This article is a part of a series from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s excellent field guide on the architectural styles found in Pennsylvania. In it, they’ve assigned key periods of development – from the Colonial period in the 18th Century to the Modern Movements of the 29th Century. This article focuses on an overview of the …
The Mylin House project was a complete interior restoration project that we had been very much looking forward to doing. The Willow Valley Retirement Community hired Historic Restorations to restore the first floor of both the original farmhouse and the addition to use as a community center in keeping with their preservation of the original …
How Complete Restorations Happen: A Case Study of the Mylin House Read More »
Increasing energy efficiency in historic buildings is always a hot topic. Here are our Top Six Tips for improving the energy efficiency in historic buildings: Have a Maintenance Appraisal Performed to Increase the Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings When not properly maintained, there are many ways energy efficiency in historic buildings suffers – …
6 TIPS to Improve the Energy Efficiency of Historic Buildings Read More »
Maintenance Plans for Historic Home & Buildings Recently we completed a maintenance appraisal for the Trinity Church Oxford in Philadelphia. The church purchased the appraisal to evaluate several key areas they knew needed immediate attention and ended up with not only our recommendations for remediating the emergent needs on their buildings – but a …
This article is a part of a series from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s excellent field guide on the historic architecture found in Pennsylvania. In it, they’ve assigned key periods of development – from the Colonial period in the 18th Century to the Modern Movements of the 29th Century. This article focuses on an overview of …
Historic Architecture in PA: Postmedieval English Read More »
Every May, the National Trust for Historic Preservation picks a new theme for their National Preservation Month. This year, they’ve built it around: “See! Save! Celebrate!” to encourage us to see our historic places, save the threatened ones, and celebrate the vital role they play in our communities. To support that goal, we’re going …
National Preservation Month: Seeing Pennsylvania's Historic Architecture Read More »
It is easy to think that if the look of a historical building is maintained, as well as the types of materials used, then the building has been successfully preserved. But preservation is not just about preserving how something looks, it is primarily focused on preserving how something is so that it remains as …
What to Avoid When Replacements on a Historical Building are Unavoidable Read More »
One of the exhibitors at the recent Greater Philadelphia Historic Home Show was approaching preservation from a unique perspective – “mass” production. When most of us think of traditional wrought irons handcrafted by blacksmiths, we think of custom orders. But Fagan’s Forge is forging a new path with handcrafted wrought irons. They sell stock items …
Forging the Future of Historic Hardware Preservation Read More »
A number of years ago, we had the very fortunate luck to be given the opportunity to completely restore the Denn House in southern New Jersey. Below is the story of how that restoration happened, excerpted from Lois Groshong’s book, “2001 Restoration of a Southern New Jersey Colonial”. Be sure to check out the …
How Complete Restorations Happen: A Case Study of the John Maddox Denn House Read More »
Our recent blog post from Ken Roginski about the mistakes and and “no-no’s” that are so often made by well-meaning historic building owners as they attempt to preserve a house through the years reminded us very much about a project we did a few years ago. The John Maddox Denn House project was built in 1725 and …
Resources for Restorations: Book Recommendations Read More »
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