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33 Articles

Old houses are a way of life.

OHJ READERS BUY OLD HOUSES ON PURPOSE—for their charm, their evidence of the past, their unique details, their craftsmanship, and their embodied energy. (The greenest house is one that already exists and that doesn’t go to the landfill.) Most of us want our homes to look original, as much as possible, so we don’t rush to “modernize.” OHJ’s message has been consistent since 1973: Don’t destroy the good work of the past. Every May, with the National Trust leading the way, preservation groups, historical societies, and related businesses celebrate our diverse and unique heritage with National Preservation Month. (Learn more at savingplaces.org) At a national level, the hoopla is often reserved for civic projects, Main Street revitalization, and Congressional help with tax relief. Individual homeowners deserve credit, too: It is the…

Old houses are a way of life.

RECOLORING THE PAST In her book Historic Style, designer Kelee Katillac chronicles her process in reinvigorating a once endangered 1870s house listed on the National Register. Its architectural elements fully restored or re-created, the house has been enlivened by eclectic style references, wit, and color. Following that case study come 40 additional rooms by Katillac and others. Hints about historical rehabilitation are peppered with ideas for walls, windows, fixtures, and furnishings. “The evolving human spirit cannot thrive within a time capsule,” Katillac has said. “To save a historic house, we need to bring our personal story to the narrative.” She worked with historic-papers specialist Adelphi Paper Hangings to recolor period wallpapers. “When Kelee inquired about custom coloring … there was skepticism, then curiosity,” says Steve Larson, co-founder of Adelphi. “This has…

Authenticity for Today

1. JUST AS THE ORIGINALS This company’s standard line includes soapstone sinks based on those made 1835–1920. The Wright sink, for example, is 30" long x 20" wide x 9 ¾" deep and dates to 1907. Standard sinks are $700 to $1,200. Custom sinks, $1,000 and up. Vermont Soapstone, (802) 263-5404, vermontsoapstone.com 2. ACANTHUS ACCURACY With arms clad in long, stylized acanthus leaves cut from metal ribbon, the Bennington Village Colonial chandelier is an accurate re-creation of one at Old Sturbridge Village. Multiple metal and wood finishes in two sizes: $2,750 and up. Authentic Designs, (802) 394-7713, authenticdesigns.com 3. MISSION 1910 The Mission sideboard is a 1910 design by L. & J.G. Stickley. Details include butterfly joinery on doors, three graduated drawers, and dark copper hardware. It measures 60" wide x 22" deep x 46…

Authenticity for Today

1. MORRIS BONANZA Elevate porch or patio furniture with these outdoor throw pillows in a choice of more than 150 William Morris & Co. designs. Pillow covers come with or without inserts in three sizes and are treated for water and mildew resistance and UV protection; $32 to $62 each. Tarragonia, tarragonia.com 2. TWENTIES PARIS The Luxembourg bar cart in tubular aluminum is inspired by slatted metal furniture created in 1923 for the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. Lightweight and in an array of colors, the cart measures 36" long x 19 ½" wide x 30 ½" tall; $1,392. Fermob, (800) 391-2207, fermobusa.com 3. A NAUTICAL SCONCE Fitted with art glass and protected by a marine-style cage, the Balboa curved arm-mount sconce is available in small, medium, and large sizes. The wet-rated fixture comes in…

Almost Original

MURFREESBORO, NC / $675,000 The Italianate-style David A. Barnes house retains its 1875 appearance. Inside find the original staircase, plaster cornices, mantels, and woodwork, along with sensitively updated baths and kitchen. DAVENPORT, IA / $610,000 Untouched features in this ca. 1900 half-timbered Tudor Revival include a grand staircase with built-in seat, high oak wainscots, pocket doors, leaded glass, enriched ceilings, and full-height fireplaces with period tiles. NEWBERRY, SC / $1,495,000 Oak Grove was designed by Robert Mills about 1825 with a full-height, tetra-style Roman Doric portico and elliptical fanlight. Original features include period windows and doors, coved mouldings, and millwork. PRINCETON, NJ / $76,220 Built in 1952, this period-pure, architect-designed brick house must be moved to a new site. It has blue-stone flooring and steps, a two-sided brick fireplace, plank ceilings, and the wood-clad exterior. SHARPSBURG, MD /…

Almost Original

OUR NEW VINTAGE BATHROOM

Our house has many original features: Claycraft ventilator tiles in a fireplace, built-ins, an elliptical ceiling, the adorable porch light with a witch’s hat. As with many old houses, the bathroom and kitchen had been remodeled, most recently in 1953. The bathroom was somewhat intact, though the vanity cabinet had been painted a zillion times. We’d been on enough house tours to know that a surviving 1953 bathroom was rare. We consulted historians at old-house fairs and read Jane Powell’s book Bungalow Bathrooms from cover to cover; she said that each homeowner must decide whether to keep these newer but historic bathrooms. After 11 years, we decided to keep the Fifties bath. The cabinet, however, was water damaged—rotted and disintegrating from the inside. When a shower apparatus later was added to…

OUR NEW VINTAGE BATHROOM

preservation MEETS TODAY’S TASTES AND MODERN LIFESTYLE

Honoring preservation isn’t the same as historical restoration and it doesn’t call for living in a museum interior. Replacing elements that have failed or gone missing is often prohibitively expensive if not impossible. Decorating decisions usually don’t have a permanent effect on the architecture. Upgrades aren’t necessarily virtuous. Simply put, preservation means taking it easy on the house (something you may wish previous owners had done). It means getting to know the house and its history before making irreversible changes; it means not destroying the good work of the past. No need to erase original features in a quest for comfort and personal preference … and you may find that period design provides inspiration.Let the house itself tell you what it wants to be. Style cues abound: in the design of…

preservation MEETS TODAY’S TASTES AND MODERN LIFESTYLE

house style reveals design intention

GREEK REVIVAL The first “national style” after the Colonial period, it’s seen in both high-style and vernacular houses. Defining window and door trim, cornice returns, columns or pilasters, and porticoes should be preserved. CARPENTER GOTHIC A more relaxed, American version of the Gothic Revival, it’s defined not only by steep roofs, lancet windows, and Gothic trim but also by wooden board-and-batten siding, a unique hallmark of these houses. ITALIANATE A label used for houses built ca. 1845–1900 with a combination of simplified (not academic) Italian Renaissance details, usually done in wood. Many mid-19th-century farmhouses can be classified as Italianate. QUEEN ANNE The quintessential Victorian house with nooks and crannies, popular 1874–1910. Asymmetrical and textural, the style loses its essence when a turret or verandah is removed and exuberance killed by white paint. BUNGALOW Low-slung and with exaggerated structure, this…

house style reveals design intention

ADAPTIVE REUSE Recycling an old building for a use other than that for which it was originally constructed. A neutral term, it might involve a sensitive rehab that retains much of the original character, especially on the exterior. Or it can mean extensive remodeling of the structure and details. INTERPRETIVE RESTORATION A less scholarly approach than the historic restoration employed by museum houses, this involves keeping original architectural features intact while reconstructing missing elements as faithfully as budget allows. The decoration and furnishing of interior spaces are appropriate to the style and era of the house, but there is no attempt to duplicate what was there originally. It’s a “might have been” approach—what might have been if the original owners had your taste, say. Most homeowner restorations are interpretive. MODERNIZING The intention is clear in…

Modern Luxury in a 1924 Bath

Small homes of the early 20th century—Tudors, Foursquares, Dutch Colonials—are overlooked; owners may not think they’re special. Not understanding the potential, some remodel until the original is unrecognizable. We must be careful about how much we change because there is a tipping point. Most of us fell in love with an old house—not a new house made of old materials. The 1973 Presidential proclamation establishing what was then Preservation Week (now Month) read: “As the pace of change accelerates in the world around us, Americans more than ever need a lively awareness of our roots and origins in the past on which to base our sense of identity in the present and our directions for the future.” It’s a lofty statement if a bit abstract. Everyday reasons, too, argue for building preservation: (1)…

Modern Luxury in a 1924 Bath

OLD-SCHOOL TOOLS

Garrett Wade’s catalog, which debuted in 1975, is beloved by woodworkers. The company offers traditional and heirloom-quality hand tools for woodworking and shop, plus tools for outdoor projects and camping, gardening, and the kitchen. Find versatile pliers–wrenches and horsehair detailing brushes, drawknives and mechanics’ vises, moulding planes and handsome Gerstner oak tool chests. The Odd-Job (second from top left in the photo), dating to 1888–1930s, is an inside mitre and a try square, a depth gauge, a scribing tool for arcs and circles, a T-square, a depth-marking scribe (for marking out mortises, say), a plumb level, and a rule. Precision Japanese woodworking tools are a specialty. Shown here, too, are sturdy, USA-made red storage boxes and the easy-to-carry, green “very best size” steel toolbox. Garrett Wade, (800) 221-2942, garrettwade.com…

OLD-SCHOOL TOOLS

Timeless 1920s Colonial Revival

Classic in black and white, this new kitchen by Kennebec Company beautifully suits the elegant revival house built in 1920. For the renovation, Kennebec’s designers worked with Colin Smith Architects to create a combined family room/dining room/kitchen and pantry space. Plain, inset cabinets from Kennebec’s Maine Farmhouse collection are a suitable choice—simpler than the raised-panel woodwork in the original house. They are hand-painted, a luxury finish today but one that alludes to early casework and furniture. Special features include wood and glass doors with true divided lights, soapstone counters, and brushed-nickel hardware. Revival fixtures reminiscent of colonial-era precedents light the space, which is warmly grounded by a hardwood floor. With classic elements and a modified open plan, the underlying design might be adapted for homes that show a transition from Arts &…

Timeless 1920s Colonial Revival

what LIES BENEATH …real-world tips on removing substitute siding

Although no house built before 1940 or so was born with a synthetic skin, many houses later received an overcoat sold on the premise of easier maintenance. Despite decades of preservation thinking, plenty of houses still need a good stripping. While it’s not a weekend job, stripping away secondary siding is basically the reverse of the installation process—and requires much less finesse. Be prepared for multiple layers of materials, from furring strips to foam insulation, building papers, and hundreds of nails. Early forms of synthetic siding include asphalt products such as Inselbric; simulated masonry (Perma-Stone, Formstone, Rostone, and others); and asbestos cement board. In the past 40 to 50 years, the most common forms of secondary siding attached to existing houses are made of aluminum or vinyl (aka polyvinyl chloride, or PVC). All…

what LIES BENEATH …real-world tips on removing substitute siding

steps TO AN UNVEILING

Removing old synthetic siding is just the first step in the restoration of a neglected exterior; it requires little skill and is usually the fastest part of the restoration. A small team can strip a large two- or three-storey house in less than a week. Repairs and prep work take far longer. That and painting are the costly parts of the job. one When Jim and Merry Boone realized the two-tone asphalt shingled rental they owned was the ugliest house on the street, they set about the long process of stripping and restoring the exterior. two The Boones hired a team of five people to strip asbestos-free asphalt shingles from the 1887 Stick Style two-family next door to their own Queen Anne. The work took four days and filled a 40-yard waste container. three While most…

steps TO AN UNVEILING

During the Pandemic, Bo Sullivan freed his modest 1890s Queen Anne house from its skin of Inselbric. He discovered almost all the exterior trimwork had been lost. “We had to re-create all the exterior trim that had been removed, the water table, and the belly band,” he says. Some exterior trim pieces were newly milled in vertical-grain Douglas fir (the original cladding). Those in less accessible areas of the façade were milled in TruExterior, a composite made with fly ash, or in rot-proof PVC board. Even the shingles in the gable had to be replaced. Everything was primed and painted before it went back up. • Clearing away the siding also revealed outlines, or ghosting, of some of the decorative trim once on the house—notably the turned posts on the…

REMOVING ASBESTOS

Think long and hard before you take on DIY removal of siding that may contain asbestos. Intact asbestos siding on the house rarely presents a health threat. Start pulling and breaking it, though, and it begins to release fibers. Inhaling or ingesting asbestos can lead to serious health issues such as mesothelioma, a deadly form of cancer. “Fireproof” cement board and some pre-1970s asphalt-shingle products always must be checked for asbestos before removal. Have suspect material tested by government entity that provides the service or by a licensed asbestos inspector. If you are still considering doing the work yourself, take a certification training course (most take two to five days). On the job, follow all the procedures required of the pros, from wearing a respirator and disposable coveralls to sealed bagging…

REMOVING ASBESTOS

STONE COLD FAUX

Ubiquitous in Baltimore since the 1930s, cement claddings under trade names like Formstone, Perma-Stone, Rostone, and others were conceived as remedies for the porous, substandard brick typical of the city’s row houses. As with other kinds of faux finishes, installation required that cornices, belt courses, lintels, and sills (all traditional details that keep water out) were chipped away to flatten the surface. Some types of simulated stone were molded off-site and shipped in 16" x 24" panels; others were prepped and installed on site. That process was much like installing a three-part stucco or plaster layer over brick or even wood. The heavy synthetic layer tends to pull away from the underlying surface, eventually leading to spalling, cracking, and potential structural damage. For these and other reasons, some historic neighborhoods…

STONE COLD FAUX

SHOPTOUR: WARD CLAPBOARD MILL

“There were once 200 mills similar to ours operating in New England,” says Tierson, who bought the mill from the estate of the Ward family’s last owner, Holly Ward, in 2017. The company is a rare survivor. Ward produces clapboards using a unique radial sawing process akin to traditional rift sawing. The red spruce or white pine log is first debarked and rounded into a perfect cylinder on a lathe. Positioned in a carriage, the 6'-long log then passes over the saw, which cuts along its full length. After each cut, the log is rotated exactly ⅝ " for the next cut, a process that continues until it has rotated a full 360 degrees. The precise cut gives each clapboard its taper and true vertical grain, qualities that produce a sharp shadow…

SHOPTOUR: WARD CLAPBOARD MILL

removing SIMULATED STONE

As with other sidings, the removal of Perma-Stone or Formstone is the easy part. It’s the damage underneath that can take weeks or months to fix. Try a test patch first to assess the condition of the underlying brick or wood surface to determine whether it makes sense to proceed on your own or turn to a professional. If going the DIY route, assemble a demo kit that includes assorted sizes of crowbars, prybars and chisels, a hammer, and wire cutters, plus safety equipment (hard hat, N95 mask or ventilator, goggles, heavy work gloves). Stage scaffolding and cover windows with plywood to prevent damage from falling debris. Working from the top down, start at a window edge or door frame. Chisel away enough faux stone to allow a prybar or crowbar to…

removing SIMULATED STONE

Like an old-fashioned barn raising, an old-house “unveiling” is a coordinated event that brings neighbors together to strip replacement siding from a historic house. Bob Yapp of Preservation Resources says that underneath, “we usually find excellent clapboard, trim, decorative wood shingles, and all the wonderful textures these materials bring to the look and feel of an old house.” If your house or another in your neighborhood is a candidate for an unveiling, try reaching out for volunteers on a community Facebook page or through the local historical society or preservation board. Yapp, who is often hired to lead unveilings, says the property owner usually provides a roll-off container sized for the job; volunteers arrive armed with prybars, hammers, and masks. If at least 20 volunteers show up, a single house can…

The Envelope. Please.

Restore and protect exterior surfaces of your home. 1. PAINT BE GONE Strip multiple layers of unwanted paint and other finishes safely and effectively with Smart ’n Easy Paint & Varnish Remover. The citrus-scented, non-drip gel contains no caustic chemicals and works on wood, brick, masonry, plaster, metals, and more. $35 per gallon. Dumond Global, (609) 655-7700, dumondglobal.com 2. NATURAL CEDAR Crafted from the highest grades of Western red cedar, these shingles are 100 percent recyclable, biodegradable, and renewable. They’re available in a variety of panel and corner systems for quick installation. Free samples and price quotes available. Cedar Valley, (866) 520-0597, cedar-valley.com 3. CLAD IN COLOR With quarries in Vermont and Virginia, this architectural-slate specialist can match historic roofing in color and finish. Classic colorations include green, purple, mottled green and purple, and tones of…

The Envelope. Please.

Remedies for a Painted Fireplace

In houses of almost any age, it’s common to see masonry fireplaces coated with paint. Bringing back a painted masonry surface is devilishly hard. No one solution seems to work for all situations; success or failure is a matter of interpretation. Sure, you can repaint the brick, but that just compounds the problem and makes future removal even more difficult. That was the dilemma facing Emma and Bennet Kinghorn, who post about the restoration of their high-style 1896 house on Instagram (instagram.com/oldhouseomaha). Confronted with a starkly white fireplace surround in a room with a heart-stopping Beaux Arts staircase, Emma instantly knew the paint wasn’t original and set about stripping it. “I always want to see what’s behind the curtain,” she says, adding that anyone who wants to paint brick should first…

Remedies for a Painted Fireplace

CLEANING METHODS

STEAM Low pressure and chemical free, steam cleaning removes grime and paint from brick without damage. Don’t use this method on natural stone, as it can cause thermal expansion leading to cracks and breakage. Steam cleaners may be rented from builders’-supply stores or purchased online. Look for one that specifically indicates it can be used on masonry. LOW-PRESSURE WASHING This requires turning the room into a shallow bathtub, true, but painted masonry successfully can be stripped with low-pressure washing up to 1500 psi. Like steam cleaners, low-pressure washers may be purchased online or found at a builders’ supply. Make sure you get one with adjustable pressure. Start at a low number (say, 100 psi) and use the lowest pressure possible that effectively removes paint. The higher the pressure, the more water…

REMOVING A STAIR RUNNER

Old carpet runners with protective padding (mine had been installed in the 1960s) are laden with dust, allergens, staples, and more, so wear protective gear, including an N95 mask, goggles, and construction gloves to protect yourself. Arm yourself with an array of prying tools and a good set of clippers—preferably a carpet cutter, a tool with an angled blade that cuts smoothly with less effort. I didn’t have a carpet cutter so I used tin snips. My arsenal included a 12" prybar, a long flathead screwdriver, a 1" putty knife, a tack hammer, a nail-puller, and a small awl with a pointed head. Practice patience. GET STARTED Begin where the carpet is most loosely attached (bottom or top), or where accessible on both sides of the treads, as at a dogleg turn.…

REMOVING A STAIR RUNNER

Railroad Cart Coffee Tables

Ken and John Melchert own Harp Gallery, an antiques store in Kaukauna, Wisconsin [harpgallery.com]. When they came across old railroad hand carts ready for scrap, they felt they were too good to discard. The trolleys were used for transporting trunks at railway stations, later for moving furniture in factories: Sturdy in white oak or birch, they have heavy-duty, cast-iron wheels and frames. At about five feet wide, two feet deep, and 14 inches tall, they are coffee-table size. wood repair Restoration begins with repairs to wood elements. After decades of heavy use, top boards are often split or broken. They're strengthened with Gorilla-brand polyurethane glue or, if beyond repair, replaced with matching boards. The boards are sanded (150 grit) with a random orbit sander; careful hand sanding is used over old wording,…

Railroad Cart Coffee Tables

Include Drip Grooves

We’re in a world of high-tech solutions and new materials, so it’s easy to forget or discount the very simple construction techniques that have been used for centuries to extend a building’s life. A hidden groove providing a drip edge is a case in point. Water flowing over a door sill or windowsill would, due to surface tension, flow across the underside of the sill to arrive at the wall intersection. The humble drip groove interrupts the flow, making it impossible for the water runo? to complete its journey across the bottom of the sill. Water collects at the edge of the groove to drop harmlessly away. This protects the shingles and sheathing or the mortar joint under the sill—where you don’t want water finding its way in. WRONG WAY SKIPPING THE…

Include Drip Grooves

TRUSTWORTH STUDIOS’ sconehenge

This lovely and remarkable house was not my first love. I had spent 12 years leasing and restoring Trustworth, the late Victorian-era home of educator Henry Turner Bailey. I had a gentlewoman’s agreement with the gracious lady who owned it: the right to purchase at an agreed price in exchange for my years of unpaid labor. In 1994, her children informed me that the house would go to market and I would be allowed to purchase it for $1 more than the highest bid. In effect, after restoring the property at my own cost I would pay for its restoration again by paying the improved price. It was a betrayal of trust, no pun intended, and Trustworth was lost to me. I was given 90 days to vacate. Lighting and wood…

TRUSTWORTH STUDIOS’ sconehenge

THE MAGIC OF RESIDENTIAL PIPE ORGANS

To paraphrase Mr. Dickens, the year 2020 was for me the worst of times and the best of times. I broke ten ribs carrying wallpaper downstairs … and I found an old acquaintance that fulfilled a dream of mine. During the first quarter of the 20th century, wealthy homeowners might have self-playing symphonic organs in their homes. The smallest were just a few ranks of pipes while the largest had in excess of a hundred ranks. In so many ways, the instruments brought homes to life. Like living, breathing entities, the lungs of the house, which itself became the sounding board, the organ pipes sang out the popular songs of the day as well as the thunderous majesty of great symphonies and operas. I reconnected with my Æolian–Skinner Opus 947 almost…

THE MAGIC OF RESIDENTIAL PIPE ORGANS

a modern RENO in maine

WITH A LARGE PERCENTAGE of old housing stock, Maine isn’t often associated with 20th-century Modern architecture. Yet a tour of Portland, the state’s largest city, reveals a fine collection of Atomic Age buildings; most were designed by John Leasure. A native of Pennsylvania, Leasure moved to Maine ca. 1960; he subsequently served as chairman of the Maine State Board of Architects. Known for such public buildings as the South Portland Library, he built a home for his family, from 1968 to 1972, in Cape Elizabeth, a Portland suburb. “We bought this house in 2018, when Leasure was 90 years old,” says Laurel LaBauve. (The architect died in 2022.) She and her husband, Richard, were attracted to the hillside site, its seasonal ocean view, and to the multi-level house with ceiling heights…

a modern RENO in maine

Carol Goldberg has only loved one house in her life. She met the 1890 Victorian farmhouse as a 14-year-old hired to train horses in Westchester County, New York. Quickly, her immersion in everything equine grew to the point that she was begging her parents to drive her to the horse farm every weekend. Because it was a long commute from her Connecticut childhood home, her parents let her stay the weekends in the farmhouse. That’s when the house began to feel like home. Most people move on, but Carol never did. Horse training became a career and she remained in the upstate New York neighborhood, keeping an eye on that farmhouse. In 1972, she convinced the owner to sell it to her. “I moved in with nothing but my dog, a…

ORGANIC DESIGN FOR THE PERGOLA

Improving a blank wall on the addition was the genesis of the pergola at Artemis Farm. “Walking around the house one day,” says homeowner Carol Goldberg, “I looked at the windowless wall of the addition and thought, Boy is that ugly!” Retreating to her cache of design-magazine tear-sheets, she stumbled on a picture of an old-fashioned pergola, or open-roofed porch. Adding a pergola also created an excuse to replace an anachronistic picture window added by a previous owner. “We switched it out for a more period-appropriate door, with granite steps,” Carol says. While renovating her house, she’d learned that custom parts can be very pricey. She avoided custom millwork by going with “catalog” components: the columns, knee braces, and even the rafters with fancy-cut tails are all standard. The columns were…

ORGANIC DESIGN FOR THE PERGOLA

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“Today’s ‘wow’ is tomorrow’s snickerbait.”—Sandy McLendon AMERICAN POOR SQUARE This Before (1919) and After (1955) set appeared an idea book from The American Home Publishing Company. The typography of the two dates—from barbershop quartet to Atomic Age—hints at the intention behind the remodeling. Instead we have an example of the mixed messaging that results when newer trends are grafted onto a house that had its own integrity. “Only one drastic change was made in turning the fading façade into a perky new one: the porch was banished,” states the 1955 text. “[F]ront porches are not only useless—they make the living room dark.” More copy: “The vertical siding was suggested by ranch houses…. don’t miss smart little tricks which make the difference between the gracious and the commonplace—gay blue shutters, the saucy door with its…

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