Headed by Chairman Fred Bonsall, the Historical and Architectural Review Board granted certificates of appropriateness for two proposals at the July 1 online meeting. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this first ‘virtual’ hearing for the commissioners was conducted through gotomeeting.com. The voting for both home improvement projects were unanimous.

Dr. Beth Careyva received approval for repainting her house and installing metal railings at 51 E. Wall St. Sherwin-Williams “Toile Red” was chosen for the front door and a “Pavestone Gray” for the front door step. The red brick façade would remain unpainted, while the siding on the building would be repainted “Downing Sand.”

Although it had been picked from the vendor’s historic color palette, the commissioners recommended a darker shade of the blue-green choice for the shutters and garage door.

With the stairs to the front door having only three risers, Vice Chairman Philip Roeder suggested that Careyva could take down the existing wooden railings without replacing them. City code requires railings for stairways with four or more risers. Careyva replied that she wanted to install the black metal railings as a safety measure anyway. She also told the board the existing wooden railings were not original to the house, having been installed in the 1980s.

It was stipulated that Careyva provide historic officer Joseph Phillips with a darker blue-green paint swatch and a product sheet for the new railing.

A COA was granted to Dr. Jack and Lois Clark for a replacement garage door for their home at 24 E. Market St. The detached brick garage, located at the rear of the property, is at the corner of Long and Milton streets. Jack Clark explained the pair of sliding wood doors were deteriorated. He added that the hardware supporting them extends beyond the walls and was damaged multiple times by recycling trucks “cutting the corner.”

Clark provided photographs of garages in his neighborhood that had overhead doors like the replacement overhead door he proposed for his property. He chose raised steel panels without outside decorative hardware for security reasons.

Although the garage was erected sometime after the house was built, Beth Starbuck guessed that it is similar in style to garages built in the 1920s. As a “contributing structure,” she opined that the generic-looking replacement door proposal was inappropriate. Starbuck and several board members agreed a carriage house style overhead door would be a better fit for that structure.

Roeder suggested the applicants check out Clopay’s website for carriage house style overhead doors. The COA was awarded pending the applicants submitting an alternate door design and materials specs to the historic officer. The door is to be white with a smooth finish and similar in style to the existing doors.

Marsha Fritz said, “We give priority to matching the style of the building, not what’s common for the neighborhood.”

The Historical and Architectural Review Board regularly meets the first Wednesday of every month to review all exterior changes proposed to buildings in the Bethlehem Historic District north of the Lehigh River. When a proposed project receives a certificate of appropriateness from the board, applicants must wait for city council to vote on it before proceeding.