Latest Restoration Work – Peeling Back the Layers
Before
Here’s some of the guy’s recent historic restoration handiwork. The first is a picture of the “remodeled” western side of the house addition at 98 13th Street. Previous owners added aluminum siding sometime in the 70s. They replaced that along with windows during the peak of the energy crisis. In trying to save money on fuel bills the historic character of the house was destroyed. Restoration was the least of concerns when cars were in line for gas, and fuel bills skyrocketing.
Westside elevation of the addition was covered in aluminum siding
Restoration – Found
Underneath it was the mid-19th Century addition door, but we also found a beautiful glass transom. They are part of the one and a half-story shed addition that was there previously. When you visit you can see what that looked like on the house across the street.
The same wall and doorway. The siding was repair and painted. A corner board will be added, the door stripped and painted and the transom reglazed.
In our preservation plan, we chose to retain the 1905 wood siding. Back then, someone removed the hand-made Harmonist weatherboards. That siding, though beautiful, was thin and wide and the carpenters had a habit of incorrectly nailing it causing it to split. So, unless the new owners were willing to hand make siding, placing it with siding picked from a catalog was the thing to do. http://www.westwoodlumbersales.com/page/sidingpatterns1.html This was part of creating a whole new second floor and adding the huge gable roof.
We thought in doing this it would be a testament to the transition period between the Harmonists and the new town of Ambridge.
Imagine a rural German village that virtually stood still for 80 years while the surrounding communities continued to grow. Those communities were attracting immigrant populations seeking a work in gritty industrial towns while Economy was sleeping in a pastoral era. We hope we do them both justice.
