Historic restoration 101

Now this is what I'm talkin' about.

The left picture of this 1820 house in Greenwich Village arrived in my inbox sometime last year. The owners were planning to strip away the stucco and restore the original clapboards, which they'd discovered still intact underneath. The house is actually just a few blocks from my place, so I kept an eye on the progress—the scaffolding, the chunks of missing stucco, the housewrap.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I was on the block and turned to see the gorgeous clapboard-sided house shown on the right. Freakin' unbelieveable! I couldn't believe how great it turned out—far better than I could even imagine. The claps are right, the shutters (and shutter dogs) are right, the three-light transom is right. The only thing not Federal is the full third story with dentil molding, an 1853 addition, but it's not like they're going to cut the house off! I can't wait to see what the owners have done inside!

There's some sweet irony to this story, though. This house sits just half a block beyond the original Greenwich Village Historic District, inside the boundaries of which any house undergoing visible renovation has to get approval from New York City's notorious Landmarks Commission. (Don't get me wrong: The idea of a historic district warms my heart to no end—it's the commission that can make things chilly. I wrote this story about how difficult they can be to deal with for The New York Times awhile back.)

Had the Commission had to approve this restoration, they may very well have denied it. They have a thing for holding on to a lot of the changes made to the Village in its bohemian 1910s and 1920s era, arguing that this is an important cultural and architectural period for the area. But because they weren't inside the boundaries of the District, the homeowners didn't need to navigate the Commission's approval process.

So here's the funny part. The same week that the scaffolding came down on this house, revealing the restored Federal facade, the Commission voted to extend the District's boundaries, including this street.

Now the house is landmarked. Like this. Perfect.