The Carolina Yacht Club, which has the longest history of any establishment on Wrightsville Beach, received permission from the town’s Historic Landmark Commission to add glass windowpanes to the women’s locker room so the space can be air-conditioned.
The applicant originally wanted to replace the windows’ vented screens with glass panes but the historic landmark commission’s goal is to prevent such material changes that affect the appearance of the town’s 21 historically designated structures.
Kevin Smith, the yacht club’s general manager, agreed to keep the screens on the windows and install panes of glass behind them. The amended request was unanimously approved by the commission Jan.11.
“There’s no exterior change,” town planner Zach Steffey said. “You wouldn’t even know those [glass panes] were in there.”
Commission members didn’t have any objections to the request but wondered why the men’s bathroom windows weren’t being renovated too.
The project’s architect said they would be eventually, but the club’s budget only allowed for renovations to the women’s bathroom at this time.
The new windows are the latest in several upgrades requested in recent years by the Carolina Yacht Club, which carries the distinction of being the first establishment constructed on Wrightsville Beach in 1853. That building was damaged by Hurricane Hazel and rebuilt in 1955.
In 2012, the yacht club received permission to replace three of the club’s windows with a slightly different windowpane configuration. In November 2015, the commission granted the club approval to replace two locker room doors and add three new fans.
The yacht club has had to shut its back door due to theft, Smith said, and the fans would help circulate air through the bathhouse.
The commission unanimously approved those requests because the current locker room doors are not original to the structure and the fans would not be seen from the street.
Smith estimated all renovations would be complete by mid-March.
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