Jl o n ton u& usc tinc

Sed ervati on Z- ioda



February 1, 1990


Mr. Les Thomas, Architect
65 Sanford Street
St. Augustine, FL 32084


Dear Mr. Thomas,

This will Inform you that the Board at It's meeting, January
26, approved your request for alterations In the Wakeman House.
We agreed that you would submit actual designs for the dormers to
make sure they are the early, original types rather than the
broader types which were added to buildings later on.

In reconstructing the building In the sixties, we operated
strictly from the data on hand at that time, recognizing that
subsequent research might provide new data to Justify changes,
but only, as Ms. Parker suggests, to Improve the authenticity of
the building. The matter of the roof pitch was set from several
sources, as she explained. The siding shown In a late photo, and
not Indicated In earlier material, Is undoubtedly a later
apple Ication. In the Victorian period wood buildings were
considered superior, and siding (especially the Victorian board
and batten) was often applied to crumbling coquina and tabby
structures, which were no longer fashionable. "Victorlanization"
proceeded all over town In response to changing taste, and a few
distinguished Victorian buildings (which require preservation
even In a Spanish colonial restoration project) were constructed,
most outside the wal led city, but a few on south St. George
Street. But most of the small houses of the late 19th and early
20th century were of no special architectural distinction.
Hundreds of them exist, and there Is no special reason to
preserve them all. We only weaken the preservation movement If
we overreach reasonable limits. We see the same problem in the
environmental protection movement, where radicals and moderates
struggle over the boundaries of the possible.


Sordlally,


Earle W. Newton
14 L Executive Director


POST OFFICE BOX 1987, ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA 32085
(904) 825-5033 (SUNCOM) 865-5033