Styles and Review

To review or not to review . . . that’s one of the questions facing residents in Beverly Hills, where many houses either are being extensively remodeled or torn down to make way for newer, larger homes.

Under a proposed zoning code, the approval of an architectural review board would be required for any “flat front” design, presumably because such designs look more bulky from the street than designs that have part of the house set back farther from the street.

At a packed council meeting, Tricia Moore said that establishing a review board would discourage “traditional styles of architecture that have been around for centuries: Cape Cod, French Provincial. . . . There is a whole category of architecture that’s being removed from the city.”

She emphasized that she was speaking as an individual, not in her capacity as executive vice president of the Beverly Hills Board of Realtors.

The City Council decided to calm the fears of those who favor traditional exteriors by asking planners to write guidelines for Colonial-style houses or others with flat facades to be built without review board approval.