Ossining Argues Over Making Ellis Place An Historic District

OSSINING, NY — The Ossining Historic Preservation Commission is considering creating an historic district on Ellis Place. The Carpenters Gothic houses known as the Three Sisters, for example, have long been an attraction to architects, historians and students.

But many of the neighbors don't want any part of it. There's a petition now up to Save Ellis Place -- from those who would impose historic district status.

If the Ellis Place Historic District is adopted, then all building and/or buildings would have the designation of a local historical district. In that case any exterior alterations to any structure would have to undergo review by the village’s Historic Preservation Commission before receiving a building permit to ensure that the alterations maintain the historic architectural integrity.

The Commission grants Certificates of Appropriateness for compatible exterior alterations to designated historic landmarks as well as compatible exterior alterations to existing structures and new construction within locally-designated historic districts. Applicants can apply for relief from a Commission denial, but have to meet very strict standards on the basis of hardship.

Currently, the village has local historic districts covering the Sparta neighborhood and Ossining’s downtown.

This is what the village's Architectural Design Guidelines say about the Ellis Place neighborhood:

A number of streets adjacent to the historic districts contain significant collections of well-preserved mid-19th-early 20th century building stock. ... It also includes areas east of the Downtown Historic District centered on the Ellis Place neighborhood as well as nearby streets immediately to the east and northeast of this neighborhood that are of a similar visual character, such as Belleview Avenue, Linden Avenue, and Watson Avenue....
Within these areas, the original patterns of development are largely uninterrupted. Similar building forms, arranged in parallel placement and close proximity give the neighborhoods a cohesive identity. Large swaths of housing stock in the Adjacent Neighborhoods retain the scale, form and character of their construction era in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This collection is unique in the Hudson River Villages and the region and is one of the remarkable urban design assets of the Village of Ossining.
While there are a few buildings that garner attention as vintage structures of note, it is the procession of front porches, of simply decorated gable ends and of slightly modeled roof shapes that create an assemblage of note. While many alterations have been made and “skins” of many houses are now of non-historic materials, renovation and new construction in these neighborhoods deserve thoughtful planning and review.

On the About Ossining-A Town Square Facebook page, Miguel Hernandez described some of the benefits of having an historic district. Residents like Amanda Marsh disagreed, saying it would add another layer of costly approvals, cost more money to do anything to the house, and limit exterior work and landscaping

Read the whole conversation here.

See the petition: Mayor Gearity: Save Ellis Place

Image via Google Maps