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| What the house looked like before the National Park Service preserved it as a memorial to Thaddeus Kousciuszko |
We recently completed a restoration project at the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial at Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia. Kosciuszko was a Polish freedom fighter who played an integral role in our Revolutionary War by engineering forts and defense tactics up and down the East Coast.
A true revolutionary, Kosciuszko’s career in freedom fighting began in his home country where he helped instigate and lead a Polish uprising again Russian domination. After hearing about the revolution occurring in the Colonies in North America, Kosciuszko emigrated to join in the efforts. So firm were the democratic ideals he held, that Thomas Jefferson said Kosciuszko was “as pure a son of Liberty, as I have ever known.”
On the corner of Pine & 3rd Streets in Philadelphia, the row home was the boarding house Kosciuszko chose to stay in because it was “a dwelling as small, as remote, and as cheap” as his secretary could find for Kosciuszko.
Small in stature it may be, but it’s sizable spirit lives on.
In late 2011 and early 2012, Historic Restorations worked with the National Park Service to restore and repaint windows and doors that had started rotting from moisture issues. We also replaced the cedar shake roof with hand-split, custom-ordered cedar shakes. Lloyd Clefstad, from British Columbia, split all of the shakes by hand using traditional tools. (Click here to watch a video of how he does it.)
PICTURES OF OUR COMPLETED WORK AT THE THADDEUS KOUSCIUSZKO MEMORIAL