Witness the 2005 and again in 2008, SOHO & # 39; s nomination of & quot ;, & quot; Satisfaction in the Economy, Historic Neighborhoods "on their" Most Endangered "List. The National Trust for Historic Preservation also nominated" Teardowns in Historic Neighborhoods "among them 11 Most Endangered Sites in 2002. Clearly, there is a problem yet to be reckoned with.
Replacement of cloud roof tiles; replacement of wood garage. Replacement of clay roof tiles; replacement of cloud roof tiles; replacement of cloud roof tiles; replacement of wood garage Doors with mass - produced inappropriate doors and gutting interiors of historic buildings. Frank Lloyd Wright had a term for this "remuddled".
Remodel or Restore?
The state Trust for Historic Preservation has an interesting "on Glossary of Preservation Terms" on their website, that state that "Remodel" .... means to change a building without regard to its distinct features or style ... involves changing the appearance of "I do not have or covering original details and substitution new materials or forms." that we have restored instead. materials that are similar as possible to the original materials. "
What they Do not Tell you is that Less is Often More
Add a fast buck. Add a fast buck. Add a fast buck. Add a fast food to the store and television programs like flip that house and the store These collective effects are like an engine at full throttle with speculative investors, house flippers and well-meaning homeowners the proverbial deer in the headlights This remeddling a historic building. Instead, the emphasis is generally on an all or nothing transformation because after all salespeople get their incentives or commitment when you buy. So it & # 39; s no wonder that our historic neighborhoods in San Diego and across the country have come under sieg e.
That cookie-cutter products offered most of the time probably will not apply to your historic building.
Our historic homes give our communities, our towns they historic scale and character and embody the distinctive patterns, they are retained historic character. Whatever it is an artistic bungalow, graceful Mission and Spanish Revival, proud Victorians - from simple to the most grand and elegant. Our historic homes are irreplaceable - plain and simple. Remember our older building stock was made by today craftspeople (many been recent immigrants). The craftsmanship of yesteryear is something that is hard to find today and we simply can not afford to replicate.
Therefore, if you consider that maybe someone near you, family members who owned and took care of your house before you did, someone who owned this house after you or your members community may be interested in the character and quality of the original features of your house% u 23 AFthen it is important for you to be aware and consider it may be more more when it comes to preserving the your house.
Bad "Remodeling"
In the last few years we have seen turrets added to Prairie-School style homes, fake craftsman style rocks adhered to 1930s Monterey homes and original homes demolished with McMansion replacements constructed without setbacks or consideration of the impact to the block. Additions should not overwhelm the original house. There is no good reason Why you should try to make your house something that is is not ..
Bungalow author Jane Powell has written many wonderful and insightful bungalow books and her "Bungalow Details: Exterior" book covers just about every aspect of what is important to preserve - including roofs, chimneys, eaves and rafter tails, siding, foundation, pillars, hardware and lighting as well as the architectural features and most of the risks of the front doors, garage doors, roofs and windows. for anyone contemplating such work.
Flip and not Flop
Either you are buying an older home as a short-term investment flip or It is imperative to keep your home & # 39; s original character defining features. Nothing kills your historic home & # 39; s value faster than ripping out your home & # 39; s original wood windows and replacing them with vinyl windows or other appropriate "remodeling". Alongside the overall design, shape and scale of the building, here are some (not all) of the important character defining features that you probably know that they are what they are what distinguishes a Craftsman from a Spanish Revival or Mid-Century style house.
Some Key Architectural Features
Roof tiles Doors (front door, side doors and garage doors) Windows Hardware Fixtures - fireplaces, lighting, built in cabinets etc.
Beside poor choices in remodeling changes to to become critical remodeling mistakes that many achieveown to investigate for historical design or want to make a better future ahead owner, then it is important to retain your home & # 39; s architectural details.
Roofs: We have seen several homes (mostly flips) lose their original tiles in a vain attempt to "update" the roof for a quick There is rarely a good reason to replace these tiles. Historic tiles as well as rescuing the new tiles are obvious to the untrained eye and one can spot the mass-created displacements from a block away. The modern replacement tiles have their glazes sprayed on, they do not have the color range and detract from the historic appearance of an older home.
Beware the window salesperson
Additionally, density old growth wood and wonderful old wavy glass has a life expectancy of at least 200 years. New wood windows will last 50 years, vinyl can not be painted and will last about 10-15 years.
You may also have a hard time selling the home once the windows have been replaced. Jane Powell, author of The impact of this change is significant from windows make up a large part of the facade of historic homes and buildings - "The pattern of the sash, the window framing and the other architectural detail surrounding the window was carefully designed as an integral component of the home and replacing the window destroy this ".
Ms. Powell states: "There may be no more important feature of a bungalow than its windows." She lists in great detail, the exact costs "energy savings investment". Interestingly, that is the life back to their home home tore after back to 200 years of replacement windows (vinyl) and not demonstrates. expectancy of the original windows and there is always a way to fix drafty windows.
Doors
The front door greets visitors and impressions. A salesman from Orange County took advantageous a wonderful and smart woman in our neighborhood when she bought to repair her front door. Instant of repairing it, which may have cost several to damage some term. We took a look at the damage and it needed several have veneer replaced. hundred dollars, she was sold and had a new "craftsman" door installed a cost of approximately $ 6,000.00. So besides being taken in by the salesman, she drew away the original door that was made for her house and made of old growth wood Now the change to her entry has been reconfigured and while her new door might b e attractive to some, it is over scale to the rest of the house as well.
Interiors
Painting interior woodwork or removing for interior features of your historic home is also very important and older homes that are the unfortunate victim of bad remodeling sit on the market longer and sell for much less money. It is heartbreaking. SOHO, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Secretary of the Interior & # 39; s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and the State Historical Preservation Office of California are all excellent resources for historic homeowners on maintaining the integrity of interior features.
What is Batchelder Tile?
Several years ago we looked into purchasing a 1910s Prairie - School home in North Park. We saw it was being remodeled by the owner contractor and learned it was coming up for sale. We offered to buy it before more remodeling was done to it. While remodeled continued, we learned that the owner ripped out the original Batchelder Tile fireplace because there was was You crave in one of the hearth tiles. You should have been past my hatred hauled away to the dump. You should have seen his face turn red after we told him how valuable and important they were and then the effort to install his new Home Depot tiles lowered the value of his investment.
More bad remodeling happens within that first year --so move in the place for anything, take heed - living in the place can become a resource in and the place and live in the space for a while.
Consider these sage words from SOHO member and South Park resident, Erik Hanson from his "Bungalow Manifesto" on his Irving Gill website.
"If your tradesman says that you can not be done," "Fire him for luck of vision" "Good restoration is a series of modest projects done well, more history was destroyed by "There is a special place in hell reserved for those who remove wood windows.
Recommended the same configurations to your house as they would not have a house in a tract neighborhood is Looking for experienced old home experts - they are worth their weight in gold. Do not let anyone work on your house that insists that you have to remove anything and check bulletins from the National Trust and discuss methods before any work gets underway. We know that it takes extra diligence to resist the persuasion tactics of the home update hucksters but the historic house you will continue to tell a story for future generation s.
Preservation Resources
Save Our Heritage Organisatoin, San Diego & # 39; s Preservation group website links page: http://sohosandiego.org/links/index.htm
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, website: http://www.preservationnation.org
