A diamond in the rough, this centuries-old house was waiting to be rediscovered and loved.

To most eyes, it was the ramshackle “eyebrow Colonial” or “that old place up by the cemetery”. Inside, it looked as though its owners had thrown up their hands one day and simply left. Though sadly neglected, this little gem had the right stuff for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Its new use as an income-producing rental qualified it for state and federal commercial tax credits. We gathered everything we’d learned from previous projects and took it to the next level, meticulously documenting every detail of the house, figuring out the least invasive ways to insert 21st-century necessities into a 200-year-old structure with idiosyncratic 19th-century additions. We preserved not just historic character, but actual fabric—plaster, remnants of wallpaper, old paint and, of course, wood windows (even though they don’t all match). We removed a relatively modern bathroom downstairs and solved the mystery of how the circa-1800 house originally connected to the 1860s lean-to addition (the steps had been covered over by the bathtub). The house received all new mechanicals, including a septic system, plus a standing-seam metal roof that replaced the old asphalt and could easily last 100 years. This project was our first experience with ground-up new construction—a bedroom/bathroom addition with clean, modern lines and massing that defers to the historic house.

To most eyes, it was the ramshackle “eyebrow Colonial” or “that old place up by the cemetery”. Inside, it looked as though its owners had thrown up their hands one day and simply left. Though sadly neglected, this little gem had the right stuff for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Its new use as an income-producing rental qualified it for state and federal commercial tax credits. We gathered everything we’d learned from previous projects and took it to the next level, meticulously documenting every detail of the house, figuring out the least invasive ways to insert 21st-century necessities into a 200-year-old structure with idiosyncratic 19th-century additions. We preserved not just historic character, but

actual fabric—plaster, remnants of wallpaper, old paint and, of course, wood windows (even though they don’t all match). We removed a relatively modern bathroom downstairs and solved the mystery of how the circa-1800 house originally connected to the 1860s lean-to addition (the steps had been covered over by the bathtub). The house received all new mechanicals, including a septic system, plus a standing-seam metal roof that replaced the old asphalt and could easily last 100 years. This project was our first experience with ground-up new construction—a bedroom/bathroom addition with clean, modern lines and massing that defers to the historic house.