We’ve added Big Spring Farm to our Hidden Gem list for a good reason. With no website, no official or regular hours, no main contact information, no obvious advertisements, and yet huge preservation efforts and achievements – Big Spring Farm may very well be our most hidden gem of all. Somewhere around 5am Saturday morning, …
Do you know the architectural styles of Pennsylvania? The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has an excellent field guide on the architectural styles found in Pennsylvania. In it, they’ve assigned key periods of development (listed below) – from the Colonial period in the 18th Century to the …
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 …
Portland is a great place for a getaway….not so great for historic buildings. Read More »
Karri likes to have fun with Photoshop at home late at night when she can’t sleep. Last time she put Tudor chimneys on an Arts & Crafts bungalow. This time, she decided to make a preservation-themed “Hey Girl” meme. We think it’s a good thing she suffers from chronic insomnia and will keep us supplied …
Alittle bit of humor to help us through the week… Read More »
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 …
This post is by our Guest Blogger House Crazy Sarah. It was originally posted on her website, www.house-crazy.com. She’s writing about Shotgun Houses – an architectural style most commonly found in the Southern states, but she does reference a few examples found North of the Mason Dixon line. I searched a bit for examples …
Kitchens are more than just a place to cook our food. They are usually one of the main family living areas where we gather, commune, play, break bread with family and friends, and sometimes even work with laptop and files plopped on the table so we are sure to stay abreast of all the …
Soapstone is a traditional material that’s been in use for thousands of years and is often found in early Colonial American homes. The soft, metamorphic stone material, favored for its ability to withstand and retain heat, was used for fireplaces, hearths, cooking slabs, and water basins. It still is today, thanks to Bucks County Soapstone. …
Bucks County Soapstone: Continuing Thousands of Years of Timelessness Read More »
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 …
We might celebrate our independence on the 4th of July every year, but we actually declared our independence on the 8th of July in 1776. In honor of our birth as a nation, our Declaration of Independence is read aloud in Independence National Park on the 8th of July every year. Watch the video below …
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