Marblehead tabs author for historical commission

MARBLEHEAD – Internet scribes may have her pegged as a novelist who depicts complex relationships, but National Book Award-winning author Julia Glass has a straightforward love of historic buildings too.In an interview for an alternate seat on the Old and Historic District Commission Wednesday, Glass told selectmen, “I have a great passion for old houses and architecture.”After all, she grew up in the historic district in Lincoln, Mass., fell in love with Marblehead when she visited friends there as a little girl, and made herself a promise: “When I grow up I want to live here.”She and her family now live in an 1820 home, and while she hasn?t written any historical novels she admits she?s “mighty tempted.”She recalled going before the commission to add an attic vent – they approved it – and told the board, “It?s worth having to go through all that hoot (because living in an historic district) is like living in a museum, it?s about stewardship.”Selectman Harry Christensen asked how she felt about environmentally-sound windows versus historically sound windows. Glass told him she was “a traditionalist.”?We have to find other ways to conserve energy,” she said.And in answer to the board?s traditional question about civic participation, Glass said she attended Town Meeting three times since she moved to town and watches sessions on television.In view of her presentation, selectmen should be forgiven for a predictable ending: they appointed her to the commission unanimously.