Architectural heritage
Building histories, restoration guidance, and careful notes on the craft of old houses, written for owners and for anyone who stops to look twice at a cornice.
Read the house historiesOne house, six lives
Hand-hewn oak sills and posts, pegged mortise-and-tenon joints, and a massive center chimney that heats every room.
A new front with flat pilasters, a wider entry with sidelights, and six-over-six sash windows in wavy cylinder glass.
A bay window, a porch with turned posts and sawn brackets, and a slate roof replacing the original cedar shingles.
Knob-and-tube wiring and the first indoor plumbing are threaded through plaster and lath, room by room.
Siding over clapboards, dropped ceilings, an enclosed porch. Most of the original fabric survives, hidden rather than lost.
Layers are documented before anything is removed. Windows are reglazed, plaster is reattached, and the frame is left to speak.
From the archive
# Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival Homes Explained
Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival homes are three of the most important historic house styles in the United States, and they often get confused because they share a classical vocabulary. The easiest way to tell them apart is to look at proportion, ornament, roof shape, and how the […]
Victorian houses are some of the most recognizable historic homes in English-speaking countries, but they are often misunderstood as a single style. In practice, “Victorian” covers a family of late-19th-century building traditions shaped by industrial production, changing tastes, and regional construction methods. Understanding the features and traditions behind these homes helps owners make better repair […]
Historic houses are not just old structures with good bones. Their ownership stories explain how a building changed, survived, and stayed meaningful across generations. For owners, buyers, and preservation-minded readers, that history is often the difference between treating a house as a commodity and understanding it as a living record of craftsmanship, use, and care. […]
Every old house is a document. Before you repair it, learn to read it, because the most valuable thing a restoration can keep is the evidence of how the house was made.
Catalogue of subjects
