While Risbara’s new architecture proposed for Phase II of its Blue Spruce Farm subdivision on Spring Street in Westbrook represents a positive step forward, I wish to correct the mistaken impression that good design is necessarily something “extra” added that costs more. I’m not talking about major surgery such as making the wings of the block a story lower than the gabled center, though maybe two or three such lower versions of the standard block would vary the mix.

Let’s look at and maybe enhance what’s good about Autumn Woods Apartments’ new look. The basic format with a center pavilion three windows wide bumped out and crowned with a pedimented gable is a time-honored traditional form evocative of early American neoclassicism. The entrance is wide and generously glazed with French doors and transom. A minor critique: Looking from the formal middle part to the flanking wings, one drops from classic aspirations back into the three-decker idiom. And needlessly so. The entire front would gain in unity of effect by such simple means as bringing the three-windowed pattern of the center bump-out to the wings, simply by separating the double corner windows. And the effect of reduced scale sought by making the top story of the wings a darker color more like the roof would be enhanced by siding it in shingle siding mitered at the corners, with the cornerboard trim not extended higher than the beltline between the second and third story windows.

As for the entrance, it could be recessed instead of sporting a projecting portico. And rather than building faux chimneys (themselves towering features), maybe the slope of the roof and especially the pedimented gable could be slightly reduced. The entrance could be recessed into the wall, eliminating the need for a projecting portico. Two thicker columns flanking the front door would look more classically proportioned and substantial, yet cost not much more than four spindly ones.

Anthony Taylor

Buxton

Phase II of the Blue Spruce Farm subdivision.