Download Updating a Historic Home

MONTPELIER’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE
A Special Section of The Bridge
How Historic Preservation and Economic
Development Can Go Hand-in-Hand
H
istoric Preservation Week begins on Monday October 19. It’s a time to focus attention on Montpelier’s rich heritage of historic buildings, and
past and present efforts to preserve that heritage.
The historic buildings of Montpelier are at the very
heart of the city’s character and appeal, not to mention
its economic vitality. It’s hard to imagine what the community would be like without buildings like the State
House, Court House, College Hill, the church steeples
that punctuate the skyline, and the city’s numerous historic homes and commercial buildings.
In this special section, we bring you a variety of material related to the city’s architectural heritage and Historic Preservation Week.Articles include:
• An interview with noted preservationist, developer,
and consultant Donovan Rypkema, who is giving the
keynote speech for Historic Preservation Week.
• A story by Montpelier contractor Dan Clar, about his
award-winning work on one of the city’s historic
homes.
• Some pertinent advice for homeowners from architect Jay White.
• A look at historic buildings that have been moved or
substantially altered, as a way of preserving them and
increasing their usefulness.
• A remembrance of one of the city’s great lost buildings.
• Information about Preservation Week activities and
the Montpelier Heritage Group.
We hope this section will help increase awareness of
the city’s architectural heritage, and help you prepare
for Historic Preservation Week.
—John Walters
Donovan Rypkema. Photo courtesy of PlaceEconomics.
by John Walters
T
he noted historic preservationist
Donovan Rypkema will be the
keynote speaker for Historic Preservation Week in Montpelier. His talk will take
place Monday, October 19, at 7 p.m. in the
auditorium of the Pavilion Building.
Rypkema is principal of PlaceEconomics, a
Washington, D.C.–based real estate and economic development consulting firm specializing in downtown and neighborhood revitalization projects and the reuse of historic
structures. He is a native of South Dakota; he
has lived in Washington for the past 25 years.
He has written two books: The Economics of
Historic Preservation and Feasibility Assessment Manual for Reusing Historic Buildings. In advance of his appearance in Montpelier, The Bridge’s John Walters interviewed
him by e-mail.
How did you become interested in historic preservation?
Sheer capitalist greed. I was living in my
hometown of Rapid City, South Dakota and
appraising real estate and doing some small
scale development for a living. Then I
learned about the tax credits for historic
buildings.There was an 1889 building downtown that had been for sale for years. In the
early 80s, I acquired it and rehabilitated it to
get the tax credits. It was during that process
that I first met these people who called
themselves "historic preservationists." All of
them talked about real estate. None of them
knew anything about real estate. So I didn't
want to be in the reverse situation—understanding real estate, but doing historic
preservation without understanding it. So I
took a midcareer break and went to Columbia University to get a graduate degree in historic preservation.
You moved from South Dakota to Washington, D.C. in 1985. What prompted
the move? What professional opportunity did you see?
I had traveled extensively in the U.S., but
prior to going to Columbia, I had never lived
in a large city.And I discovered I loved cities.
My intention had been to return to South
Dakota, but I decided I wanted to live in a
large urban area. I chose Washington because
I was able to sign on the National Trust for
Historic Preservation as a client. It wasn't for
a lot of money, but it was enough to pay the
rent while I began to build a consulting
practice on a national level.
Could you briefly describe your consulting practice and the services you provide?
My time is roughly in thirds. A third is "educational" broadly construed—giving a
speech, conducting a workshop, writing, researching.A third is market strategic—doing
a market study or a downtown revitalization
plan or something similar.That is usually as a
team member with other consultants. The
final third is building specific.The clients are
nearly always public or non-profit entities
who have taken on a "white elephant" building that the private sector is unlikely to take
the lead on. Since my technical background
is in real estate economics and development,
I serve to create redevelopment strategies
and "hand hold" through the development
process.
In recent years, around a third of my time is
international. It a typical year I'll be in 25 or
30 different states and perhaps 10 countries.
What is your philosophy or approach
toward historic preservation?
My view of historic preservation is as a vehicle, not as an end in itself. It can be the
means to a variety of ends, including downtown revitalization, low income housing, luxury housing, small business incubation,
neighborhood
stabilization,
heritage
tourism, economic development and others.
What role can historic preservation
play in economic development?
For a long time, there was a perception that
a city had to choose between historic preservation and economic development.That is a
false choice.What many places have learned
is that it is not economic development or
historic preservation, but economic development through historic preservation. Historic
preservation creates jobs. Historic preservation adds to local household income, and
often serves as a natural incubator of small
businesses.To my knowledge, every example
of sustained success in downtown revitalization has included historic preservation as a
key element.
Does historic preservation need to have
a sound economic base in order to succeed?
Usually, yes.There are exceptions, of course.
The wonderful court house or church or
house museum may well be preserved without an economic return as part of the equation. But the vast majority of historic buildings are owned privately and held for use
and/or investment. So, yes, economics needs
to be one of the factors that are considered.
Can you cite an example or two of historic preservation efforts that were successful—and an example or two that did
not succeed?
There are lots of examples of success stories
both on the building level and on the city
level. In my town of Washington, Union Station, a magnificent early 20th-century landmark, had fallen into disuse, misuse, and deterioration. It was rescued in a wonderful
fashion and serves as not only the train station, but as a major retail, food and entertainment center in Washington. On another level
is the Savannah College of Art and Design in
Savannah, Georgia.The "campus" consists of
dozens of "white elephant" historic buildings
scattered through the city that no one else
could figure out what to do with. The college, its students, and its historic resources
have added immeasurably to that local economy.
One of my biggest professional disappointments was a 1920s hotel in Sarasota, Florida.
A local organization had been established
and worked hard for three or four years to
acquire and begin to raise money to rehabilitate it.Then when the work was 90 percent
done, a developer swooped into town and
told the city council, "just give me the land
and I'll build you a brand-new hotel." So
when victory was nearly at hand, the project
was lost. It was a very shortsighted action on
the part of the city.
Montpelier, like many New England
communities, has a lot of old, historic
buildings. That can be both an asset and
a burden. How do we maximize the former, and minimize the latter? Or to put
it another way, how do we get the most
out of our architectural heritage?
Adaptive reuse is absolutely essential for historic buildings to continue to be effectively
utilized. There also has to be flexibility in
building codes.Also those who are considering rehabilitating a historic building should
only use architects, structural engineers, and
general contractors who have successfully
done historic preservation projects in the
past. Almost always when you hear the horror stories about cost overruns in preservation projects, it is because the architect
and/or the general contractor simply had no
historic preservation experience.
What's the subject of your talk in Montpelier?
The role of historic preservation as the core
of sustainable development. Sustainable development is not just environmental responsibility—it is also economic and social/cultural responsibility.And historic preservation
contributes in all three areas.
Have you been here before? If not, are
there buildings you're especially interested in seeing?
I have been to Montpelier a couple of times.
But I've never spent much time in the historic residential neighborhoods, so I'm looking forward to seeing them.
For more information about Rypkema’s
work, visit www.placeeconomics.com.
MON T PE L I E R’ S A RC H I T E C T U RA L H E R I TAGE
PAGE H.2 • OCTOBER 15, 2009
Updating a Historic Home
by Dan Clar
I
’m one of those people who rarely goes anywhere
without observing the architectural environment
around me. I tend to notice when a roof line seems
too shallow, the window openings are disproportionate
to the building, or a molding is used in a place that it
shouldn’t be.Although examples abound, we are fortunate in Montpelier to be surrounded by many structures that were built beautifully. In many cases, they’ve
been maintained or restored in a way that honors the
details that make the building what it is.
As owners and stewards of these old buildings, we
are faced with ongoing maintenance issues that demand our time and money.We can choose to preserve
the historic integrity of a building, or we can abandon
it. Quite honestly, there are times and places for each
of these options. This article will focus on the former—the instances when we choose preservation.
There are a number of strategies that contribute to
the successful renovation of an old building. Due to
space constraints here, I will focus on two criteria of
a successful project: relative proportions of the different architectural elements and the building materials that are used.
My team (Clar Construction, Inc.) has had the opportunity to work on many projects that have exhibited the aforementioned. Numerous people have approached me (complete strangers even e-mailed me!) The house at 7 West Street, winner of an award to be presented during Historic Preservation Week. Photo by John Walters.
about an addition we built in 2008.They all said the
same thing—how impressed they were that the new
construction blended so well with the original.This was due in large part to a skilled archi- and proceeded to rebuild the structures. We clad them with Douglas fir tongue-and-groove
tect, but it made me wonder why so many people took an interest. I believe the answer has flooring and trim that was coated on all six sides to discourage moisture from getting into
something to do with the pleasant lines of the roof massed appropriately with the building the wood.Wherever possible, we install wood with a drainage plane behind it, promoting air
below it, the well-proportioned window and door openings, and authentic building materi- flow to allow moisture to dry out.
The original decorative flat-sawn lattice had deteriorated after a century in place, and we
als.There are “tricks of the trade” that architects, designers, and builders rely on. Short of making a career of learning such things, a great reference is Marianne Cusato’s book, Get Your proceeded to pattern and reproduce about 300 of these lattice pieces in our shop. We also
fabricated and installed reproduction custom moldings out of cedar for the majority of the
House Right (Sterling Publishing Company, 2007).
We also had the opportunity to work on the house at 7 West Street that is being given this trim on these porches.We then sent the turned columns and turned balusters off to get chemyear’s Montpelier Heritage Award.The owners (Steve Hingtgen and Michelle Childs) demon- ically stripped of their numerous layers of paint.
By using materials similar to the original structure (we used wood species that were more
strated a remarkable drive to restore their property (known as Dillingham Hall) into an imrot-resistant
than the original pine) in conjunction with current practices of back priming
pressive house. After it had been in use for many years as a dormitory for the college, and
and
providing
a drainage plane, Dillingham Hall has three new porches that will last longer
then as offices, Steve and Michelle returned the house into the single-family residence it was
than
the
original
porches did, and they look like they have been there since 1890.
intended to be. We were involved in interior renovations and an exterior preservation job,
Cusato summarizes well in her book:“Design matters. Beauty may be in the eye of the beboth of which responsibly maintained the house and effectively made it more appealing to
holder, but authentic details and materials, appropriate to place and based on fundamental
21st-century comfort standards.
In the 2005 interior renovation, we opened up the floor plan to convert the house from a principles of structure and proportion, resonate with every eye.” Montpelier is privileged to
number of isolated small rooms to a more open space by removing interior walls. We fabri- have such a high proportion of beautiful old buildings. It helps to make this city such a great
cated and installed moldings that replicated the existing moldings, and we used quarter-sawn place to live and work.The way we build and care for these structures is a vital contribution
white oak and yellow birch to match existing details. By using appropriate materials, the re- to keeping Montpelier a desirable place.
sult of this project is such that the new floor plan is aesthetically indistinguishable from the
original. I have worked on countless houses that had been previously renovated with little to
no regard for the materials used, and it is a pleasure to work on a project that focuses on ar- Dan Clar is the owner of Clar Construction, a building and remodeling company based
in Montpelier. He can be reached by email at [email protected], on the web at
chitectural details that truly work with the space.
In 2007, we rebuilt all three porches for Steve and Michelle.The original porches were be- www.clarconstruction.com, or at 223-3447. Clar is one of several experts who will be
ginning to fail—steel footings had rotted, wood framing was compromised, and 115 years of speaking and answering questions at "Historic Preservation ‘How-to’ Night," on Thursday
paint made it impossible for new paint to adhere well. We temporarily supported the roofs October 22. Please turn to page H.4 for more information about this event.
Thinking of replacement windows or vinyl siding? Think again.
by Jay White, AIA
S
ince the government began offering a
tax credit for energy retrofits, the Montpelier Design Review Committee
(DRC) and Development Review Board have
seen more traffic from homeowners in the
historic center, bearing proposals to replace
historic windows with new energy-efficient
models, or to cover their homed in vinyl siding to try to reduce painting costs and air infiltration.
The DRC almost always encourages another option. Here’s why.
According to Efficiency Vermont's booklet
The Energy-Smart Home,“It’s generally not
cost-effective to replace old windows for energy-saving purposes alone, because the
high cost of new windows is rarely paid
back by energy savings.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation also has documented that “a historic
wood window, properly maintained and fitted with a storm window, can be just as energy efficient as a new window.”I have found
the same thing in my own practice.Vermont
is fortunate to have many skilled carpenters
who can repair your historic wood windows
and make them weather tight again. Often
the damage is cosmetic and easily corrected
by replacing failed glazing beads, sanding,
and painting. Sash cords with weights to
counterbalance double-hung windows can
easily be replaced by a skilled carpenter
using new 100 percent cotton cords. (Don’t
use nylon; they stretch).
There also is something about a wellpainted historic wood window that is just
not the same as a vinyl, aluminum-clad, or
even a wood replacement window. Often it
is the detail lost by trying to fit thick insulated glass within skinny muntins meant to
hold single pane glass. Or worse, installing
new windows with fake muntins between
two layers of glass, thereby losing the important shadow lines that give historic dividedlight windows their elegance and character.
One homeowner came to the DRC partway through a project started without the
proper permits to cover his historic wood
house with vinyl siding. His reasoning was
that since he insulated the house, he can’t
keep the paint from peeling.A salesman had
convinced him vinyl siding was the answer
to his problems. It is not. Covering a paintpeeling problem with vinyl siding will trap
moisture inside the wall to the point that it
saturates the insulation, making it almost
worthless as an insulation product and promoting mold and rot on the wood studs.
If you have peeling paint after you insulated your historic walls, it could be that you
blew in old-fashioned cellulose that settled,
and you did so without installing a vapor barrier (a thin plastic sheeting placed over the
interior side of the studs to prevent interior
moisture from penetrating the exterior
walls. As a result, the interior face of the exterior siding is now colder (since it is now
insulated from the heat), and moisture from
inside the house migrates through the wall
and condenses on the inside face of the exterior sheathing. It eventually migrates out
and causes the paint to peel—usually in less
than three years.
A better solution is to insulate historic
wood walls with one of the new engineered
cellulose products that is denser and more
thoroughly minimizes air infiltration and
moisture movement. Foam insulations can
pop your wall apart as they expand and are
better suited to new construction. Also, recognize that 75 percent of heat loss is
through the roof and concentrate your insulation efforts there, minimizing air infiltration around your doors and windows, and
installing new exterior storm windows.
If you need help in making your historic
building more energy efficient, consider hiring an architect with historic preservation
experience and training to identify the best
solution for you. He or she can specify the
best solution to meet your energy needs,
help you find competent bidders skilled at
the work you need, handle the bid process
for you, and monitor the work to assure that
you get what you expect. Savings achieved
through competitive bidding will often offset the architect’s fee, and most architects do
not charge for initial consultation.
Jay White, AIA is an architect with Robert
Carl Williams Associates and member of
the Montpelier Design Review Committee.
He can be reached for comments or questions at 793-1850 or by email at [email protected].
MON T PE L I E R’ S A RC H I T E C T U RA L H E R I TAGE
OCTOBER 15, 2009 • PAGE H.3
Historic Montpelier Buildings
Moved, Expanded, Duplicated
by Paul Carnahan
T
he concept of historic preservation
usually entails restoration of buildings
in their original locations, but around
Montpelier there are a number of buildings
that have been moved, expanded, or duplicated to preserve their historic characters
and extend their useful lives.
The premiere example of a building that
has made its home in several locations is
James French’s post office building. Constructed on the east corner of Elm and State
streets in 1861, this charming little Italianate
building with a light and airy appearance
was at the center of Montpelier’s civic life
for eight years. In 1869, James Langdon
bought the property and decided he wanted
to construct a much larger building to house
the post office. Rather than demolish this little gem, he moved it to Main Street, added a
very French mansard roof, and installed it
next to the Blanchard Block where The
Peach Tree is today. (The building he built in
its place houses Capitol Copy today.)
The former post office housed a dry goods
store on Main Street for 20 years until the
Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a veteran’s group, wanted to expand the Blanchard Block to the south. The little building
was moved off the street, back towards the
hill, and turned so that its front façade faced
north, ending up in the location it occupies
today next to the police station.This building
was used as a garage, a coffee house, and
now, with a new addition, as an office building.
Having successfully moved the small post
office building across the North Branch to
Main Street, Langdon decided to move a
much larger building in the opposite direction, from Main Street to Elm Street. This is
the building that now houses the Langdon
Street Café. It was built sometime before
1853; in 1890 it stood in the way of Langdon’s plan to build a commercial street between Main and Elm Streets – the one-block
street named after him. Rather than destroy
the building, he simply moved it across the
river. How he did it we do not know, but a
photograph of a building being moved
across a river in Bellows Falls (in the collections of the Vermont Historical Society) suggests that he may have constructed a sizeable and dense cribbing under the building
to carefully slide it across the river.
Langdon was not the only person to recognize the efficacy of moving buildings.
When the trustees of the Kellogg-Hubbard
Library were ready to construct their new
public building in the early 1890s, a wood
frame building used as a boarding house
stood on the corner of Main
and School streets. Rather
than destroy a grand residence, they decided to move
it onto School Street where
it still stands today, occupied
by Manghi’s Bread, Nu Leafe
Beauty Salon, and apartments.
In the 1860s the Newbury
Seminary purchased the
Civil War hospital that occupied the high plateau east of
downtown. The
school
reused some of the structures; others were sold and
moved around "Seminary
Hill," becoming extensions
of homes.
Even the state got in the
act of moving buildings. In
1941, three small buildings
stood in the way of plans to
build a modern office building. The most impressive of
the three, the brick Queen
Anne–style Edward Dewey
house, was saved by moving
it 350 feet to the west, where
it became 128 State Street.
In 1950 another, less familiar building was moved. The
Masons had purchased the
property at 156 Main Street
and wanted to build a modern meeting hall. The lodge 1860: James French’s post office building in its original location. It is now an office building, located bepaid to have the old hind the Montpelier fire house and next to the police department. Photo courtesy of the Vermont HistorBoutwell House, a Greek Re- ical Society
vival dwelling built by Roger
Hubbard sometime before
1848, around the corner to 20 Franklin of the very useful booklet, A Second Walk so popular with legislators that it became
Through Montpelier, "Its appearance was known as "Vermont’s Third House." By 1965,
Street.
It is not unusual, of course, for individuals changed from midcentury classic to early however, the building had become derelict
and was purchased by the state, which
to expand their homes to accommodate new twentieth century functional block."
An expansion of a different sort took place planned to tear it down. A public battle enneeds, but there are three historic public
buildings that were expanded in very no- at the Bethany Church on Main Street in sued, with historic preservationists fighting
ticeable ways a long time ago. I have already 1957. In that year, the sanctuary of the poly- to save the old structure.A compromise was
mentioned the 1884 Blanchard Block that chrome 1868 gothic church was dismantled reached, and in 1971, the building was rewas expanded in 1890 by two bays to the because it had become structurally unsound constructed to look like its predecessor, thus
and was replaced by a modern adaptation. preserving its historical appearance if not
south in 1890 to accommodate the GAR.
Of particular note in this category is the The original steeple and chapel on the south the actual structure.
Historic preservation in Montpelier has inbig brick building on Elm Street across from end of the church, however, were preserved
volved many different strategies and techLangdon Street where KDP Investment Advi- and are still standing today.
Very few historic buildings in Montpelier niques. Our city is richer as a result of efforts
sors is now housed. This building at 22-24
Elm Street was built in 1857 to house the have been reconstructed as a means of by building owners to preserve the historic
Washington County jail. In 1899, it was sold preservation. One notable example is the fabric of our community.
to an individual who in turn sold it to the In- Pavilion Building at 109 State Street next to
ternational Order of Odd Fellows. Later, the the Supreme Court. The location has been Paul Carnahan is the librarian at the VerOdd Fellows expanded the building signifi- the site of hotels since 1807. The second mont History Center Library in Barre, and
cantly by adding two bays to its width and Pavilion Hotel on the site was built in 1874 coauthor of Montpelier: Images of Vermont’s
one and a half stories to its height, topping using the foundation and some of the bricks Capital City, published in 2008 by The Histhe building off with a flat roof. In the words of the first Pavilion.The second Pavilion was tory Press.
The Edward Dewey House being moved from its original location to make way for a new
state building. Photo courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society
Elm Street 1870: The brick building, at right, was originally the County Jail. It is now located at 22-24 Elm Street. (Also note Christ Church with its original steeple in the background.) Photo courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society.
MON T PE L I E R’ S A RC H I T E C T U RA L H E R I TAGE
PAGE H.4 • OCTOBER 15, 2009
Where Everybody Knew Your Name
The Union House Tavern
by Bill Fish
Editor’s Note: Many of Montpelier’s historic
buildings have been diligently preserved,
but some have been lost.We asked Bill Fish,
amateur historian and coauthor of Montpelier: Images of Vermont’s Capital City, to
recall one of the city’s great lost buildings.
His choice: the Union House.
A
weary traveler making the trek
through Washington County in the
early 1790s might have been dismayed by the obvious lack of lodgings in the
area. Colonel Jacob Davis, considered by
local historians the “founder” of Montpelier—or at least undisputedly its most active
initial promoter—saw the need for a hotel
early on. He may have felt the need more
acutely because, in an effort to draw potential inhabitants to the new town a few years
earlier, he had allowed visiting boarders to
reside in his home.As Davis had a very large
family, this might have proved a tad inconvenient.
In 1793, Davis contracted to build the
Union House, a tavern on Main Street which
sat where the Unitarian Church now resides.
Among the hotel’s early proprietors was
Chester W. Houghton, a local businessman
whose early 1800s home still exists at 145
Main Street (as part of the Inn at Montpelier).
Though the history of the first Union
House is sparsely documented, General Parley Davis wrote a letter to Reverend John
Gridley that included a brief description.The
Union House, Davis wrote, was “the first tavern house, and the one that David Wing, Jr.
kept a tavern inn, was a two-story house,
built upon the old fashion of two front
rooms and a kitchen back of them. It after-
wards had large additions made to it and was
afterwards burnt.”
The fire that consumed the entirely
wooden structure occurred during the afternoon of a frigid February day in 1834. One
local account placed the loss at about
$3,000, but also mentioned that most of the
furniture within was somehow saved.
At the time, the Union House was experiencing stiff competition from other local establishments, including the significantly
larger Davis Tavern from 1807 (later renamed and better known as the Pavilion
Hotel). Even so, little time was spared in
building a successor Union House. The second version, in the same location, was larger
than the first; it had three stories, and was
made of both brick and wood.
Unfortunately, the second version of the
tavern didn’t last as long as its predecessor;
it succumbed to fire in December of 1859.
This blaze also consumed all of the furniture, and losses were estimated at over
$5,000.
Two major fires in 25 years were apparently not enough to convince Union House
promoters to give up. But oddly, they decided to revert back to wood for a third attempt. They also chose a new location; the
1859–1860 structure was built where the TD
Bank now stands, on the corner of what was
Main and Court (now School) streets.
The final Union House outlasted both of
its predecessors combined, even as Montpelier experienced many fires throughout its
lifetime. It probably breathed a sigh of relief,
for example, when two major infernos in
1875devastated a large swath of the Main
and State street area, but did not approach
the wooden tavern.
This version of the Union House, though
About the Montpelier Heritage Group
T
he Montpelier Heritage Group, which organized Historic Preservation Week, was formed to achieve one main purpose: to alert the citizens of Montpelier to the historic, architectural, and economic value of
the city’s buildings and public spaces.The group seeks to enhance our
understanding of the city’s history and of the people who made that history—and thus our sense of the particular character of Montpelier—and
to ensure that those who make decisions about changes in our visual environment have adequate information to make wise choices.
The group was incorporated in 1975, when it became apparent that
changes in the cityscape were
taking place with little public
comment. In the years since,
the group has undertaken a
variety of projects, including:
• Monitoring the activities of
city officials, commissions,
and boards, as they relate
to the group’s mission.
• Organizing and conducting
pulbic events, such as
speakers, slide shows, and
films, and how-to programs
for property owners.
• Sponsoring public forums
on issues of interest.
• Leading walking tours of
Montpelier, and publishing
booklets for those wishing
to take self-guided tours.
This building, currently housing the
Langdon Street Café, was moved
from its original Main Street location
to make way for the creation of Langdon Street. Photo courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society.
• Giving awards to citizens demonstrating excellence in historic
preservation of commercial and residential properties.
• Providing resource materials to the Kellogg-Hubbard Library.
Membership in the Montpelier Heritage Group is open to all. For information or to get involved, please contact Anthony Otis at 229-5200 or
[email protected].
—John Walters
The Union House. Photo courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society.
no longer labeled a “tavern,” survived easily
into the 20th century. Visitors to the city
would be able to consider it among plenty of
lodging options until March 1, 1929. Not too
surprisingly, it burned down that day. Maybe
even less surprisingly, there would finally be
no successor.
A Guide to Historic
Preservation Week
Here’s a rundown of the events taking place as
part of Historic Preservation Week.All events are
free and open to the public.
Monday October 19: Keynote Address
Historic preservationist Donovan Rypkema (see
interview, page H1) will give a talk on the role of
historic preservation in sustainable development.At 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Pavilion
Building, corner of State Street and Governor
Davis Avenue.
Tuesday October 20:
Walking Tours of Montpelier
Join members of the Montpelier Heritage Group
for a walking tour of the city’s history and architectural heritage.Tours begin at 12, 4:30, and 5:15
p.m. and start from the information booth at the
corner of State and Elm streets.
Wednesday October 21:
Preserving the Historic District
The Montpelier Heritage Group will hold a public presentation about the documentation, expansion, and preservation of the city’s Historic
District. 7 p.m., city council chambers, Montpelier city hall.
Thursday October 22:
Historic Preservation How-To Night
A number of contractors, experts, and craftspeople who work in the preservation trades will talk
about ways to maintain older and historic buildings. Learn about restoration and repair strategies that retain a building’s historic character, improve its functionality and comply with
Montpelier’s design review guidelines. The
Bill Fish is a resident of Montpelier, and a
Senior Production Specialist at Dartmouth
Journal Services in Waterbury. He is coauthor, with Paul Carnahan, of Montpelier:
Images of Vermont’s Capital City, published
in 2008 by The History Press.
evening starts at 7 p.m. at Lost Nation Theater in
City Hall.
7:00 p.m. Public presentation and slide show
8:00 p.m. Montpelier Heritage Group Awards
Ceremony
8:15 p.m. Hand-on demonstrations, information tables and displays.
Participants in How-to Night
Dan Clar, Clar Construction: Replicating
Millwork and Carpentry
James Duggan, Preservation Unlimited:
Masonry Repointing and Chimneys
Jeff Fellinger, JAF Traditions: Restoring
Wooden Windows
Sally Fishburn, S.A. Fishburn, Inc.: Repairing
Plaster Walls and Ceilings
Louis Gendron, Gendron Building: Foundation
Repairs and old Stone Cellars
Seth Kelley, Knobb Hill Joinery:Timber
Framing Repairs
Liisa Reimann, New England Preservation Collaborative: Researching Historic Buildings.
David Schütz,Vermont State Curator: Paint
and Color Schemes
Liam Tower, Slate Affair Inc.: Slate Roofs,
Copper and Flashing Repairs
Paul Zabriskie, EnergySmart of Vermont:Weatherization Strategies for Older Buildings
Groups and organizations that will provide informational tables at How-to Night: Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, Montpelier Planning and Zoning Department, Preservation Trust
of Vermont, University of Vermont’s Graduate
Program in Historic Preservation, Preservation
Education Institute, National Trust for Historic
Preservation,
Yestermorrow
Design/Build
School, Stone Arts School
—compiled by John Walters