Barry Cramer and Jeff Bessler both enjoy cooking, and for 30 years, they’ve done so in the small, oddly shaped kitchen of their South 21st Street home.
“A nicer kitchen would be nice,” Cramer said March 9 when presenting to Richmond’s Historic Preservation Commission a certificate of appropriateness petition to construct two additions on the home. A two-story addition would expand the kitchen and a bedroom, while a one-story addition would provide a newly designed mudroom entryway.
Commission members unanimously approved the certificate of appropriateness that was necessary because the home at 24 S. 21st St. is in the city’s Linden Hill Conservation District.
Cramer said he and Bessler always appreciated the features of the house, which was built as the carriage house for its East Main Street neighbor before its conversion to a standalone residence about 1930. However, they’ve also lived with the house’s deficiencies while trying to enhance and preserve the historic home. Cramer said the additions would maintain continuity with the existing exterior features while expanding the residence’s footprint by less than 20%.
“We think this is a positive thing for the neighborhood, because it keeps the house in good stock,” Cramer said. “Whenever we move, hopefully it would be a pretty marketable house.”
Roxie Deer, the commission chair, said she appreciates that they’ve “chosen to live in a historic neighborhood, respect a historic neighborhood and respect the historic homes.”
Jill Nelson, who owns the neighboring East Main Street home, spoke against the additions that she said violate the historic district’s intent. Nelson helped create the historic district in 2007, and she said Cramer and Bessler requested that the district include their home.
“It now seems to be an inconvenience due to their own agenda and wants, based on this proposal,” Nelson said.
Nelson opposed the additions’ scale and said they would alter the neighborhood’s cohesion. She also recommended the commission create specific neighborhood guidelines for conservation districts.
“This could set a precedent in our neighborhood which could have negative impacts for years to come,” Nelson said.
A version of this article appeared in the March 18 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.