To the editor:
We have watched Margaret and Warren Flint Sr. and other Lincoln citizens work hard to preserve the unique character of the town of Lincoln. As participants of the Flint Realty Trust, we gave land to the church for a small addition to the Stearns Room and an uncovered terrace. The scope of this proposed reconstruction has extended far beyond the original intent that accompanied the request for land from the trust.
The resolution of the Stearns Room renovation will be precedent-setting for the future of the town of Lincoln. For generations, the town’s character is what has attracted new residents and kept generations of families, including ours, living in Lincoln. New residents should come and enjoy Lincoln’s unique beauty—one that sets it apart from surrounding towns. Being “true to the values of Lincoln,” as stated by the First Parish Building Committee, has not been the aesthetic put forward by the building committee and architects.
We are most disturbed by the blatant disrespect the building committee has shown towards this aesthetic, given the building’s prominent position in the heart of Lincoln’s Historic District. The new Stearns Room is to have many large unshuttered glass windows, unlike its restored neighbors, and no longer echoes the design of the sanctuary as the present Stearns Room does.
The building committee has designed the new Stearns Room to have a glossy metal roof that does not reflect the New England historic look. The original church roof would have been wooden shakes and is now tastefully modernized to dark, conservative shingles. As part of the historic district viewshed, we cannot see this proposed metal roof as appropriate.
The Planning Board has not yet voted on the metal roof but has approved other features of the plan. The Planning Board is scheduled to vote on the metal roof on Tuesday, April 28. As citizens of Lincoln, please let the Planning Board know your views. Please tell them that metal roofs do not belong in the Historic District. We do not want the aesthetic integrity of the classic Greek Revival white church or the Historic District to be compromised. Please ask the Planning Board to require the new Stearns Room to have a shingled roof matching that of the sanctuary.
Our family always looks forward to coming home to Lincoln and our farm. We have loved showing new Flint descendants where our family has lived and worked for 12 generations. We hope that through town residents, the Historic Commission and the Planning Board, Lincoln will continue to be guided forward while being good stewards of our past.
Sincerely,
Margaret Flint Weir
A trustee of the Flint Realty Trust and eldest child of Margaret and Warren Flint Sr.
Lexington Park, MD
David L. Weir
Formerly of the Historic Preservation Team at George Washington’s Mount Vernon and grandson of Margaret and Warren Flint Sr.
Annapolis, MD
Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to news@lincolnsquirrel.com. Letters must be about a Lincoln-specific topic, will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.
The recent flurry of letters opposing the proposed new Stearns Room paints quite a picture – how dare those First Parish people desecrate our sacred space! The low-pitched sections of the roof will be metal, there’s a terrace, and glass windows without shutters! It will be bigger than it is now, and part of the roof will be higher!
Guess what? If we are to make the presently dysfunctional space work, it has to be bigger, and that has been the plan since 2002. We have done our best to design a complementary, respectful addition, revising the plans at least 5 times in the past 6 years. Our first visit to the HDC was in Sept. of 2009, with a modern, butterfly-roofed design. Much has changed since then, and architects give the plan high praise.
The letter writers ignore the fact that the new building must have a welcoming HC-accessible entrance co-equal to the entrance by Bedford Road. If it does not, the sanctuary itself would require substantial renovation, with a wide ramp to the front door, alterations to the pews, the narthex, the choir loft and more. No one wants that.
The new building will have HC-accessible bathrooms, and allow wheelchair access to both sides of the sanctuary. It will allow more of us to talk together after the service, and to see the field to the west behind us. The new building will be far more functional and attractive, and allow us to better serve the community.