By Newport This Week Staff | on November 03, 2022

The Historic District Commission gave its unanimous approval on Nov. 1 to a slew of renovations and upgrades at 50 Washington Square, through a federally subsidized low-income tax credit program.

Originally constructed as a U.S. Armed Services YMCA in 1911, the housing operation is managed by FiftySquare L.P., which has been working alongside the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission on the $10 million renovation project. The work will include selective replacement of the 60,000-square-foot facility’s brick masonry, window replacement, repairs to the roof membrane, new entry doors and a new, ADA-compliant ramp.

“This is all part of the program to keep the building viable for another 110 years,” said Glenn Gardiner, principle at Newport Collaborative Architects, the firm heading up the project design.

Church Community Housing Corporation, which owns the building, is in the process of renewing and re-syndicating tax and historic property credits, a process allowed every 15 years. The building, once Newport’s largest, takes up the entire block at 50 Washington Square. Its last round of major revitalization work was completed in 2005.

A mixture of materials comprises the five-story building, from brick to stone to copper to terracotta, which is mostly used in decorative aspects of the architecture, typically found on its upper, exterior portions. Most of the original building remains intact.

As part of the project, portions of the building’s exterior will be replaced due to water damage sustained over the past decade. The damage is not visible to the public, according to Gardiner.

“What we’re addressing here is … water infiltration and some of it has moved and some of the masonry has cracked,” he said.

Historic wood windows will be repaired, a process that will involve scraping, cleaning, priming and painting. Non-original windows installed in 1988 will be replaced with wood-clad aluminum windows with integral spandrel panels to match the older frames. The roof membrane will also be replaced with an updated, more environmentally friendly material.

The project will also replace the current ramp at the main entrance with a brick-layered ramp.

“We put that ramp in during the 2005 renovation work,” Gardiner said. “More or less, we’re upgrading the power and there’s no place to locate the transformer bulb other than in the sidewalk terrace, right where the ramp is. So, we’ll be rebuilding the ramp using matching brick.”

While the building’s historic terracotta will be repaired, its balustrade will be replaced with a different material due to water infiltration issues. The HDC, which champions repair over replacement per its standards and guidelines, questioned the move to replace, and Gardiner said the decision was reached in concert with the state commission and to ensure the building’s longevity.

“We initially explored restoring and repairing it as a terracotta balustrade,” Gardiner said. “But it was determined through discussions with the state preservation office that in order to really make sure that we’re here 110 years later, with a building that’s standing and that area still working, we should make it all uniform, with cast stone as a replacement that would replicate the terracotta. The feeling is that this would be a much better way than partially repairing it, which may lead to cracks in a few years.

“Trying to do repairs on inherent issues can’t be perfect,” he said. “So, in 10, 15 or 20 years from now, this is going to be more visually consistent and also a more effective solution than replacing.”

Finally, the doors at the building’s main entrance, which were installed in 2005, will be replaced with new wood and metal exterior doors, and painted to match the building’s other entry points.

“We put those in because there was no access in that location at that point, so the only door we’re replacing is a door that was previously installed in 2005,” said Steve Ostiguy, of Church Community Housing Corporation.

Also included in the project is work that did not require HDC approval, such as renovations of kitchenettes, upgraded lighting and the installation of an efficient, mini-split HVAC system that will provide heat and air conditioning in each of the building’s 93 units.

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