Before it’s gone…
My work sometimes takes me into abandoned buildings where my task is to research and record them before they are demolished and disappear forever. A fellow architectural historian has described it as “writing obituaries for buildings.” It isn’t my favorite type of work as a preservation consultant.
This view was in one such building, a Queen Anne style apartment block built by a progressive shoe factory owner to house his workers in the late 19th century. These abandoned buildings often seem to retain a sense of the lives lived in them even in their last days.
This building was designed by a leading architect and its exterior featured projecting and recessed porches, turned and scroll-cut trim, and panels of carved ornament. In another community it could easily have been saved and restored. In this place, a former mill town that lost its mills and many of its citizens, it was lost. The right person with vision and resources might have saved it.
These lost buildings were part of my motivation to write “Restoring Your Historic House, The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners” – to help people see the possibilities and be inspired to take on saving historic houses in their own communities.
The 720 page award-winning and best-selling hardcover book available in bookstores and from online retailers.
Signed and personalized copies are available from the author in the shop on this site, https://yourhistorichouse.com/shop/.
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