the character-defining
features might include the size, materials, details and window and door
openings of the building.
Clapboards. Narrow, horizontal, overlapping wooden boards, usually
thicker along the bottom edge, that form the outer skin of the walls of
many wood frame houses. The horizontal lines of the overlaps generally
are from four to six inches apart in older houses.
Column. A slender upright structure, generally consisting of
a cylindrical shaft, a base and a capital; pillar: It is usually a supporting
or ornamental member in a building.
Composition Shingles. See asphalt shingles.
Corbelling. A series of projections, each stepped out further
than the one below it; most often found on brick walls and chimney stacks.
Cornice. The continuous projection at the top of a wall. The
top course or molding of a wall when it serves as a crowning member.
Design. As related to the determination of "integrity"
of a property, design refers to the elements that create the physical
form, plan, space, structure and style of a property.
Doorframe. The part of a door opening to which a door is hinged.
A doorframe consists of two vertical members called jambs and a horizontal
top member called a lintel.
Double-Hung Window. A window with two sashes (the framework in
which window panes are set), each moveable by a means of cords and weights.
Dormer. A window set upright in a sloping roof. The term is also
used to refer to the roofed projection in which this window is set.
Eave. The underside of a sloping roof projecting beyond the wall
of a building.
Elevation. A mechanically accurate, "head-on" drawing
of a face of a building or object, without any allowance for the effect
of the laws of perspective. Any measurement on an elevation will be in
a fixed proportion, or scale, to the corresponding measurement on the
real building.
Facade. Front or principal face of a building, any side of a
building that faces a street or other open space.
Fascia. A flat board with a vertical face that forms the trim
along the edge of a flat roof, or along the horizontal, or "eaves,"
sides of a pitched roof. The rain gutter is often mounted on it.
Feeling. As related to the determination of "integrity"
of a property, feeling refers to how a historic property evokes the aesthetic
or historic sense of past time and place.
Fenestration. The arrangement of windows and other exterior openings
on a building.
Form. The overall shape of a structure (i.e. most structures
are rectangular in form).
Frame. A window component. See window parts.
Gable. The portion, above eave level, of an end wall of a building
with a pitched or gambrel roof. In the case of a pitched roof this takes
the form of a triangle. The term is also used sometimes to refer to the
whole end wall.
Glazing. Fitting glass into windows and doors.
Head. The top horizontal member over a door or window opening.
Historic District. A significant concentration of sites, buildings,
structures or objects united historically or aesthetically by plan or
physical development.
Historic Resource. A building, site, structure or object adding
to the historic significance of an historic district.
In-Kind Replacement. To replace a feature of a building with
materials of the same characteristics, such as material, texture, color,
etc.
Integrity. See "physical integrity".
Kickplate. The horizontal element or assembly at the base of
a storefront parallel to a public walkway. The kickplate provides a transition
between the ground and storefront glazing area.
Lap Siding. See clapboards.
Location. As related to the determination of "integrity"
of a property, location refers to a historic property existing in the
same place as it did during the period of significance.
Mass. The physical size and bulk of a structure.
Masonry. Construction materials such as stone, brick, concrete
block or tile.
Material. As related to the determination of "integrity"
of a property, material refers to the physical elements that were combined
or deposited in a particular pattern or configuration to form a historic
property.
Module. The appearance of a single facade plane, despite being
part of a larger building. One large building can incorporate several
building modules.
Molding. A decorative band or strip of material with a constant
profile or section designed to cast interesting shadows. It is generally
used in cornices and as trim around window and door openings.
Muntin. A bar member supporting and separating panes of glass
in a window or door.
Non-historic Resource. A building, site, structure or object
that does not add to the historic significance of an historic district.
Panel. A sunken or raised portion of a door with a frame-like
border.
Parapet. A low wall or railing often used around a balcony or
along the edge of a roof.
Period of Significance. Span of time in which a property attained
the significance. In Georgetown, the period of significance is roughly
between 1850 and 1915.
Property. Area of land containing a single historic resource
or a group of resources.
Opaque Fence. A fence that one cannot see through.
Orientation. Generally, orientation refers to the manner in which
a building relates to the street. The entrance to the building plays a
large role in the orientation of a building; whereas, it should face the
street.
Pediment. A triangular section framed by a horizontal molding
on its base and two sloping moldings on each of its sides. Usually used
as a crowning member for doors, windows and mantles.
Physical Integrity. Results when a sufficient percentage of a
structure dates from the period of significance. The majority of a building's
structural system and materials should date from the period of significance
and its character-defining features also should remain intact.
Porch Piers. Upright structures of masonry which serve as principal
supports for porch columns.
Post. A piece of wood, metal, etc., usually long and square or
cylindrical, set upright to support a building, sign, gate, etc.; pillar;
pole.
Preservation. The act or process of applying measures to sustain
the existing form, integrity and materials of a building or structure,
and the existing form and vegetative cover of a site. It may include initial
stabilization work, where necessary, as well as ongoing maintenance of
the historic building materials.
Protection. The act or process of applying measures designed
to affect the physical condition of a property by defending or guarding
it from deterioration, loss or attack or to cover or shield the property
from danger of injury. In the case of buildings and structures, such treatment
is generally of a temporary nature and anticipates future historic preservation
treatment; in the case of archaeological sites, the protective measure
may be temporary or permanent.
Reconstruction. The act or process of reproducing by new construction
the exact form and detail of a vanished building, structure or object,
or part thereof, as it appeared at a specific period of time.
Recessed Entry. A common component of a historic storefront.
Display windows, which contained dry goods and other wares for sale, flanked
the recessed entry historically.
Rehabilitation. The act or process of returning a property to
a state of utility through repair or alteration which makes possible an
efficient contemporary use while preserving those portions or features
of the property which are significant to its historical, architectural
and cultural value.
Renovation. The act or process of returning a property to a state
of utility through repair or alteration which makes possible a contemporary
use.
Restoration. The act or process of accurately recovering the
form and details of a property and its setting as it appeared at a particular
period of time by means of the removal of later work or by the replacement
of missing earlier work.
Roof. The top covering of a building. Following are some types:
o Flat roof has only enough pitch so that rain water or melting
snow can drain.
o Gable roof has a pitched roof with ridge and vertical ends.
o Hip roof has sloped ends instead of vertical ends.
o Shed roof (lean-to) has one slope only and is built against a
higher wall.
Sash. See window parts.
Scale. The size of structure as it appears to the pedestrian.
Semi-Transparent Fence. A fence that one can see partly through.
Setting. As related to the determination of "integrity"
of a property, setting refers to the physical environment of a historic
property.
Shape. The general outline of a building or its facade.
Side Light. A usually long fixed sash located beside a door or
window; often found in pairs.
Siding. The narrow horizontal or vertical wood boards that form
the outer face of the walls in a traditional wood frame house. Horizontal
wood siding is also referred to as clapboards. The term "siding"
is also more loosely used to describe any material that can be applied
to the outside of a building as a finish.
Sill. The lowest horizontal member in a frame or opening for
a window or door. Also, the lowest horizontal member in a framed wall
or partition.
Size. The dimensions in height and width of a building's face.
Stile. A vertical piece in a panel or frame, as of a door or
window.
Stabilization. The fact or process of applying measures designed
to reestablish a weather resistant enclosure and the structural stability
of an unsafe or deteriorated property while maintaining the essential
form as it exists at present.
Standing Seam Metal Roof. A standing seam roof is a roof with
vertical panels. Historically, the panels were fitted together with hand
rolled seams.
Store Front. The street level facade of a commercial building,
usually having display windows.
Sreetscape. Generally, the streetscape refers to the character
of the street, or how elements of the street form a cohesive environment.
Traditional. Based on or established by the history of the area.
Transom Window. A small window or series of panes above a door,
or above a casement or double hung window.
Transparent Fence. A fence that one can see through.
Vernacular. This means that a building does not have details
associated with a specific architectural style, but is a simple building
with modest detailing and form. Historically, factors often influencing
vernacular building were things such as local building materials, local
climate and building forms used by successive generations.
Visual Continuity. A sense of unity or belonging together that
elements of the built environment exhibit because of similarities among
them.
Window Parts. The moving units of a window are known as sashes
and move within the fixed Frame. The sash may consist of one large pane
of glass or may be subdivided into smaller panes by thin members called
muntins or glazing bars. Sometimes in nineteenth-century houses windows
are arranged side by side and divided by heavy vertical wood members called
mullions.
Workmanship. As related to the determination of "integrity"
of a property, workmanship refers to the physical evidence of the crafts
of a particular culture, people or artisan.
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