Following more than a year of legal back and forth, the historic stone bank in Vineyard Haven is expected to get its clay tiles back.
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission confirmed Tuesday that Santander bank has agreed to replace the roof tiles that were removed and replaced with asphalt shingles nearly two years ago.
The agreement settles a court dispute and comes before the commission for final approval on Thursday night.
“It’s taken a long time,” MVC executive director Adam Turner said of the negotiation process with the international bank. “We’re happy that it’s finally done, and we look forward to the bank restoring the property.”
In an email to the Gazette Tuesday, a spokesman for Santander bank declined comment.
The red tile roof of the early 20th century building was replaced with asphalt shingles in late 2016, before Tisbury town officials realized the project required review by the MVC as a development of regional impact (DRI). Work on the roof was allowed to continue due to an oncoming storm, but following public hearings last year, the commission voted to require the bank to replace the asphalt shingles with historically correct red tiles. Commissioners gave the bank eight months to complete the project. Santander appealed the decision in court.
The stone building has since been vacated by Santander as a bank office and is listed for sale.
The agreement stipulates that Santander will replace the asphalt shingle roof with terra cotta or clay tiles that match the original historic tiles by May of next year. The tiles must be approved by the commission. The agreement also allows Santander to transfer the obligation to replace the roof to a potential buyer, if it sells the property. The work must be completed by May 2019 in any case, and a final signoff from the commission will be required.
Also under the agreement, if Santander decides to make any other changes to the property before selling the building, the changes must also be approved by the commission.
In the past two years Santander has downsized and consolidated its presence on the Vineyard, closing a downtown Edgartown branch as well as the branch operating out of the stone building. A Chilmark branch was closed in 2015.
Boston architect J. Williams Beal designed the original stone building, which was built in the summer of 1905, according to a history of the bank published in 1988. It was commissioned by William Barry Owen, a Vineyard Haven millionaire who formerly led an international gramophone company, according to the Vineyard Gazette. Mr. Owen was the son of whaling Capt. Leander C. Owen, and died in 1914. In 1919, his widow, Mae M. Owen, granted part of her property on Main street to the town, now known as William Barry Owen Park.
During the commission review process, an estimate from CP Rankin of Chalfont, Pa. found that new historically appropriate Ludowici Spanish Barrel tiles would cost $276,260. The red asphalt shingles cost the bank about $101,000.
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