These properties are about to change
At Monday’s Board of Architectural Review meeting, five projects were greenlighted.
BY DEBORAH SKOLNIK
At the start of the week, the Board of Architectural Review convened to give, defer, or deny their blessing to those seeking to alter properties around town. Representatives for the projects presented supporting documents along with pitches as to why the proposed work ought to be allowed. Here’s a look at the locations that came up for discussion.
22 River Road
The first person to state a case to the BAR was the architect for 22 River Road. He and his clients proposed to create a 175-square-foot addition to the rear of the home. It will house an expanded kitchen, mudroom, and some laundry facilities. While the architect showed the Board a site plan, he further explained that the proposal is to match all existing materials in the house; the windows will be Anderson and will match the existing ones. RESULT: APPROVED
New addition 22 River Road will soon have more more room in the back.
18 Chase Road
Next up was a representative for the owner of The Bagel Emporium, which is slated to make its debut at 18 Chase Road shortly. “We are proposing to basically recover the existing awning,” the rep said. The color will remain the same, and there will be white graphics on the awning as well as white vinyl graphics on the windows. Juicy tidbit: The rep said the eatery hopes to open next month. RESULT: APPROVED
Before... How the site of the future home of Bagel Emporium looks right now.
...and after A rendering of how the shop will look shortly.
56 Church Lane
“The project essentially is a two-hundred-square-foot addition at the rear of the home located on the second floor,” said the architect for the homeowner, who was also present. The add-on will not be visible from the street, and will be located above an existing one-story family room, creating no site disturbance. There is also a secondary aspect of the project—replacing the current single roll-up garage door with two carriage doors. In addition, a new bedroom window will be added on the driveway side of the home. RESULT: APPROVED
42 Hamilton Road
”The scope of work we are proposing [is to add] a small covered deck at the rear of the house,” the representative for the property said. It will involving removing a piece of overhang. He added that he would install four new windows on the right side of the house, and add a large sliding door there as well. The deck would match all the existing materials. RESULT: APPROVED
140 Christie Place
No representative for the property came forward. One BAR member quietly remarked to another that this has happened on at least one previous occasion. RESULT: HELD OVER
42 Mamaroneck Road
The most-discussed proposal by far involved this gracious property with an extensive lawn, often admired by those who drive along the busy road. A representative for the property shared a plan to build a black aluminum fence that would follow the driveway on either side. (The stone walls, the ends of which can be seen in the photo below, would remain intact.) The rep then distributed color copies of a sample of the gate, which would be set 50 feet back from the property line.
Too dull for the 'Dale? The Board wasn't thrilled by the austere fencing planned for a beautiful Scarsdale property.
When the Board inquired about what kinds of plantings would accompany the fence installation, the rep said he and his client didn’t talk too much about it, but he assumed it would be a simple ground cover. He then suggested it might be decorative grasses. “The issue with decorative grasses is the winter time they die out,” one Board member replied. Board member Brad Cetron expressed hesitancy, saying, “This [renovation] is a golden opportunity for what’s a fantastic house…to just pop the fence in…I think we want to understand what that’s going to be.” The representative was asked to come back with further details, especially about the plantings. RESULT: HELD OVER
Does a fence make sense? Board members were hesitant about the idea of adding black aluminum fencing on either side of this grand home's driveway.
62 Franklin Road
An architect for the property requested to amend an addition to the home. Some changes have already been made, thanks to previous Board approvals. The front door has been changed from a double door to a single one with sidelights, which was authorized at a BAR meeting in November 2023. New changes include extending the shed roof over the front door across the center of the house, creating a porch, and reducing the size of the rear deck. “We feel that these minor changes do not change the initial intent of the design and may add function,” the architect asserted. RESULT: APPROVED.