Standards and Guidelines 2023-0607

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City of South Bend and St. Joseph County Historic Preservation Guidelines 17 Residential Standards: Porches Porches General understanding and approach Porches are often the most visible feature of a historic house and play an important role in the appearance of the house and surrounding neighborhood . Historic porches should be retained, maintained, and if needed, repaired . In these Standards, “porch” refers to all the various parts of the porch including the roof, columns and posts, balustrades, steps, and decorative details . Find out more about porches and recommendations for their maintenance here . What is your project? Rebuild an existing porch When a porch is so deteriorated that it cannot be repaired, defined as over 50% needing replacement: • Use remaining elements of the porch as a guide to rebuild . • If new alternate materials are proposed, then the new components must match dimensions, profiles, detailing and finish of the historic component. Repair an existing porch and associated decorative details • Repair damaged portions of the porch and associated details in place . • Replace only missing or deteriorated parts to match the original in design, materials, scale, and placement . Build a new porch where one no longer exists. • Determine design based on historic photographs or by looking at similar houses in the neighborhood . • Consider size, shape, scale, materials, massing, and color . • Use materials that were available when the original porch was constructed . • If new alternate materials are proposed, then the new components must match dimensions, profiles, detailing and finish of the historic component. • If a design cannot be duplicated, create a simplified design compatible with the building, using stock lumber and moldings . Administratively Approvable Any repairs with materials and design to match existing. Administratively Approvable Porch rebuilt using approved materials to exactly match existing historic porch.