March
20 , 2023
Mr.
Ricky Caperton
AIC
P
,
Planning Manager
City of Napa
1600 First Street
Napa, CA 94559
RE:
Certificate of Appropriateness
Application
and Mills Act Application
F. Martin House
409 Franklin St
reet
Napa, CA 9455
9 APN: 005
-
051
-
011
-
000
Dear Mr. Caperton,
Paul Kelley Architecture (PKA) is working with
Bill Urbach
&
Janet Effland
, owners of the
c. 1890
F. Martin House
,
located at
409 Franklin Street
,
to
prepare a
Certificate of Appropriateness
and Mills Act
A
pplications for
the
following
scope of work to
brace, anchor, repair, retrofit, remodel and otherwise restore the historic F. Martin
residence:
•
Temporarily raise the existing house to remove
existing stacked stone basement walls
•
Excavate the build
ing pad approx. 3
-
feet and c
onstruct a new basement foundation
/stem walls
•
Existing finish floor of the main residence to remain unchanged
•
Perform
a
voluntary seismic retrofit
from the interior of the residence and throughout
•
Minor exterior demolition, reconstruction of non
-
historic features
•
Repair/reconstruction of
damaged,
deteriorating,
or dangerous exterior historic features
•
Construction of new lower level ADU with associated access stairs, lightwells, etc.
•
Repair of existing garage
•
Repair of existing exterior ston
e walls
•
Removal of existing non
-
native redwood tress
•
New site hardscape and landscape that is period appropriate w ith nat
ive and drought tolerant features
409 Franklin Street
is
colloquially known as the F. Martin House. The original Italianate home
(half of the current
structure) was
constructed
in 1890 as a ‘row house’ facing Laurel St. Soon thereafter a main addition with porch additions
were added, doubling the
size of the
home,
and reorienting its front to Franklin St. The house
is located
ATTACHMENT 2
March
20 , 2023
409 Franklin Street
Certificate of Appropriateness
and Mills Act
Application
Letter
Page
2 of
3 at the northwest corner of Franklin and
Laurel Streets in Napa.
The
0.17 acre parcel
has a General Plan
designation o
f
TRI
-
145
with an RT
-
5 zoning, according to the previous 2020 General Plan.
The
residence is historic as
listed in
the
City of Napa Historic Resources Inventory (HRI)
.
The property is a Local
Landmark (LLM), and a
C
ontributor
(C
ONTRIB
)
to
the National Register District
–
Napa Abajo Fuller Park (NRD
-
NAFP)
; the property ha
s
a previous HRI Map Score of 2.
The proposed
Project
Scope involves the
repair, voluntary seismic upgrade, exterior restoration /
rehabilitation,
and
interior
remodel of
the residence, garage,
site,
and landscape
. The residence is
actually two conjoined
two
-
story
structures with
basement and
expansive front entry porch, combined into a single
-
family residence
The original
Italianate was constructed in 1890 with additions that followed. The porch appears t o have been added and
extended a second time. The
rear porch
was enclosed at some point with a
n
addition constructed above
. The
house in the past appears to have been converted to a duplex with a living unit upstairs and down. The work to
create the unit was later removed and the house returned to a sing le
-
family residence.
The project also proposes
the construction of an Accessory Dwelling Unit
at the
new
lower level
.
The
residence
has
four
existing
bedrooms
on the upper level; the
existing floor levels are measured as follows:
Basement Level:
1,537sf
Main Level:
1,527sf
Upper Level:
1,586
sf
The proposed project will utilize the existing square footage and conver t
the basement level footage to
a new lower
level
living space with the construction of the new
basement. Storage and mechanical spaces will be added below the existing front porch.
Interior historic features such as the entry stair, detailed crown molding s,
original
fireplaces
,
doors, casing, etc. will be cataloged, restored, repaired, matched in kind, relocated, etc.
Exterior doors
and windows to remain unchanged
except for
removal and replacement of a few non
-
historic doors and windows.
As part of the interior remodel
a new elevator and stair will be constructed toward the back of house, to make the house adaptable
with Universal
D
esign practices
,
to allow the owners to ‘l
ive in place.’
The remodeled project will
consist of three bedrooms in the main residence plus one bedroom in the new ADU.
The historic home
h
as been culturally linked to
Frederick Martin
, a beer and liq
uor dealer and proprietor of the
stone Martin Building,
originally
located on Brown St. across from the county court
house.
The project
A
pplication
s
seeks the following entitlements:
•
Certificate of Appropriateness
for
design review
•
Approval of a City/County Mills Act
in exchange
for proposed
improvements
and ongoing care
Concurrently, the project team will also be submitting an urgency
application to the Building Department to replace
the existing
stacked stone
foundation to
anchor and
stabilize the building
(s)
. The permit will also request the
voluntary seismic retrofitting (to be performed
on the
interior
of the structure
) to be a
pproved
along with nec
essary
underground utilities
,
required to be installed prior to the new foundation
.
ATTACHMENT 2
March
20 , 2023
409 Franklin Street
Certificate of Appropriateness
and Mills Act
Application
Letter
Page
3 of
3 In addition to the Cert
ificate of Appropriateness,
the owners are seeking approval of a Mills Act to defer otherwise incurred property taxes
as a result of
their
restor
ation efforts of the
historic
structure. As this is as much a labor of
love for the owners and not a profit generator
or flip property, they respectfully request
the City and County enter
into a Mills Act to help
reduce the additional tax
burden
for
improvements
,
while giving
somethin
g back to the
community
in the form
of a beautifully restored mansion to last for
many many years to come
.
Bill Urbach states
he would like his project to be similar
in quality
and stature
to the Ackerman House,
Priest Mansion and The Yount
Mansion as local examples
.
KEY
POINTS
:
•
The F. Martin House is a
L
ocal
L
andmark and National Register Contributor to the Napa Abajo District
•
The
owners have ‘adopted’ the home and desire to return the home to near
original
on the exterior,
modernize portions of the interior, retain
historic fabric and detail, install a new basement
foundation
and voluntary retrofit
,
and make provisions to preserve
the home for the next century
•
A large portion of the budget will
go to retrofitting and repair of the existing structure
and
basement
replacement.
•
The owners are preserving the home as a single
-
family residence
and not applying for a B&B permit
•
The owners are willing to invest in this
L
ocal
L
andmark
, retain the residential status and add an
A
ccessory
D
welling
U
nit
, aiding the City’s RHNA requirement
s
•
Retention of larger histo
ric properties downtown as
single
-
family residences is financially challenging
,
based on their size and operational costs
.
Generally,
an owner seeks options to
generate income
from
the property to defray costs
•
Approval of a Mills Act will aid in the ongoing
maintenance and
upkeep
of the historic property
•
The owners have discussed a potential nomination of the F. Martin House to the
National Register of
Historic
Places once
the project is completed.
The project will be
photographed and
documented along
the
way in anticipation of a
project nomination
•
The owners have retained Kara Brunzell
, local historian
to prepare research of the property and
occupants, review
the proposed design with the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation, prepare correspondence with Staff and
present the project to the Cultural Heritage Commission and City
Council as required
Bill Urbach and Janet Effland
respectfully request the City of Napa partner with them to hel p stage the urgency
construction,
review,
and adopt a Certificate of Appropriateness for the proposed work and grant a Mills Act for
the project.
They
are very excited to move forward on this project
, with
a sense of urgency
. The
Project
Architect, Historian and Owners are available for
questions.
Thank you for your
consideration
.
Kind regards,
Paul Kelley, Principal Architect
Paul Kelley Architecture
ATTACHMENT 2