Historic Preservation

Portland is a great place for a getaway….not so great for historic buildings.

Colonial Architecture, Community Preservation, Energy efficiency, Historic Preservation, Historic Restoration, Historical Architecture, Indoor Air Quality, Products & Materials, Uncategorized / By

Protect Historic Masonry Buildings from Permanent Damage Caused by Portland Mortar Historic masonry buildings are very different from modern buildings.  Historic bricks were fired at lower temperatures and are much softer and more permeable than modern bricks.  Historic buildings constructed with these softer bricks were designed to absorb moisture and then release it.  A key …

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Customizing a kitchen in Old Town, Lancaster

Architectural & Building Character, Colonial Architecture, Community Preservation, Historic Preservation, Historical Architecture, Local Preservation, Uncategorized, Wood & Millwork / By

Sometimes preservation takes you on new, surprising paths… Yes, we have kitchens on the brain thanks to a recent custom kitchen project (that turned out to be good fodder for some really cool pictures of our millwork process, so you get to ogle them). The traditional approach to creating a custom kitchen is one we …

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Woot Woot! PA now has a Historic Tax Credit!

Central Pennsylvania Preservation Society, Community Preservation, Historic Preservation, Historical Architecture, Local Preservation, State Preservation, Uncategorized / By

Exciting news just in….from Preservation Pennsylvania: Historic Tax Credit Established in Pennsylvania On Saturday, June 30, Pennsylvania became the 30th state in the country to have a state historic tax credit when Governor Tom Corbett signed the FY 2013 Commonwealth Budget and established the Historic Preservation Incentive Act. (Click on the link to read an …

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HIDDEN GEM: Ever wonder how those old mills along the streams actually worked?

Community Preservation, Historic Preservation, Local Preservation, State Preservation / By

Last weekend, Danielle and Jonathan spent the day at the Bowmansville Roller Mill’s open house – a Lancaster County hidden gem of preservation that sits just a stone’s throw (okay, a hearty stone’s throw) from the Berk’s County line. Put together by The Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County, the open house occurs four times …

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BOOK REVIEW: Architecture of Democracy

Book Reviews, Colonial Architecture, Federal Preservation, Historic Preservation, Historical Architecture / By

Architecture of Democracy  by Allan Greenberg Wrapping up our discussion on the founding of our country, we thought we recommend this book on the founding architecture of our country.  You can read more information about author Allan Greenberg at his website, a detailed article on Allan Greenberg and this book that ran in a 2007 …

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Preservationist vs. revisionist history – is there a time and a place for both?

Architectural & Building Character, Community Preservation, Federal Preservation, Historic Preservation, Historic Restoration, Local Preservation / By

Since I put last month’s e-newsletter to bed (obligatory you can sign up here) yesterday morning (hey, that e-newsletter is one wild party animal on the weekends), I’ve started researching this month’s snail-mail newsletter (another obligatory you can sign up for that one here).  We’re delving into the history at Independence National Park in Philadelphia since it’s fresh …

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Trekking through Women's History with Heritage Trails

Community Preservation, Federal Preservation, Feminist History, Historic Preservation, Local Preservation, State Preservation, Women in Preservation, Women's History / By

One of the more intriguing interpretative strategies we read about during our research into expanding historic preservation to include women’s history was the use of heritage trails.  By now, we are all familiar with heritage trails – those walking and driving journeys around to different historic sites that historical commissions, museums, public agency, community organizations, …

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Maintenance is Preservation

Historic Preservation, Historic Preservation Projects, Maintaining Historic Buildings, Products Materials and Methods / By

Preservation is retaining what is existing – this can be achieved through regular maintenance activities – saving thousands in potential cost. Once something is lost it is very expensive to recreate it. The Business Section of the May 20th Intelligencer Journal had an article titled ‘Five home repairs not to postpone’ under the Investors Guide …

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Sympathetic Additions to Historic Buildings

Help for Historic Home Owners, Historic Preservation / By

Some thoughts about Sympathetic Additions from the Traditional Building Show:-The Secretary of Interiors Standards advise against any addition to a historic building-Protect the historic integrity of the building by making any changes reversible-Avoid construction in front of building-Minimize the loss of historic material-Make a definite separation between new and old construction-Avoid radical change in form …

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Preservation is Green Building

Energy efficiency, Historic Preservation, Other Stuff / By

Some thoughts from the Traditional Building Conference:-Existing buildings are inherently green (embodied energy) tearing down to make a new green building uses more energy than it saves-Changes made to “modernize” a building have contributed to the perception of the poor energy performance-An important part of green building should be the materials should both be durable …

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