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337 Essex Street - C of A application - add downspouts2/23/24, 8:16 AM about:blank about:blank 1/3 Salem Historical Commission 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 (978) 619-5685 Application for: Certificate of Appropriateness - HCA-24-14 Date of Submission: February 16, 2024 Owner at Submission (from Assessor) Jean Marie Procious Applicant name:Jean Marie Procious Owner (from Applicant) Proprietors of the Salem Athenaeum Applicant phone:978-744-2540 Owner Phone 978-744-2540 Applicant email:jmp@salemathenaeum.net Owner Email jmp@salemathenaeum.net Address of Property: 337 Essex St Declared District: McIntire Year Built (From Assessor)1900 Occupancy (from Assessor) Zoning (From Assessor)NULL Building Type (from Assessor) Property Use (From Assessor) Type of Work: Alteration Is work visible from Public Way?:Yes Applicant's Description of Work:The Salem Athenaeum is applying for a Certificate of Applicability to add 6 copper downspouts to the building’s exterior. The goal is to protect the building against water which overflows the gutters in periods of increasingly heavy rains. During these rains, water cascades over all the gutters surrounding the building, splashing onto the building, the wood shutters, and soaking the ground at the dripline. The Athenaeum’s copper gutters were integrated into the building’s cornice, which is original to the 1907 Rantoul design of the building. The cornice cannot be enlarged without significant change to its size of the cornice, and consequent adverse affect on the proportions of the building envelope. As Historic New England’s extensive research on their building collection has demonstrated (“HNE Property Care White Papers: Climate Change and Gutters”), historic gutters are consistently undersized to adequately cope with increased, climate change induced heavy flows. mailto:https://hne-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/wp- content/uploads/2019/03/06161642/Gutters-and-Downspouts-03-Climate- Change-2019-v5.pdf The current downspout configuration (2) includes four downspouts on the south (garden) side of the building, which collect roof as well as porch rainfall. (3) On the front (Essex St), only two downspouts – one on either side of the front porch of the building – collect rainfall from the roof as well as the porch. (4) There is only one downspout each collecting rain on the east and west sides of the building. (5). 2/23/24, 8:16 AM about:blank about:blank 2/3 Overflow is of particular concern in two areas 1. Along the north and northeast side of the building. The library stacks are located in this corner of the building. There is no concrete foundation wall providing a moisture barrier for the basement in this area, so spalling and efflorescence on the brick and disintegration of mortar below grade in the stacks area is of increasing concern. Dehumidifiers need to run constantly in the basement of the stacks to combat moisture. 2. The Athenaeum is in the process of designing an accessible path which will cross the north of the façade toward the entrance threshold. Overflow would cascade directly on this planned path, affecting its longevity, as well as impacting visitors to the Athenaeum during periods of rain. Solutions investigated: We investigated increasing the size of the spouts which connect the gutters to the downspouts. The downspouts are standard 4” circumference, but the spouts are only 3” circumference. (6) Our roofer determined that if we were to try and enlarge the spouts, the increased opening in the cornice would weaken the integrity of its edge, causing extreme vulnerability to the structure of the cornice. To date, we have attempted to mitigate intense rainfall overflowing in the corners of the front porch, where rain from the roof and porch converge, by adding 8” copper deflectors at the intersection of the porch with the roof. (7). This intervention has not provided relief from overflow. In the process of examining the condition of the gutters, the roofer discovered that the gutters are not connected continuously from one side of the building to another, so water being deflected into the front gutter was not being sent to the downspout on the side of the building, but over the gutter. Further, copper from the deflectors is staining the marble sills, string course, and medallions. We investigated a ground solution that would collect, via French drains, overflow water and direct it away from the building. In order to prepare a solution for collecting water from these drains, the Athenaeum hired Hancock Associates CE to provide soil analysis, determine water table levels on the property, and develop a drainage plan that would collect all runoff and send it to a collection field at the back of the property. While this is a solution for dealing with water once it hits the ground, it does not solve the problem of overflow, which incrementally will damage the wood cornice as well as the building exterior, including marble lintels and sills, brick mortar, wood windows and wood shutters (8, 9. 10.) We have determined that adding 6 additional downspouts is the best option to permit more certain distribution of rainfall into downspouts, decreasing the amount of overflow. (see plan – 2) Waterproofing the foundation along the north/east corner will be addressed during the installation of the drainage system. Location and treatment of new downspouts The roofer has proposed adding two additional downspouts on the east 2/23/24, 8:16 AM about:blank about:blank 3/3 and the west side of the building, on either side of the existing downspout, and spaced symmetrically between the windows. (12, 13). Additional downspouts will be placed on the façade, at the edge of the building (14). Materials, installation details All downspouts will be copper to match the existing. The hangar treatment will match existing (15). Downspouts will connect to PVC distribution drains just below grade with a custom copper connector. (16). Photos 1). historic cornice 2) Plan of existing & proposed downspout locations 3). Existing downspout configuration – garden elevation 4). Existing downspout configuration – front elevation 5). Existing downspout configuration – side elevations (2) 6). Detail of 3” spout 7). detail of deflectors 8). rainfall at dripline adjacent to stacks 9) spalling bricks in basement level of stacks 10). rainfall on side of building (2) 11). rainfall at corner of front porch under deflector 12). Downspout locations marked on west elevation 13). Downspout locations marked on east elevation 14). Downspout location marked on front (north) elevation 15) Detail view of downspout and copper hangar 16) Downspout PVC connector (2)