Historic Restoration

  • Digital camera can preserve evidence

    Rotten framing and other unexpected discoveries behind old walls can derail schedules, add to time-and-materials costs, and cause some homeowners to question your credibility. Short of X-ray vision, your best defense against these finds is a digital camera.

     
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    Honorable Mention: Old-House Renovaion

    According to remodeler Peter Feinmann, this 1896 Victorian had a number of changes made to the structure over the years, including “a hideous modern renovation in the '60s” that included “industrial-type windows, poorly built porches, and faux-Swiss stucco.

     
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    Honorable Mention: Old-House Renovation

    Despite its 5,900 square feet of living space, this 60-year-old English Cape presents a deceptively modest face to its Arlington, Va., street.

     
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    Grand Award: Old-House Renovation

    "A true restoration” and “an incredible continuum of history” were among the judges' comments about this historic Virginia farmhouse. “As they peeled back materials, they discovered old timbers and expressed them in the end.”

     
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    Remodel of a farm-style house in Chicago

    They could have felt like Sisyphus if they'd let themselves. “There were times when things were very tense,” says Michael Menn, architect and principal of Design Construction Concepts, Northbrook, Ill. “The subs were [annoyed], we were being strung out on payments, things were being built and...

     
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    Urbieta Construction is a Dayton success story

    Juan and Carmen Urbieta share a successful remodeling company and a persistent, ambitious and, so far, elusive dream: that the best is yet to come for the Huffman Historic Area of Dayton, Ohio.

     
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    Merit Award: Hyphenated Haven

    Often the most glaring flaw in a poorly designed addition is that the new work screams out its newness; it shamelessly calls attention to the place where one designer's vision ends and another's begins. This addition to a Second Empire home, on the other hand, creates a whole new house.

     
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    Grand Award: Period of Reflection

    Impressive as they are, the towering front elevations of this historic home say little about its latest renovation. To see what architect Stephen Muse and remodeler Carl Petty's LifeCraft accomplished, you have to begin in the back.

     
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    Contractor remodels his own company's headquarters

    When a remodeling contractor works for himself, every headache associated with designing and building a project disappears, right? "The [Scott] Building needed a tremendous amount of work," says Joseph Cacioppo, of JPC & Associates, Architects, the Long Island architect Jaworowski worked with on...

     
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    Remodel of Power Plant to Office Building

    How do you convert a power plant into an office building?