SAN FRANCISCO

HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMISSION

 

Meeting Minutes

 

Commission Chambers, Room 400

City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place

San Francisco, CA 94102-4689

 

 

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

2:00 p.m.

ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW COMMITTEE

Meeting

 

COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:   Wolfram, Hyland, Pearlman

                                               

THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY PRESIDENT WOLFRAM AT 2:00 PM

 

STAFF IN ATTENDANCE:  Eiliesh Tuffy, Tim Frye - Preservation Coordinator, Jonas P. Ionin – Commission Secretary

 

                                + indicates a speaker in support of an item;

-   indicates a speaker in opposition to an item; and

= indicates a neutral speaker or a speaker who did not indicate support or opposition.

 

1.             2000.0383CX                                                                                                                     (E. TUFFY: (415) 575-9191)

72 ELLIS STREET – vacant lot on the north side of Ellis St., between Powell and Stockton streets, Assessor’s Block 0327, Lot 011 – Request for Review and Comment before the Architectural Review Committee, per Planning Commission Motion #18954, regarding the final design of a new construction project entitled in 2001. The current site is a vacant lot used for surface parking. The project is an 11-story building with 156 hotel rooms on the upper 9 floors and retail use on the lower two floors. The subject property is located within the within the C-3-R (Downtown Retail) Zoning District and 80-130-F Height and Bulk District. The subject lot is located within the designated boundaries of the Kearny-Market-Mason Sutter Conservation District, as outlined in Article 11 of the Planning Code.

 

                SPEAKERS:           Tuija Catalano – Project introduction

                                                Architect – Design presentation

                                                John O’Fortune – Sponsor comments

                ACTION:                                Reviewed and Commented

                COMMENT LTR:  0046

 

ARC RECOMMENDATIONS

 

Massing, Composition and Scale:

 

1.       The ARC concurred with staff’s recommendation that the overall massing, composition and scale were compatible with the district. 

 

Storefront Design:

 

2.       The ARC concurred with staff’s recommendation that the revised, two-story unified treatment of the building base was a successful, contemporary approach to a traditional tripartite historic building form. The Committee did not, however, have a strong preference for the treatment of the base panels where the storefront glazing meets sidewalk grade, wanting to allow for maximum display area and flexible merchandising ability by the future ground floor tenants. They took no issue with the storefront as submitted in Revision- Version 2.

 

Material and Color:

 

3.       The ARC commented that:

a.       The proposed material palette is compatible with the district.

b.       The chosen materials of a limestone tile rainscreen for the overall exterior with contrasting, dark tile at the hotel entrance surround and metal detailing at the upper structural bays and window mullions were described as “handsome” and “elegant.”

 

Additional Comments by the ARC:

 

4.       The ARC commented that they were pleased with the overall building exterior as revised in Version 2 and with the Planning Commission’s decision to require ARC review of the final design as a condition of approval.

5.       The ARC also inquired whether the sponsor had preliminary ideas about the Signage for both the hotel and retail tenants, to which the sponsor responded that the boutique hotel was intended to have more discreet signage on the dark tile lining the recessed hotel entrance and the commercial retail tenant signage was meant to be the more prominent branding on the site.

 

ADJOURNMENT - 2:30 P.M.

ADOPTED: August 5, 2015