Los Gatos Commercial Design Guidelines FINAL ... - City of Winters

Town of Los Gatos
HISTORIC PRESERVATION DISTRICTS
The C-2A District contains two designated historic districts established
by Town ordinance. The standards and guidelines established
for those districts will continue to apply to structures within
their boundaries. In the event of any inconsistency between the ordinances
and these design guidelines, the ordinances will control.
The following is provided as a summary of the special guidelines
for projects within the boundaries of these two districts. Applicants
with properties within the districts should refer to Town
Ordinance 1843 (Los Gatos Historic Commercial District) and Ordinance
1920 (University/Edelen Historic District) which include
addresses and designations for structures contained within the districts.
They are included in this document as Appendices A and B.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to conduct historical research
on their properties, and to meet informally with staff prior
to the preparation of detailed drawings for the alteration of existing
structures or the construction of new ones within the historic
districts.
C-2 DISTRICT
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Los Gatos Historic Commercial District
3.4 LOS GATOS HISTORIC COMMERCIAL DISTRICT
The district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
and contains Los Gatos’ only surviving concentration of reasonably
intact historic commercial buildings. It includes the Town’s
earliest commercial intersection and half of the 19th century commercial
center. A wide variety of architectural styles is represented
in the district, including Victorian, Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque,
and Mission Revival through most of the intervening
modes to Art Deco. All are typical commercial versions of the
styles.
Structures within the historic district have been classified as
Significant, Contributing, or Noncontributing.
Significant Structures are those with special historic value.
Changes to designated structures will be carefully reviewed to ensure
their historic qualities are preserved and enhanced.
Contributing Structures are those that are supportive of the
historic district by virtue of their individual qualities and overall
support for the character of the historic district. They may have
had changes over time that compromised their historic integrity.
Buildings which contribute to the district should not be demolished
except under exceptional circumstances. Their historic appearance
should be maintained, and remodelings should either maintain
the existing extent of departure from the documented historic appearance,
or shall make the appearance closer to the documented
one. Remodelings shall not increase the extent of departure from
an appearance which can be documented in historic photos (over
50 years old) or similar records.
Commercial Design Guidelines
Hofstra Block: circa 1875 with later additions
Queen Anne Style
Fretwell Building: 1906
Richardsonian Romanesque Style
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