Originally published in Traditional Building and Period Homes Magazine.
Bringing Life to Architecture through the Classical Art of Hand Carved Ornament
Expressive ornament is risky to execute whether it is architectural or a tattoo. It had better be well conceived or it will not wear well.
Keeping Costs Down in High Places – The Steeplejack Option
Forbidding, archaic, daunting in scale, the high places of the built environment, like any extreme habitat, have produced their own community of niche restoration specialists, the steeplejacks.
Lighting is the Word in Lighting Restoration: Lighting Technologies Create New Issues for the Historic Project
Lighting fixtures distinguish themselves from other building fabric by delivering a commodity much affected by changes in taste and new technology.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Historic Tower Bell Problems
Historic buildings originally lacked most building mechanicals familiar today, but they were often equipped with one mechanical system that performed many modern functions.
The Evolution of the Family Garage
It has been said that the automobile has redesigned the American landscape. The news is that it is hard at work on a new project, redesigning the American home.
Garage Door Trompe L’oeil
Guild Member Bob Moulton, of Moulton Custom Garage Door Company in Duxbury, VT, is a native Vermonter who studies traditional North Country buildings in order to develop credible, accurate period detail for high end garage doors.
The Calamine Cure for Sick Windows
A century ago, wood windows were first clad in zinc coated or zinc plated steel, with the object of making them fire resistant, and marketed under the trade name “Kalamein”.
Design Benefits of “Calamine” Windows
Fire resistant, metal clad, “calamine” windows were historically distributed widely among buildings both splendid and utilitarian with certain design benefits.
Cost and Performance of Calamine Windows
The performance of 345 historic double hung calamine windows in the 1917 wing of the Massachusetts State House in Boston raised questions about the ability of calamine windows to extend the life of a wood window.
Building a New House with Dismantled Building Materials
Original materials are the most reliable way to recreate the look, feel and smell of period work at a new site. The veracity and presence of historic finished work is practically impossible to counterfeit in brand new construction.
Documentation of Dismantled Historic Fabric
Only by adhering to the most rigorous standards for documentation and storage can the integrity of dismantled historic fabric be preserved and costs be controlled.
No Surprises with Reliable, Proven Building Stone
Increased demand for building stone drives activity at Vermont’s historic Danby Quarry, inside Dorset Mountain. Historic building stone gives the builder an advantage that stone from unfamiliar sources can’t match; its durability in local climate conditions can be accurately understood by observing the performance of the stone in existing buildings.
Underground Fabrication Continues Production of an Indispensable American Building Stone
Vermont Quarries’ Danby Quarry, inside Dorset Mountain, is the biggest underground marble quarry in the world, over a mile long with a footprint of twenty five acres and reaching six levels deep.
Let the Project Team Develop the Stone Veneer Details
Mike Keifer of Dixie Cut Stone & Marble Company, Inc., a stone fabricator from Bridgeport, Michigan, attributes the success of many ahead-of-schedule stone veneer projects they participate in to the practice of fully involving the entire project team in the design process.
True Historic Wrought Iron is Not What You Think
Development of ferrous metals technology and misleading new usages of the term “wrought iron” have created confusion about the equivalence of today’s commercially available architectural iron, known as mild steel, and true historic “wrought iron”.
Spiral Stair Layout Without Regrets: Vertical Access in Limited Space
Requiring only about half the floor area required for conventional staircases, spiral stairs sometimes furnish the only legal means of access to upper levels, roofs and lofts in areas where space is limited.
From Design Through Installation, Consultation with the Stone Fabricator Can Prevent Delays
Over the last decade, there has been a surprising and exhilarating increase in the number of clients who are eager to leave their permanent signature on the landscape and can afford to choose dimensional stone for their building projects.
Historic Buildings Show the Way to Build Durable Stone Facades for New Construction
Due to the cost of veneer stone and its reputation for durability, expectations for its performance are high. Failures in new construction in stone are embarrassing for the project team and baffling to the customer.
A New Source for Dating and Identifying Period Moldings
Hull Historical Millwork published the “Historical Moldings Catalog” (published by John Wiley and Sons), a catalog which not only makes available 650 of the most popular moldings in the Victorian, Arts and Crafts and Period Revival styles, but which is in itself a research tool for the field.
Little Known Standard Catalog is Key to Reproduction of Period Moldings 1870-1940
Millwork for the great majority of the historic buildings in existence today, those built between the Civil War and WWII, was produced under a nationwide distribution system more uniform and comprehensive than any in existence today.
Old Growth Lumber Scarcity Drives Choices for Custom Wood Turnings
The downward spiral of lumber quality caused by over harvesting of old growth forests deprives all millwork producers of premium material but none are more affected than producers of large turnings for exterior work.
Lighting is the Word in Lighting Restoration: Lighting Technologies Create New Issues for the Historic Project
Lighting fixtures distinguish themselves from other building fabric by delivering a commodity much affected by changes in taste and new technology.
A Last Look at Historic Wood Windows
Wood windows are perhaps the most vulnerable of historic elements, with many millions being dumped in landfills each year. Their conservation is a worthy goal from an historic and environmental perspective, but is it reasonable to expect owners to subsidize these values through higher energy and maintenance costs?
Anticipate the Risk Factor When Purchasing Historic Roof Slate and Tile
If the spec says “as existing”, or something to that effect, you have choices to make when buying material that can affect client satisfaction and your bottom line.
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