- Re:I am sad-more of Wolfeboro's history is going. - Wolfeboro Community Forums

old coot wrote:

QUOTE:
birdwatcher wrote:

QUOTE:
Old Coot - No list being made - just wondering about the discrepancies in "historic'. But please explain yourself - why are you anti - Historic District????? How do we learn if you do not explain????

I will try Birdwatcher. First please note that I added the word Commission when I quoted you. That was to clarify that it is not the district concept per se, but rather it is the Commission and the tactics of the Commission thay I have heard complaints about from residents of the district and it is those anecdotal tales that have dimmed my opinion of the Commission.
For one example, a person who planned to repaint their historic Cape white (a color change) were expected to ask the Commission for permission to do so and were also expected to pay the Commission a $70.00 fee for considering their request for approval. After the homeowner objected to this confiscatory fee, the fee was waved. I can think of no reason that white as a house color should not be a given as an approved exterior color for a Colonial era Cape.
This is but one example shared with me by a district homeowner who is a neighbor of the person who faced the white paint red tape fiasco. Old Yankees figure that people should mind their own business whenever possible.

Good story old coot! I LOVE the last sentence!!!: "Old Yankees figure that people should mind their own business whenever possible." If only these people in power would remember that! Including commissions telling people what to do with their property! Sorry birdwatcher.

That sounds like a bunch of hog-wash to me. I lived in the Historic District and no-one dictated to me what color house I should have and cared not when I painted my front door bright pink.

The current owners have painted 1/2 of it brown and the doors are now some shade of awful gold but I don't think anyone was saying anything to them either because it's been in a 1/2 painted state for a couple of years now.

birdwatcher,

Here is a picture of a house that was built in North Wolfeboro and it looks like it is fairly new. It is in the HD and on the same road as a person who is fighting the family who wants to build on their 67 acres.

It has a Cape Cod design with a unique center dormer (some might call it a hip roof)on it. It also has what I call a variation of a famer's porch. It is a very good looking house.

Does this house fit into the HD's criteria for looking historic and please help me understand why this house meets their standards.

I'm am not saying that the house shouldn't be there or something is wrong, I just don't know how a house meets the HD criteria.

Dragonfly wrote:

QUOTE:
That sounds like a bunch of hog-wash to me. I lived in the Historic District and no-one dictated to me what color house I should have and cared not when I painted my front door bright pink.

The current owners have painted 1/2 of it brown and the doors are now some shade of awful gold but I don't think anyone was saying anything to them either because it's been in a 1/2 painted state for a couple of years now.

Dragonfly,
The current owners of your former house ceased painting your old house after squabbling over that new house color with the HDC. That is why it has been half painted for so long. Your hog-wash detector is broken.

Oh, and BTW, I never said that I only knew one story about the antics of the HDC.

wolf03894 wrote:

QUOTE:
It has a Cape Cod design with a unique center dormer (some might call it a hip roof)on it. It also has what I call a variation of a famer's porch. It is a very good looking house.

If that's a Cape Cod design then I'm Santa Claus!

Mark Train wrote:

If that's a Cape Cod design the I'm Santa Clause!




How about Cape Cod, Salt Box, Ranch, Combination?

I don't know, the way houses are built today it's hard to tell.

Maybe the HDC told them to make it that way.

That's why I'm asking the question!

Is there anyone in the audience that belongs to the HDC?

birdwatcher where are you?

I noticed Starlight Hall is still there today. I assume the rain postponed the tearing down, but we can hope. Did someone come to the rescue?

wolf03894 - Sorry to disappoint but I am not, nor is my spouse, on the HDC. However, I was looking at the picture you sent in and was hoping someone in the know would write.
My knowledge is limited but could you give a guess at how far this home is from the road?

Also - by reading the HDC folder we have noticed that the HDC asks that any house color just being in keeping with historic colors - any color on a historic folder offered at paint stores. Not sure this helps anything!

birdwatcher,

My estimate would be @ 80 to 100 feet. The picture is from Vitar online, this is site where all of Wolfeboro's homes are on with their assessed value.

If you look at the homes that are on the North Wolfeboro Road, there is a varity of homes. It doesn't make any sense to me. Does this area look like a Historic District?

Here are three more:

wolf03894 - Sorry - we can't open your additional pictures.

birdwatcher wrote:


wolf03894 - Sorry - we can't open your additional pictures


If you go back to my message you should see them now.

Thanks wolf03894 - We saw the pictures. Here is our interpretation!!

First Photo - a Classic Colonial in the vein of many found in the Historic Districts. (Don't forget that architecture spans many years - Capes, Colonials, Victorians). It is not only the Cape style home that the Historic Districts consider.

The Second and Third Photos - We would bet were "Grandfathered" -meaning they were built prior to the inception of the the Historic Districts. Therefore, what you see is what you get. Totally okay.

Our Guess. Anyone else?

Gotta go watch the Pats - Hmmmm -Not over the Super Bowl loss yet!

birdwatcher,
Thankyou for your valued opinion.

This picture is the house of the gentleman who is fighting the family who wants to build on their 67 acres. This house should definitly be in the Historical District. Built in the early 1800's and well kept. I guess it's too confusimg to me to try to figure out why the whole area is classified as being in the HD.

I know for sure the blue ranch was grandfathered being built in the 1970's before the HDC came into being. Don't know where the small brown one is and the big white colonial which is Ken Perry's house is in the HDC.

Brown is an historic color so why would the new owners of my old house be squabbling with the HDC. That's an easy to prove issue.

DF,

I wonder why instead of clumping in all the homes in a historical district, they don't just classify any home that was built before 1900 a historical home.
All land in this world is historical, but not all homes in the eyes of us human folks are historical.

North Wolfeboro has homes that were built in different centuries. Locate the homes that in the HDC eyes are historical, then only classify these as having to look historical, i.e., renovation, painting, landscape, etc.

Other homes in that area will never meet HDC's criteria as historical, so why put them in a district that way.

Why try to make a new modular home look historical when it is not. These newer homes will someday be historical (if they last) but they are not now.

I hope this makes sense to others then that just me. Like I said, it is confusing as to how the HDC classifies historical homes and to how they should look.

That's a good question Wolf. I know that when we've looked into placing homes on the National Register of Historic Places one of the drawbacks is that once you do it can't be changed and therefore it limits your potential marketability for the future. It also limits you in other ways to like construction methods, colors, costs etc. The only benefit we could see is a tax deduction in we always say you need to be making a lot of money to justify doing something just for the tax deducation since there are easier ways of getting tax deducations.

I think the basic premise behind a DISTRICT is that the neighbors all know they will be with others like minded historically appreciative minds.

I hope they never think to do that wolf, because in someone's lifetime, every house will be historic. I believe at some meeting (planning board, selectmen?) that I heard them say it was not legal to dictate to people things like what color their house could be. I assume if you buy in that district, you are acknowledging that you know you can be told what to do with your property. If it is true though, it makes you wonder how they can tell someone they have to clean up their yard etc.

DF wrote:
I think the basic premise behind a DISTRICT is that the neighbors all know they will be with others like minded historically appreciative minds.


You are probably correct, however it will never happen. People will protest when they are told how they should look and live (and justifiably so).

As an example, the house that you used to own that is in the HD. The owners are protesting because they are being told what color to paint their home. It doesn't matter (to them anyway) that when they bought it they knew it was in the HD. They wanted that house and now they want their independence.

In my eyes when you see homes in a district that are classified as HD, they should all be homes that fit that category. To grandfather homes that were built @ 1970 or later is just asking for trouble. These homes that were grand fathered had no choice but to agree to be a member of the Historical district society.
The leaders of the HD will make your life miserable if you don't comply with their rules.
It's just not right!

That's funny Tis -

Dirty yards are very much HISTORICALLY New Hampshire. That's the problem.

Frank is from VT which is similar to NH and often says everyone moves here from CT & MA and acts like they like it here but then then start asking for everyones yards to be picked up and go get on all the different Boards to prove their points.