Looking
knowledgeably at old houses, or, Houses hot, houses cool
Classical
and Romantic streams in American domestic architecture, 1720 to
1915 A slide-illustrated introduction to old-house watching: Using
lots of images of old houses, we introduce the concepts of classical,
romantic, and vernacular design, suggest where and when they are
found, and offer pointers on looking and seeing. Although it is
not a lesson in the historical sequence of styles, slides are
arranged chronologically. This talk can easily be given local
flavor by including slides loaned by the sponsoring organization.
Time: 45 minutes to 1-1/2 hours, or more (in one session or two).
For general-background audiences.
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Restoring
The William Pitt Tavern
It's
challenging enough to restore a building that retains much of
its early form and detail. What do you do when all that survives
is a frame and some crumbs? The William Pitt Tavern, built in
1766 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was such a building. This slide-illustrated
talk describes, from the restoration architect's point of view,
the almost twenty-year detective game that led to its restoration
and re-opening to the public in 1987 as part of Strawbery Banke
Museum. Time: 1 hour. For general-background audiences.
The
William Pitt Tavern restoration received a national Honor Award
for design excellence in the American Wood Council's 1988 Wood
Design Awards program, and a 1989 Boston Society of Architects
Architectural Honor Award.
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Some
things to consider before attacking that old house
The importance
of thinking a project through before beginning work: Old houses
versus antique houses; restoration, rehabilitation, and other
approaches; planning a project; and the role of professional help.
Questions from the floor frequently lead to discussion of specific
audience concerns, such as energy conservation, aluminum (or vinyl)
siding, and the National Register of Historic Places. Time: 1
to 2 hours. Particularly interesting to old-house owners and rehabilitators,
but no previous background is necessary
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What
your old house never told you
Reading
an old house (in an old house) How to use simple, readily-available,
and non-destructive tools to explore and help unravel the mystery
of an old house by discovering and interpreting the changes that
have occurred since it was built. The results can then be used
either to guide work on the house or just to understand it better.
Because this on-site presentation will explore an actual building,
it works best with no more than two dozen participants. Particularly
good for old-house owners. Time: 1-1/2 hours or more.
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Additions
and extensions
Sometimes
the new space used to enlarge an old house to looks and feels
as though it had grown naturally out of the parent building...
and sometimes the effect is more like of headlong collision of
two structures that have nothing to do with each other. This talk
looks at examples of both kinds and tries to answer the question,
"How do I go about enlarging my old house without destroying its
character?" Time: 45 minutes to 1-1/2 hours. Particularly interesting
to old-house owners and rehabilitators, but no previous background
is necessary.
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Exploring
a small New Hampshire town
This
talk was originally prepared for the Littleton NH Historical Society,
and was intended to increase the audience's awareness of their
local built environment. It is also a generally-relevant case
study of looking intelligently at old buildings in the context
of a specific town. Using both period views and contemporary slides,
this talk visits and explores a variety of buildings - the Town
Building (and the Opera House it contains), the odd and puzzling
history of the speaker's grandfather's house, a group of riverbank
mills that dates back to 1800, a late 19th century commercial
block, and numerous turn-of-the-century houses. Along the way,
we learn something about uncovering and using the information
contained both in old documents and in the buildings as they stand.
Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour. For general-background audiences.
