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Restoring the original look of your historic house

Last time we did a survey of the Greek Revival houses in my town of Medway, Mass. There are some great examples of the style in town, ranging from humble to high style.  Now let's take a look at the potential pitfalls of altering the original siding and trim details.

It's pretty clear to me that the average home builder in the 18th and 19th centuries had a much better grasp of the basics of architectural styles than their modern day counterparts. Architectural styles had rules. Carpenters did not simply make things up as they went along. They used either pattern books or local examples to guide them as they built up cornices, columns, and other architectural elements. A quick look at some of Asher Benjamin's pattern books will reveal some of the rules used by the master carpenters to produce their millwork.

As a result these old places are still pleasing to the eye all these years later. The proportions are "right". On the new houses of today moldings of different styles are mixed and matched randomly. Windows are often out of scale with the facade; either too big or too small. You'd be hard pressed to find a carpenter who could tell you the difference between an architrave and a capital.  

So let's look at what happens when ill-informed alterations are made to historic houses.  First we'll look at a fairly intact Greek Revival here in town.

 

 

As we discussed in the last post, this house is based on the Greek temple form.  The triangular gable (also called the pediment) is supported by the wide, horizontal band of trim (the architrave)  which, in turn, is visually supported by the wide "columns" (which are represented by the wide cornerboards, called pilasters). The pilasters have capitals at the top, just as true columns do.

Visually it all makes sense. There is a logic to it.  The wide pilasters look as if they can carry the weight of the architrave and pediment above. It's simple yet quite elegant.

So let's look at what happens when this sense of order and proportion is disrupted (with apologies in advance if I offend any of the homeowners). 

Our first test case is the house below. A quick look will reveal two changes.  First, the wide horizontal trim band (called the architrave, remember?) made up of several boards in the original has been replaced with a single board so that it is now much narrower.  It feels less substantial and out of proportion with the pediment above. The second floor window trim no longer touches the trim boards above so the composition feels less unified.

Even more troubling is the fact that the pilasters have been replaced with simple cornerboards. Gone is the detail of the recessed panels on the pilasters.  Gone are the capitals. And because the cornerboards are so narrow gone, too, is the sense of proportion.  These narrow cornerboards seem incapable of supporting the visual weight of the pediment above- they look like they may crumple at any time- so the whole effect is much less pleasing to the eye (and it doesn't help that the shutters have been removed either). Still a nice looking house, but not as cohesive as our original example.

 

Our next example has been altered even more. First, the triangular pediment looks less substantial because the wide trim boards that once followed the slope of the roof were removed when the clapboards were replaced with shingles (take a look at the two houses above to see what I mean). Second, there are absolutely no pilasters or cornerboards.  These, too, they were removed when the siding was replaced.  There is nothing to visually support the pediment and roof. Next, of course, is the siding. I've seen few, if any, Greek Revivals that look better with shingles than the original clapboards. With no cornerboards, no shutters, and shingles instead of clapboards, this house looks a little naked compared to our original example.

 

Our next case displays the unfortunate result when a nice historic house is covered with vinyl siding and aluminum trim. The installers were intent on covering everything in sight. Look at how bad the horizontal architrave looks when treated with siding. It loses its decorative function, which is to visually support the roof. Fortunately, it looks like most of the trim is probably still under the vinyl and metal wrapping so this house could be more easily restored to its former glory than some of the other examples.

 

Our final example has been maintained and preserved to a larger extent than the three previous examples. In fact, apart from the porch addition, it would rival our original example. The porch (not original, but not bad) obscures the front door surround and also visually interrupts the pilasters, so that they no longer appear (at least from the street) to reach the foundation. All in all, though, this is a well preserved example.

This row of Greek Revivals illustrates why it's important to consider the intentions of the original builder and/or designer before undertaking renovations of historic house. If your house has been altered by a previous owner, don't despair. Study the houses in your neighborhood. Check the historic society for old photos of your house (we found a great 19th century photo of our place). There are a lot of great resources to help you figure out what your house may have looked like.

Not sure where to turn? Give us a call. We've been restoring and renovating historic houses in and around Massachusetts for over 20 years. We'd love to discuss your house.

 

Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.

Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.

Additions to Old Houses Part 2: Exterior trim

Last time we discussed how important it is to place the roofline correctly when adding on to an old house.  If the roofline is too high or set at the wrong pitch, the addition could look awkward or even overwhelm the original part of the house.

Now let's talk about exterior details.  Too many additions on historic houses suffer because contractors use stock materials instead of trying a little harder to make their work blend with the original house. Most of our clients want their additions to blend in with the original house. They want the same level of detail: period appropriate windows, moldings, etc.  

We start by looking at the trim of the original house:  the roof trim (rakes, fascias and soffits), cornerboards, window and door trim, and so on. Does the old house have large overhangs as seen below?  Or was the trim shallower? How does the rake trim meet the fascias and soffits? Are there decorative brackets on the house? What's the profile of the moldings? Molding profiles change with the architectural style.  Do the moldings on the house seem original or were they changed at some point? How thick are the windowsills? What materials sis they use?

Once we've assessed the existing trim we face a choice: do we exactly duplicate the trim on the addition to match the original house?  Historically, it was not uncommon for a historic house to have a slightly lower level of detail on rear or side ells than the main house had- even if they were built at the same time. This was particularly true in the second half of the 19th century on houses that boasted elaborate trim. If that's the case, we'll often scale down the trim on the addition. Often, however, it is more appropriate to use the same trim details on the addition as on the main house.

If the budget allows, we'll replicate the profile of the old moldings exactly, either in our shop or from a molding supplier. If there are brackets, we'll duplicate those, too. When matching original trim it is important to look at the thickness of the original trim, as well as the profile. Historic houses often used thicker trim than typically used these days, which results in a more substantial look and deeper shadow lines. It's surprising, for example, how much different standard 3/4" cornerboards can look on a house than ones that are 1" thick. The former often look like cheap substitutes - which they often are.

To replicate moldings in our shop we use a molding machine and use heavy steel knives ground down to the intended profile. Sometimes, however, we find stock moldings that- with a little work- will do the job. We'll take a stock molding that's close to the original and maybe rip a little off one side, or add a bead detail with a router. Whenever possible we try to stay away from installing moldings right off the lumber yard shelf. 

The project shown below is an extreme example of matching original trim on an addition. The original (ca. 1860) house features some pretty spectacular carpentry. Since the goal of the project was to make the addition look like part of the original house, we took pains to make our work match down to the smallest detail.

Here's the house before we started work.  The brick was added in the 1950's. 

 

Here we are part way through. We have the addition framed,roofed, and partly trimmed.  You'll also notice that we have taken the brick off and discovered the original tongue and groove siding. We had some more reproduced for the addition.

 

The completed project!   By faithfully reproducing the original trim, milling reproduction siding, and even installing granite veneer stones on the foundation, it is nearly impossible to tell that this is an addition. 

 

Landmark Services has been building additions to historic Massachusetts houses for almost 20 years. Have a look at our project portfolio to see more of these additions. 

We'd love to help you plan and build your addition!  Give is a call. We're Landmark Services, The Old House Experts.

  

 

 

 

Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.

Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.

Building an addition on a historic house? Don't make these mistakes

How many times have you seen a nice old house ruined by an unsightly addition? Some additions "read" as additions from a mile away. It doesn't have to be that way. With some careful planning, it is quite possible to design and build an addition that blends beautifully with the original house. Over the course of 3 or 4 posts, I'll review some guidelines that will help your proposed addition co-exist with and complement your historic house, rather than detract from it.

Often, when people are adding on to a historic house, they are so focused on maximizing the new space that they forget to think about how the house will look from the street. Take a look at the house below. The original house is a cute, mid-19th century cottage. But the addition, instead of taking its cues from the main house, has absolutely nothing in common with it. 

 

 

Let's start with the roof.  First, the ridge is higher than that of the old house. Cardinal sin. Rule #1: If possible, place the ridge of the addition lower than that of the existing house. If the ridge must be higher, consider inserting a lower, connecting roof in the middle, as we did to the house in the photo below. This will soften the difference in roof heights. In our case, the addition was not actually higher than the main house, but the "connector" roof still works because it breaks the mass of the addition down into smaller pieces, making it compete less with the original.

 

 

Let's take another look at the roof of the first house. Do you notice something else that doesn't fit with the original house?  Answer: the roof pitch. The addition has a much shallower roof. It looks, well, cheap. Take another look at the second house, in the photo below. The pitch of the addition (on the left) matches that of the original. In fact, the pitch of the new dormer also matches the pitch of the dormer on the old roof. It looks natural, like its always been there. Now look back to the first house. It look tacked on. So let's make Rule #2: try to design the addition with a roof pitch matching the original house. 

 

 

Take one more look at the first house and notice how the gable trim on the historic house has a large, decorative overhang.  The gable on the addition has a simple piece of 1x6 trim tacked on with no overhang.  Again, no effort was made to use the vocabulary of the original house on the addition. On our addition, yes the trim on the addition is very simple, but it matches that of the main house in every way- we even re-created the curve at the lower end of the roof.

Next time, we'll look at some other things to keep in mind when designing and building additions to historic houses, such as massing, matching trim details, and how to handle windows. In the meantime, take a look at these additions that we built on some old Massachusetts houses.

Landmark Services has been building additions to historic Massachusetts houses for almost 20 years. Have a look at our project portfolio to see more of these projects. 

We'd love to help you plan and build your addition!   

 

 

 

Comments? Questions? Snide remarks? All are welcome! We'd love to hear from you so please comment on our posts.

Mark Landry is the President of Landmark Services, Inc, one of the premier old house renovation contracting firms in Massachusetts. He loves old houses and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your renovation, restoration, or addition.