Old House Revival

To contrast yesterday's post about houses lost to time, I want to share a new book that covers the opposite subject: bringing houses back from the brink. The book is called Restoring a House in the City by former House & Garden editor Ingrid Abramovitch.

Photo from amazon.com

Though a title like  Restoring A House in the City may dissuade Southern readers at first, there are lots of Southern town houses in the mix. Projects in Richmond, Charleston, Savannah, Washington D.C., and Baltimore made Abramovitch's list. Some are antebellum, some date from the turn of the twentieth century, but all of them are compelling slices of history.

I'm partial to the story about the William C. Gatewood house in Charleston, renovated with the help of classical architect Gil Schafer, whose work I absolutely love.

Schafer and the homeowners got everything right. They got the bones, the colors, the lighting, the hardware, and the finishes right. They even got the kitchen right, which is an anomaly in most "restorations."  More often than not, folks put in overly elaborate kitchens  when they renovate historic homes, but I'm in favor of keeping things simple and utilitarian, since kitchens were 100 percent utilitarian and simple 100 years ago or more—or separated from the main house completely. 

That house aside, what really struck me about the book were Abramovitch's chapters devoted to the restoration of certain things: fireplaces, ornamental plaster, wood floors, windows, lighting—and the list keeps going. Even if you're not restoring a townhouse, her advice is invaluable. A few shots of restoration details done right follow below.

 
Photos reprinted with permission from Artisan