Aesthetic Consideration

Re: The Randolph Municipal Bldg.

The rendering depicted (left) on the front page of The Herald, 21 February, is not the "original" addition as designed for the existing Summer St. municipal office building site. It is a revised and expanded plan by DuBois & King.

The original plan, by Black River Design, approved by the voters in 2004, was prominently displayed, in color, on the cover of the 2003 Randolph Town Report.

The original design was considerably different than the revised and expanded plan: the elevation of the revised plan as shown in The Herald is the front of the building; it faces a parking lot; the back of a gas station; the back of a supermarket; and an auto repair shop. So its new address: One Parking Lot Row.

So much for quality of design and aesthetic appreciation.

The rear of this revised building plan is toward Summer Street. So much for consideration of Summer Street residents.

And it would, if built, destroy the only public greensward in the village and also that one and only venerable (150 year old) flowering crab apple tree.

So, as proposed, would renovations to the Randolph Cooperative Market be more appropriate? It would appear so; not only from an economic view—taxpayers benefit, but also from an aesthetic one—superior vista.

William Kevan

Randolph

____________