Last week, we dropped the staging from the front of the York First Parish Church. After the 24 ft picks were lowered smoothly, we took apart the rest of the ledgers and standards like a rogue band of dismantling Doozers. Staging takedowns like that don’t just happen, they are engineered, by people like Keith Trefethen. …
These past few weeks, with the inclement weather, the York Congregational trim has kept us busy in the shop. Using a steam box, we carefully scraped the lead paint from the trim pieces, made dutchman repairs, and filled nail holes with West System epoxy. We were able to repair 90% of the scroll-shaped trim that…
We have begun replacing the clock faces of the First Parish Congregational Church in York, Maine. Formed in 1636, the congregation is the oldest in Maine. The current building was built in 1747, and moved to its position, facing the road, in 1888. It is time for this old girl to get a face lift. …
In 1900, Charles Goodhue drew this sketch from the memory of an elderly parishioner. This is one of the only remaining images that depict the building from this era. Fortunately, evidence within the building has proven this sketch to be remarkably accurate. From the beginning of our involvement in the project, we have been looking…
During the past few months, Ed has been busy at the shop cutting a reproduction barn frame for a client. The original barn fell in a Nor’Easter, and we salvaged as much as we could. We will re-use much of the bracing, an upper gable, and a front gable drive post that has a large…
The annual meeting of the Traditional Timber Framers Advisory Group is this Saturday, and our crew is really looking forward to it. Our own Dan Boyle has worked hard to organize a great event in Topsfield, MA, which will include a walking tour of the Parson Capon House c. 1683, the Gould Barn c. 1710, …
The most interesting part of working on the Abyssinian has been the process of discovery. When we first started working on the restoration, we encountered dank apartments and the absence of much of the original truss framing. There was little architectural documentation of the building at the height of its use, except for a turn-of-the…
Abyssinian before: Abyssinian after:
Last week, PTF was featured in two more articles, these ones about developments at the Abyssinian. The DownEast article focuses on the social history of the building as well as the people responsible for its restoration. It contains some of my favorite stories about the building, including its origin story, and how it was saved…
Sunday, the Maine Sunday Telegram printed an article about Preservation Timber Framing’s participation in the renovation of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: BOSTON – When the Museum of Fine Arts needed experts to complete a pair of 1700s period rooms in its new wing, a couple of craftspeople from Maine got the call to…