Dena Levitz, The Examiner
2007-07-13 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

SILVER SPRING, Md. -

Silver Spring residents were right when they complained to The Examiner and Montgomery County permitting officials that a downtown storefront with historic protection had been altered on the outside, officials said this week.

According to Permitting Services Division Chief Reggie Jetter, he visited the storefront at 8668 Colesville Road late last week and discovered that workers had, in fact, altered the facade of the former Rosta’s apparel store.

Jetter last week had said he was unsure what damage, if any, had been done to the outside of the building but that any changes made to the exterior were unlawful given the Art Deco-inspired block’s historic designation.

T-Mobile Communications, which has a permit allowing the company to do work on the inside of the property, has been ordered to stop all construction and to work with the Historic Preservation Commission along every step of the way to fix the damage.

But Jetter said he didn’t think it was necessary to issue any fines.

Josh Silver, a senior planner with the county’s planning department, will oversee the project.

He said Tuesday that he’s concerned “any time a historic building is altered in this way.”

“Now we’ll focus on making sure it looks as close to what it did as possible,” Silver said.

He described the unapproved alterations as the removal of rare windows and said workers had also accidentally gotten rid of some original limestone on the surface of the building while taking the windows out. Apparently, the window removal was for safety purposes.

Replacing these missing elements will be tricky but doable, Silver said. Limestone close to — but not identical to — the original material is common locally.

Windows that resemble the original panes also should be possible to find, he said.

“They will have to give us samples of the material before it goes in, so we ensure everything matches,” Silver said.

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com