The COA workflow on Kennesaw Avenue
- Design guidelines first — before drawings
- Complete application with all street-visible elevations; incomplete filings are not forwarded to the Historic Preservation Commission
- Hearing with notice to owner, occupants and adjacent owners; decision within 45 days of filing
- Building permit only with proof of COA (City, via SagesGov); approved work must commence within 3 years; demolition additionally needs City Council approval
Step-by-step: the Kennesaw Avenue COA guide.
Estate-scale renovation
Systems at estate scale — HVAC and electrical threaded through historic fabric without visible damage; additions designed subordinate to the main house; preservation carpentry (trim, porch, dormers) replicated in kind. Guest-house and outbuilding strategies are zoning questions answered per parcel, never assumed.
Preservation carpentry and invisible systems on Kennesaw Avenue
The craft brief here is twofold: what the avenue sees should read as it always has, and what it never sees should work to a 2026 standard. Porch timbers, dormer trim, window profiles and stucco details are repaired or replicated in kind, matching profiles and materials rather than substituting a modern catalogue part that sits visibly wrong on an 1830s–1900s elevation. That replication is slower than replacement, and it is estimated as its own line, not folded into general carpentry.
Behind that fabric, estate-scale houses need modern capacity: electrical service sized for today's kitchens, plumbing replaced without cutting significant plaster, and zoned heating and cooling for high-ceilinged rooms. Routes run through secondary spaces and existing chases. Georgia's code from 1 January 2026 — the 2024 IRC family with Georgia amendments — governs the new work, so the historic renovation plan lists systems routes from the start.