The First Parish Meetinghouse of East Derry, NH is preparing for a big anniversary, its tricentennial. What does one even get for a church on its 300th? Wood? Copper? Both, as it turns out. Beginning with a thorough assessment and rehabilitation plan in 2011, the congregation has been working steadily to repair extensive damage throughout…
The NH Old House and Barn Expo was a great success. To be honest, I expected what I’d seen at other “old home” trade shows: booths hawking fiberglass steeples and plastic decking. Instead, I was inspired by the level of craftsmanship and care on exhibit. Sometimes it can feel like we are alone in the wilderness,…
This weekend, we’ll be sharing a few choice parts and pieces of the Israel Demeritt-O’Kane house with visitors to the NHPA Expo. We’ll be at the Radisson in Manchester, NH soaking up good talks ranging from “Old Home/New Technology: Explore Solar Energy for your Home!” to “The Masonry Detective: Exploring Chimneys, Bake Ovens and Fireplaces” (there’s…
Middleton, NH is one of those friendly, tightly-knit communities where folks meet weekly for a potluck at the old town hall. The center of town is at a place known as Four Corners, at the intersection of Kings Highway and New Durham/Ridge Road. Our subject, the Old Town Hall, stands at one of the corners;…
On Friday, we peeled plaster from the walls of the Blue Parlor, in the O’Kane Farmhouse. Scott was Bill and I, Ted, as we traveled in our proverbial telephone booth through layers of plaster, lath, wallpaper and time. There were clues to some of what we might find. Surrounding the door openings were wooden strips,…
Preservation Timber Framing has been involved in a number of museum projects in the past. We reconstructed the Brown-Pearl and Manning Rooms for the Boston MFA, rebuilt the Moffatt-Ladd coachhouse in Portsmouth, and dismantled 16th c. Carved Ceiling Beams for the Fogg Museum at Harvard, to name a few. We are honored to have been a part…
New England is peppered with antique barns in various states of disrepair, and saving them is central to our mission. Timber-framed barns are icons of the New England landscape. They connect us to our agrarian and architectural history and contain centuries of embodied energy. But many other books, such as Field Guide to New England…