Scott T. Hanson is an architectural historian and preservation consultant. He lives with his husband Andrew and four Maine Coon cats in Whitten House, a 19th century home in the mid-coast region of Maine. He grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, before settling on the Maine coast and beginning his career in preservation.
In addition to his current work as a Senior Associate in the Boston office of MacRostie Historic Advisors, Hanson has been a designer, carpenter, painter, municipal preservation officer, historic district commission member and a homeowner in a local historic district subject to regulation. This broad range of experience over decades provides a strong foundation for his work and writing on historic preservation issues.
His most recent book, “Restoring Your Historic House,” was released in December 2019. This 720-page hardcover volume with more than 2,000 photos and drawings took four years to write, drawing on 40 years experience in the historic preservation field. It won the 2020 Excellence in Publishing award from Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance.
For the book, Hanson and noted architectural photographer David Clough traveled across the U.S. to photograph 13 beautifully restored houses and interview their owners. These featured houses appear with historic, “before” and during construction images between the how-to chapters.
His previous book, “Down East Homes, Classic Maine Coastal Cottages and Town Houses,” co-written with Maine State Historian, Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. and architect Christopher Glass with photographs by David Clough was published by Tilbury House Publishing in 2014 and is available in bookstores, at online retailers, and on this site.
This book looks at 52 historic Maine homes that were published in Scientific American architectural magazines between 1885 and 1905. Historic photos and plans are shown along with contemporary photos of 38 houses. Each house has an architectural history essay by Shettleworth or Hanson and an architect’s commentary by Glass.
Hanson also wrote “Cleaning Antique Staffordshire Transferware,” which is available on Amazon, and on this site.
Using documentary research into probate inventories of members of the original owners of his house, and shards of historic transferware found under and around the house in the course of restoration, he was able to identify the exact patterns that were in the house during the time two generations of the Whitten family called it home.
Searching in shops, flea markets, auctions, and online, he has slowly found pieces of the patterns the Whitten family owned and assembled a collection reflecting their time in the house. After a decade of collecting, he has brought back to the house many items matching those owned by the Whittens in the 19th century. As part of that process, he developed an effective and affordable method for cleaning transferware, which he shares in the book. In 2017, Scott was elected President of the international Transferware Collector’s Club.
Hanson is also the co-author of “The Architecture of Cushing’s Island,” written with Maine State Historian, Earle G. Shettleworth, and published in 2012. He has appeared, along with Whitten House, on the television program “If Walls Could Talk” on HGTV.
