This sad hot mess of a house is a case study in what not to do to a historic house if you care about historic preservation. The original appearance of the much-altered 19th century house (circled in red) buried in modern additions can only be guessed at. This is not historic preservation.
The additions are out of scale with the original house and each other. Window sizes and shapes do not follow traditional fenestration patterns. The added faux dormers on the ell of the original house are better suited to a 1980s condo building. The tower on the entry portico might belong on a historic railroad station or church, if the scale were right. The plastic siding and windows do not have the quality or character of historic materials.
There isn’t room here to describe why all these things are wrong but here are a few key points of generally accepted practice when working on historic buildings.
• An addition to a historic house should not overwhelm the original from principal viewpoints.
• New materials used on a historic building, or additions should match the original in quality.
• Adding new elements that appear historic is inappropriate (at least in this case they are so overdone and badly scaled they are pretty obviously not original).
Chapter 3 of “Restoring Your Historic House, The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners” is focused on design. It is full of information on how to make necessary changes, including additions, without making the mistakes that were made on this poor house.
Signed and personalized copies of the award-winning and bestselling 720-page hardcover book are available from the author in our online shop at YourHistoricHouse.com/shop/.
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