NEW BUILDINGS
Begin planning your new building by taking a good long look at adjacent buildings and those in your neighborhood. Take your time; combining new materials and building techniques with the architecture of another age takes careful thought. While you are surveying your neighborhood, look for the following predominant design concepts:

Building Plan The building plan is related to the concept of massing - he boxlike forms that are fitted together to create the overall shape and "footprint" of a building. Simple rectangular cottages without additions, porches, or dormers are very simple in plan and massing. Other buildings may be more complex, such as L-shaped Italianate houses; some of the later Queen Anne structures feature many intersecting masses as well as porches, balconies, and bay windows.

Although your new building should have similar complexity in plan and massing, it need not duplicate designs found in adjacent and nearby buildings.

Height Even though building heights vary considerably along some streets, most builders in the past put up structures similar in height to adjacent and nearby houses. Your new building should be shorter than the tallest building in the area, and higher than the shortest. In other words, it should be the average height of nearby buildings.

Materials Because brick is the Village's predominant material, much new construction is of brick or brick veneer. When choosing brick, avoid used brick, new brick "distressed" to look old, and variegated brick colors. Try to use brick that is warm red in color similar to that found throughout the Village.

In planning your new construction, also consider the variety of materials in your neighborhood. For example, if adjacent and nearby buildings have high foundations of light-colored stone, your new building design should not have an all-brick facade down to ground level. To re-create the variety of materials typical of the area, you could use rough-faced concrete block or a rock veneer.

In the Village, frame houses are interspersed singly or in small groups among brick buildings. So, even though it is less frequently seen, frame construction has always been appropriate in the Village. Select siding materials carefully using the recommendations in the Siding section.

Scale and Proportion Scale refers to the size of a building in relation to adjacent and nearby structures. Proportion is the relationship between a facade's height and width. Proportion affects scale. For example, if a new building were taller than those nearby and had a long facade out of proportion to its height, it would be quite out of scale because it would be too large or monumental for its location. Similarly, a building lower than nearby structures, and with a fairly narrow facade in relation to that height might also be out of scale because it is too small or modest. Your new building should maintain the proportions and overall scale of adjacent and nearby buildings.

Front Setback The front setback is the distance between a building's facade and a public right-of-way. Setbacks are controlled by the zoning code, which allows some flexibility through variances.

On a typical street, most of the buildings observe the same shallow or nonexistent front setback, thus creating the Village's dense, intimate character. Generally, Village setbacks are close to the sidewalks and very often flush with them. Occasionally there are streets where setbacks vary.

Your new building should follow the historic setback patterns in the area, even if a zoning variance is necessary to achieve this. If you cannot follow the historic setback, place your structure behind rather than in front of the area's general setback.

Although facades are generally parallel to the line of setback, check the angling of nearby facades in relation to the setback line. Your building should follow this design element in addition to the actual setback distance.

BUILDING SPACING
The Village is known for its feeling of urban density, and this is due in part to the shallow - or nonexistent - front setback of the area's buildings. Similarly, the close spacing between buildings is an important element of the area's density. Typically, side yards are very narrow. Zoning laws stipulate the side yard setback; they regulate how close your building can be to your side property lines, and thus, the size of your side yard. Designs for new construction should observe the overall rhythm of building spacing along the street.

Rhythm of Building Openings Rhythm is determined by architectural style as well as by practical considerations. It refers not only to the pattern of window and door openings in a building but also to the areas of wall surface between openings.

For example, most early cottages have a few small windows in their facades with a great deal of wall area. A new building with large expanses of floor-to-ceiling windows and little exterior wall area would, therefore, be inappropriate.

Other rhythms you should watch for include the symmetrical placement of windows and doors in many brick doubles; the offset entrances and large living room windows found in many Queen Anne structures; and the repeated patterns of display windows and doors in some commercial buildings.

Your new construction design should contribute to the predominant rhythms in adjacent and nearby buildings, without duplicating them.

Often basic roof shapes are made more complex by original or added dormers, intersecting roofs on ells and additions, and porch roofs. The Queen Anne architectural style combines different roof shapes. Your construction design should reflect the predominant patterns of roof shapes in the area. A flat- or mansard-roofed house, for example, would be inappropriate on a street of houses with their gable ends facing the street.

Varied materials include stone foundations; brick walls, walks, driveways, and streets; wood doors, window frames, siding, and trim; slate roofs; concrete walks and patios; and metal cornices, gutters, downspouts, and roofing.

Each of these materials has its own texture: stone foundations can be smooth-cut or rough-faced; brick walls can be smooth 19th-century brick or rough-surfaced wire-cut brick from the 20th-century; wood siding might be flush siding or overlapped beveled siding, or one of the turn-of-the-century sidings.

Whether a hue is natural to a particular material or applied through painting or finishing, color is another important element. Dominant natural colors in the Village are the light gray of stone, the warm red of brick, and the cool gray of slate. Painted window frames, doors, walls, and trim employ a variety of colors that can be changed fairly easily.

Observe the relationship of materials, textures, and colors in your block. On one hand, if buildings in your area were built with only one or two principal materials, then your design should stay within that limitation. On the other hand, if your block has a variety of materials and textures, your design should be of similar complexity. Choose colors for compatibility with existing colors. Your new structure should reflect the relationship between materials, texture, and color already established in the area.