The owner of the building in Riverside that hosts a People’s bank and a liquor story suffered a fire last year and the awful aluminum siding that graced the building melted. He applied to repair the place and stated his intention to replace the inflammable aluminium withe fire-proof shingles. the plans were approved, the insurance company paid the loss and the landlord commenced work.
He was stopped when Greenwich’s Architectural Review Board complained to the P&Z: they liked the 1960′s look and wanted it back:”an ironic reference to Marathon Key”, to be preserved forever. Shockingly, the P&Z agreed with these taste arbitrators and shut the project down, so now the owner has spent the insurance money on shingles he can’t use, must spend more to locate tacky aluminium, 1960′s era siding, and the building sits.
P&Z member Frankie Fudrucker can be excused for participating in this injustice: as a Cos Cobber, he must have been torn deciding between aluminum and vinyl siding and probably was paralyzed with doubt, but what about the other members who presumably don’t suffer from that handicap? Don’t any of them live in our more refined neighborhoods?
Simple justice, let alone taste, should cause the P&Z to reverse its decision. The man relied on his plans’ approval from the Building Department and to pull the rug out now because a couple of snoots from the powerless ARB want to impose their distorted view of historical Greenwich on the location is simply wrong.
(not) coming soon to a store near you
Wow! What a bunch of moron’s on the ARB. Come on CF, tell us about the people that comprise this board of apparently no taste and good judgment?
That’s the craziest thing I have heard in a while. That building was horrible, and the shingles a big improvement.