I.      Introduction

Downtown Sanford is experiencing a renaissance.  Construction projects abound, bringing new activity and people to downtown.  Numbers of old buildings are being either rehabilitated for new uses or eyed as sites for new buildings.  The renewed rush for downtown development may remove from the downtown one of the elements that contributes to its unique charm: its architectural heritage.

The purpose of these Design Guidelines is to establish as an explicit, formal City policy the preservation of the architectural heritage and integrity of downtown Sanford.  The Design Guidelines offer a specific set of policies and standards which will ensure that necessary changes to the built environment in downtown will be sensitive to its architectural heritage.  Adoption of this document and official designation of the downtown as a local historic district sets into motion numerous actions, both regulatory and non-regulatory, to implement the 2020 Land Use Plan ‘s historic preservation goal.

The commission consists of seven (7) members appointed by the City Council for staggered, three-year terms.  A majority of the commission members must be qualified by special interest, knowledge, or training in such fields as history or architecture.  Also, all members of the commission must live within Sanford’s planning jurisdiction, and at least one member of the commission must either reside or own property in the established historic district. 

The commission has several powers and responsibilities, including recommending to the City Council the designation, or the removal, of historic district overlay zoning; granting requests for proposed changes within the historic district; conducting educational programs on historic preservation; cooperating with state, federal, and local governments, in pursuance of its responsibilities; and conducting meetings or hearings which are necessary to carry out these purposes.

An important purpose of the Historic Preservation Commission is to assist and consult with property owners about proposed changes to properties in the historic districts.  In the early planning stages of a project, property owners should call the Historic Preservation Commission staff with any questions or concerns.  The staff can assist by interpreting the City Code, suggesting solutions to problems, and explaining the review process.  Furthermore, staff can make on-site consultations and provide technical assistance in solving related problems.

The Historic Preservation Commission has established a Design Review Advisory Committee to assist property owners in interpreting the guidelines for complex projects such as major additions and new construction. The Historic Preservation Commission is made up of volunteers who are familiar with the guidelines.  This group meets with property owners informally before any application is completed or reviewed.  The dates of the Historic Preservation Commission monthly meetings are available from the Historic Preservation Commission.

A Certificate of Appropriateness is not necessary for routine maintenance, which includes repair or replacement when there is no change in the design, materials, or general appearance of the structure or the grounds; however, a certificate of appropriateness is issued for all other projects.  Any repair or replacement necessitating a change in design, materials, or general appearance is defined as an alteration and requires a certificate of appropriateness, as does any proposed new construction or site development.

An application form for a Certificate of Appropriateness may be obtained from the Historic Preservation Commission office.  Drawings and/or photographs depicting the proposed changes are generally required for the review.

Most applications can be reviewed and approved by the Historic Preservation Commission staff through the minor work process.  Major work projects are reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission Certificate of Appropriateness Committee.  Examples of these types of changes are new construction, additions, demolition, tree removal, and parking lots.  The seven-member Certificate of Appropriateness Committee meets monthly, and a decision is usually reached during the meeting at which the application is heard.

Any person or corporation who violates any of the provisions of the Historic District regulations is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $100 per day.  The penalty may not be assessed until the violator has been notified of the violation; however, each day of a continuing violation constitutes a separate violation and may be fined separately.

The streets of Sanford basically follow a grid pattern, with the major arteries corresponding with the many highways that pass through the town and the district area.  The angular and unsystematic placement of the streets in the eastern portion of the district is caused by the paths and crossings of the extensive railroad track system of the Atlantic, Southern, and Seaboard Coast lines.  The railroad tracks also serve as a natural division between the old and new sections of the downtown area, having served to develop the town in its early history and playing an important role even in today’s situation as an active rail center.  Some major streets running perpendicular to the tracks change names after crossing over into the older area--Carthage becomes Charlotte and Wicker becomes McIver.  The principal streets running northwest to southeast in the district are Steele, Moore, and Chatham, the rear lot lines of whose buildings form the eastern boundary of the district.  Horner Boulevard, the western boundary, is a major four-lane highway, running parallel to the downtown area and forming a boundary between the central business district and other activities and growth.  The streets of the district are nearly all bordered with small holly trees, the result of a downtown development plan suggestion by Odell and Associates consulting firm in 1976.

Development in the district dates principally from the boom period of about 1895 to 1930, with a few significant buildings dating from an earlier or later time.  Beyond the boundaries of the district are buildings of uniformly later date, different use, different densities, and some strip development.  Land uses within the district remain essentially unchanged since the principal period of development, with most structures dedicated to commercial uses.  A few houses survive in residential use, while several others have been adapted for use as offices.  Other land uses in the area include light industrial and public/institutional, such as municipal offices and Post Office/Federal Office Building.  Changes in building use over time have included the conversion of an early hospital to rental apartments and the closing of major downtown hotels in favor of motels further from the city’s center. 

For the most part, the buildings in the district are typical of late nineteenth and early twentieth century designs, one to three stories in height (with some taller buildings from the late 1920s and early 1930s), of solid masonry construction, and topped by flat or stepped roofs.  Buildings are generally set flush with the sidewalk and have plate glass display windows and recessed entrances.  Surviving ornamentation consists of decorative brick and stonework and molded terra cotta restricted on most buildings to the upper floors.  Although later twentieth century infill buildings are of simpler design, and a number of early buildings have experienced some degree of alteration, the district retains much of the character and quality that it had achieved by 1930.  It remains the “bricky-looking town” described by Bill Sharpe. 

As one enters the district from Hawkins Avenue, the first structure encountered is the Railroad House, (individually listed in the National Register in 1973), the only building surviving in the district from the period of Sanford’s establishment.  The frame Gothic Revival cottage, built by the Raleigh and Augusta, is located across Charlotte Avenue from its present site.  After being given to the City, it was moved in 1962 and adapted for use as offices for the Lee County Chamber of Commerce.  It is a fitting symbol for a town whose establishment and early development were a direct result of the construction of railroads, an activity which had a dramatic impact on the entire state in the second half of the nineteenth century. 

Quite naturally, early commercial development in Sanford occurred adjacent to the rail lines, which were the cause for the town’s existence, with a somewhat greater concentration of buildings to the east along what is now Chatham Street.  Little is known of the buildings erected prior to 1900, but it can be surmised that many were of frame construction, of one or two stories in height, susceptible to destruction by fire and rapidly replaced by more substantial buildings of masonry construction.  Branson’s Business Directories for the years between 1878 and 1896 reveal the rapid growth of the commercial life of the town, so that by the latter year, there were well over thirty merchants and tradesmen listed as operating businesses in the town.  Specialization of merchandising had begun, as there were jewelers, druggists, milliners, and furniture stores.  However, the majority of concerns still were classified as general stores.

Unfortunately, few if any of the buildings associated with these early business ventures survived much beyond the turn of the twentieth century.  The 1908 Sanborn Insurance Company maps show a brick furniture store and bank and a bottling works on the northeast side of the intersection of Chatham and Charlotte streets, a site on the southeast corner of that intersection to be occupied by the Sanford Buggy Manufacturing Company, and a number of one and two story frame and brick structures arranged along Chatham Street.  West of the tracks, there stood several buildings along Moore Street between Carthage and Wicker Streets, including a post office and the Bank of Sanford Building, which also housed the Opera House (both destroyed).  Along the same block of Steele Street were several frame dwellings, a stable, and a marble yard.  Moving from west to east on the north side of Carthage Street at the time, one encountered the Graded School and Baptist Church at Steele Street and the Episcopal Church at Moore Street.  At the center of a triangle created by Chatham, Moore, and Carthage/Charlotte Streets and crisscrossed by the three rail lines, stood the railroad passenger depot with a farm freight depot several hundred yards to the southeast.  The passenger depot was a handsome brick building with the typical heavily bracketed, wide flared overhang on its rid tile, hipped roof.  Its façade was distinguished by a central gable with a palladian window.  This building and the nearby Railroad House served as a natural focal point for the district. 

Surviving commercial buildings from the first decade of the twentieth century are typical of those being built in small towns everywhere at the time.  Examples include the former bank and drug store at the corner of Chatham and McIver Streets, notable for its corbeled cornice and segmental arch window openings on the north elevation, and the adjacent five-bay commercial building with its coved metal cornice.

By 1915, the Sanborn maps were showing a strong shift in the direction of Sanford’s commercial development, perhaps influenced by the location of Little Buffalo Creek to the rear of the buildings on the East Side of Chatham Street.  In the preceding seven years, numerous buildings had been constructed along Moore, Wicker, and Steele Streets, while Chatham Street from Charlotte to Maple was fairly complete.  A few dwellings survived in the area, but by then, it was given over almost entirely to commercial, light industrial and civic structures.  The town’s growth as a retail center for the surrounding rural areas necessitated the construction of buildings dedicated to sales of dry goods, drugs, hardware, furniture, and jewelry.  There were also banks, undertakers, restaurants, barber shops, 5 & 10¢ stores, insurance offices, a lodge hall, a hotel, livery stables, a bottling works, and a moving picture theater.  As is true now, the majority of these buildings were one or two stories in height and of brick construction.  Notable exceptions were the Sanford Buggy Company and the McCracken Building, both three-story buildings, which still stand.  A handsome City Hall, built about 1910 and located on the north side of Charlotte Avenue just east of Chatham, featured the decorative brickwork, which was to become a hallmark of the town’s commercial area, reflecting its debt to the important local brick-making industry.  The building is most notable for its massive three-story central tower, covered by a convex four-slope roof and capped by a domed and columned lantern.

The 1925 Sanborn map shows the block bounded by Carthage, Moore, Wicker and Steele Streets as almost fully developed with construction underway on numerous buildings in the area comprising the historic district, as Sanford participated in the construction boom, which swept the nation during the 1920’s.  During this period, the old bottling works building on the north side of the intersection of Chatham and Charlotte Streets was probably remodeled to its present polychromed Art Deco appearance by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company.  Many of the district’s landmark buildings were constructed during the 1920’s including the Masonic Lodge Building, the Makepeace Building, and the Temple Theatre.  The Lodge is a three-story structure in blond brick featuring granite pilasters rising to a horizontal band above the second floor windows with four raised medallions bearing the Masonic symbol; this treatment is repeated on the west elevation.  The five bays of the Makepeace Building are divided by brick pilasters; at the roofline, these divisions are marked by spheres on plinths.  Above the narrow central bay is a terra cotta name panel topped by a pediment and flanked by decorative brick inset panels.  Finally, the façade of the Temple Theatre is an eclective blend of classical and Art Deco details with handsome decorative brick panels, horizontal terra cotta bands, arches, and terra cotta relief panels.

Within the next few years, several other significant structures rose in the thriving central business district and remained important anchors in the area.  The six-story Wilrik Hotel, the area’s tallest structure, featured restrained classical detail; its first two stories were distinguished by a stone surface capped by a molded cornice, while the sixth floor windows were topped by a bracketed skirt roof of ceramic tile. Representative of the change from horse powered personal transportation to the automobile was the Cole Pontiac Building at the western edge of the district, the last remaining building in downtown Sanford of the early service stations and automobile sales and repair structures which replaced the livery stable and carriage and buggy shops.  This extensive brick structure featured a stepped and arched parapet with stone coping, two ranks of five large arched windows on the west elevation and a variety of terra cotta ornament.  Molded terra cotta and cut stonework also ornamented the commercial building which became home to Hubbards Shoe Store, reflecting the Tudor Revival style so popular in the 1920’s.  The contemporary structure on the southeast corner of Wicker and Steele Streets, formerly used as a post office, also featured terra cotta decoration, in this case of classical design, including egg and dart molding, modillion blocks, and a scrolled shield medallion above the main entrance.  Simpler buildings also survived from the period, but all displayed some degree of decorative brickwork, including horizontal and vertical banding, patterned panels, and tapestry and varicolored bricks, reflecting the town’s growing status as a brickmaking center for the nation.

The fact that much of the area was already fully developed combined with the Great Depression to create a decline in the rate of construction in Sanford’s central business district during the 1930’s, a trend which continues to the present.  New construction since 1940 has largely been the result of demolition or destruction by fire of already existing buildings, such as the circa 1950 structure, which replaced the early twentieth century bank and opera house building which burned in 1947.  Two significant buildings that survived from the Depression era were the 1930 Carolina Hotel with handsome brick arches decorating its four-story façade, and the former U.S. Post Office, whose restrained classicism was typical of Works Projects Administration buildings constructed during the Depression.  Post-Depression and post-World War II construction generally exhibited less architectural flair than earlier buildings, with little or no ornamentation and a fairly bland use of materials.  Although most newer buildings continued in the traditional use of brick, some recent structures were concrete block, aggregate materials, and glass walls or screens.  The commercial building at the northwest corner of Moore and Wicker Streets was a windowless block covered in concrete, while the structure at 127 South Steele Street was a steel frame with glass wall building with a metal lattice screen covering the façade’s upper floors.  Several early buildings in the district were altered by the installation of screens or other coverings of metal, stucco, or permastone, which obscured the façade details typical of late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial buildings. 

The overall visual impact of the area remains that of a per-World War II commercial district which has undergone normal development since the period of significance.  The area to the west of the rail lines is fairly densely developed, with most later buildings erected as infill or replacements for destroyed buildings.  East of the rail lines, many buildings are detached from their neighbors, and there has been little infill.  The creation of parking lots has had only a minor impact on the district’s visual character.  Parking spaces at he rear of buildings, in the center of developed blocks, and adjacent to detached buildings have generally provided ample parking for the district.  Rehabilitation activities are underway in several buildings, including the Temple Theater and the Wilrik Hotel.  A downtown merchants association has formed the Downtown Sanford Redevelopment Corporation and appointed an executive director to work for the continued vitality of the downtown.  Sanford also has recently selected as a Main Street community. 

The Downtown Sanford Historic District encompasses the principal blocks which have comprised the town’s central business district since the late 1920.   Since then, the  commercial center has spread from the areas immediately adjacent to the intersecting rail lines to the current western edge of the district, Horner Boulevard (U.S. Highway 421).  The U.S. Highway 421 corridor is a highly visible boundary, because it is a major thoroughfare along which much post 1950 strip development has occurred.  The northern, eastern, and southern boundaries generally separate the district from residential areas with some late 20^th century commercial and public use structures in between.

§ Pivotal:  Those properties which are unique or best examples of the qualities that make up the district.

§ Contributing:  Those properties which contribute to or support the qualities that make up the district.

§ Noncontributing:  Those properties which do not yet contribute to the  district.

§ Intrusive:  Those properties which have a negative impact on the integrity of the district.

About 5 buildings in the district are rated ‘Intrusive”.  Buildings are rated as intrusive because of insensitive rehabilitation that applied inappropriate materials to an older building façade.  At least one of these 5 buildings can be rated as contributing if inappropriate treatments are removed in a subsequent rehabilitation effort.

Neoclassic, Beaux-arts, Gothic Revival, Art Deco and Modern are all styles associated with the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries.  These styles and others are expressed in the architecture of downtown Sanford. The preservation of downtown requires that a “product of it’s time” philosophy be continued when buildings and additions are erected in the district.  In another word, duplication of historic styles should be avoided.

New construction in the context of a blockface with clearly established design elements (height, setback, cornice line, etc.) must be reviewed with a different set of standards for compatibility than new construction on a freestanding-type site.   The impact of new construction on neighbors is more severe in the first case than in the second.  Design review guidelines for new construction need to reflect the context of a particular structure in the district.

Another common sign was the corporate logo or name used as an architectural detail on the façade.  Other signs in downtown are as diverse as the architecture.  Simple signs in the downtown include awning signs and painted window signs.  Although most are recent, neon signs are found on several buildings hanging in storefront windows.  Hanging signs are the most common in the District.  In some cases, signs are so prominent that they become landmarks in their own right.

In general, signs in the District are compatible with the building on which they are placed, even though they are rarely of a style that is harmonious with the surrounding historic architecture.

Introduction                                                                                                                                                                                     back to top

The preservation of the City’s historic fabric is a continuing concern in the face of growth and development.  The City of Sanford has the opportunity with its Historic District Overlay Zone to provide a means of achieving a sound policy for rehabilitation, new construction, and streetscape improvements within the Downtown Sanford Historic District.

When local districts are designated, owners of property in the District are bound by the following restriction:

No exterior construction, alteration, restoration, or rehabilitation activities affecting appearance may be conducted within the historic district without the applicant first obtaining a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission.  (Sanford City Code, Section #)

The design review criteria contained herein are established to guide the Historic Preservation Commission in their decisions about whether a proposed modification will be in keeping with the historic character of downtown Sanford.  In addition, these guidelines will assist property owners and developers in understanding what constitutes historically appropriate new construction and rehabilitation.

The overall objective of these general guidelines is to help insure the integrity of Sanford’s historic areas by promoting sensitive rehabilitation and harmonious new construction.  The design review criteria will prove to be beneficial during the earliest stages of planning and design of District construction projects.

1.      The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation                                                                           back to top

In 1976, the United States Department of the Interior developed national standards for the preservation of historic buildings.  The ten standards for the rehabilitation of historic buildings, often referred to as the Secretary’s Standards, have been explicitly used by the Sanford Historic Preservation Commission in reviewing proposed changes to historic buildings and properties.  Although Standard 1 applied to building use and the Historic Preservation Commission has not reviewed building use, the design principles and criteria of these ten standards were inherent in the Design Guidelines applied by the commission in reviewing proposed changes to all district properties.  The 1992 version of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation read as follows: