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Present: Mark Almeda, Olga Bachilova, Bill Barry, David Bliss, Nathan Bouton, Matt Brown, Greg Colling, Ric Detwiller, Marilyn Fenollosa, David Gallagher, David M. Hart, John Hecker, Erin Hester, Carl Jay, Steve Jerome, Wendall Kalsow, David Kelman, Ryan Mackiej, Krista McFadden, Doug Manley, Henry Moss, Ivan Myjer, John Natalie, Elizabeth Randall, Bill Remsen, Brian Roche, Deane Rykerson, Susan Schur, David Seeley, Malcolm Smiley, Jonathan Smith, Jay Stanbury, Rita Walsh, Natalie Wampler, Sara Wermiel, Josiah Wright, and Sally Zimmerman 1. The Dainty Dot a.k.a The Auchmuty Building, 120 Kingston Street : David Seeley and Steve Jerome presented the case for retaining the existing street facades of this sturdy and richly detailed Romanesque Revival building in the Textile District. The building was partly demolished for construction of the Central Artery. There is a new proposal for the site that would demolish half of each street elevation, replace floors behind the remaining façade with slabs for parking, and raise a 325' office tower above the 6-story facadectomy. The red brick and brownstone building, designed by Winslow & Wetherell, dates from 1889. Local petitioners put the Auchmuty Building forward to the Boston Landmarks Commission for designation as a Boston Landmark. Dave Seeley said that the Mass Historical Commission (MHC) had written to the BLC in support of the Boston Landmark nomination. The BLC decided that the building had been altered too profoundly by the Artery demolition to merit local landmark status, but stated that it believes the building should be preserved. There was discussion about the difference between the historic and architectural significance of the building and the urban design implications of the redevelopment proposal. The committee decided that the proposal was ignominious on both counts, but the mistreatment of the historic facades was the central issue and the one that we had sufficient standing to address. The committee thanked Bill Seeley and Steve Jerome for their research, commitment and their passionate advocacy for the building. Henry Moss agreed to write to the City to urge them to work toward a respectful outcome for this significant corner building. [Henry wrote to the Mayor's Office and the Boston Landmarks commission, discussed the proposed redevelopment on the telephone Ellen Lipsey, and represented the committee at the Preservation Mass "Ten Most Endangered" selection where the Auchmuty Building was placed on their list for 2007.] 2. Understanding and Dating Construction of 17th-19th Century Wood Dwellings in New England: Ric Detwiller presented an overview of two and a half centuries' development of framing carpentry and its expression in roofs, walls and interior finishes. Ric's illustrated talk was a primer for our tour of Strawbery Banke two weeks later. His examples began with the steep gables of the Feather Store (demolished 1860) with its jettied 2nd story overhang similar to that on the Paul Revere House in the North End. Today, you could be confused by an 18th century roof addition. The Revere House has "rising braces", shoulder post in wall with curved knee braces to provide wind resistance. All coexist with a plaster ceiling from the 1680's. Ric's next example of 17th century construction was the Blake House in Dorchester with principal and common rafters in an oak framing system. Ric shifted his focus to larger frames and spans typical of meeting houses, with the Old Ship Meeting House, Hingham, 1681-1755 and St. Michael's in Marblehead. In the latter a ceiling was added to hide the framing. Timber trusses for Old South Meeting House and King's Chapel had similar concepts, but the King's Chapel trusses are intact today while their counterparts at Old South began to fail immediately (these trusses became much shallower over time, ultimately leading to their structural demise), were repaired in a manner that accelerated their deterioration and were replaced with iron in the 1890's. Parts of the oak trusses were salvaged and reused in the African Meeting House. Old West Church framing was designed by Asher Benjamin. Next, Ric presented a series of examples that illustrate current restoration and major timber repair projects at early 18th century houses using the Samuel Hartwell House in Lincoln and the Jason Barrett Jr. House, Concord as case studies. Carpenters working with Ric's guidance used hewing axes, broad axes, timber dogs, and augers in the shaping and joinery for replacement timber pieces. John Wathne's engineering firm, Structures North, used resistance drills to determine which portions of timbers needed to be replaced. New sills replicated bridled scarf joints from original timber connections at the Barrett House. Ric has had a long association with the Shirley Eustis House and showed us the Shirley Place Coach House with its shallow-pitched hipped roof. Ric has worked with Bud Howarth from Berlin, Massachusetts on timber repairs to historic timber-framed structures. He suggested that interested committee members visit the website of the Timber Framers Guild <www.tfguild.org>. [This website is a rich resource, first for its on-line bookshop that sells series by Jack Sabon and Jan Lewandowski covering the results of research and demonstration projects funded by the National Park Service and the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT). Titles include Historic American Roof Trusses, Historic American Timber Joinery, English Historic Carpentry (Cecil Hewitt), and both volumes of the Timber Frame and Joinery & Design Workbook. In addition, there is a hardware line featuring planes, layout aids, and axes. No household should be without its full complement of Gransfors Axes, including Double-Bit Throwing Axe, Scandanavian Forest Axe, and Swedish Broad Axe. They are fully honed, ready for use, and come marked with the toolsmith's initials.] 3. Strawbery Banke: On Saturday, September 22, Kim Alexander who is architectural curator at Strawbery Banke assembled a stellar group of teachers and students for a Master Class in early framing techniques using examples of exhibits and study houses from the Strawbery Banke collection. Inspired by a previous committee gathering at the House of Seven Gables in Salem, Kim enlisted David Hart to help organize the tour and persuaded James Garvin and Richard Candee to join forces with her in an extended, interpretive walk-through the Puddle Lane district, Sherburne House (built 1695/1703), Colonel Joshua Wentworth House or Wentworth-Winebaum House (built 1770), and the Cotton Tenant House (built c. 1835 as a tenement). The constellation Kim Alexander/James Garvin/Richard Candee attracted an experienced complement including David Hart, Ric Detwiller, Charles Allen Hill, Deane Rykerson, all of whom have worked with historic timber framing restoration where the archaeology is as compelling as the interpretive and constructional challenges posed by the buildings. For those of us who seldom work with properties of this antiquity, the books by James Garvin, Richard Candee (drawings by David M. Hart), Abbott Lowell Cummings, and Norman Isham and Albert Brown are valuable introductions, but their collections of examples tend to be drawn from the holdings of particular museum properties. New information is constantly being added by members of our local chapter of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. Standing in the Sherburne House, Richard Candee was asked "How many buildings like this still exist in New England?" He quickly responded, "Dozens." We have discovered that there is a need for a database in gazetteer form for Modern Movement houses in New England that can be used as a research framework, as the basis for structuring tours, and as a guide to scarcities and significance. It seems that First Period Houses and transitional structures reaching into the 18th century are well known, but a similar gazetteer would be a useful document. In the meantime, see the new editions of Building Portsmouth, the Neighborhoods and Architecture of New Hampshire's Oldest City by Richard Candee, and James Garvin's A Building History of Northern New England. Isham and Brown wrote Early Connecticut Houses. A Dover reprint is an unexpurgated resurrection of the original text from 1905. Abbott Lowell Cummings seminal text is The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay 1625-1725. In 2008, look for Dennis Robinson's history of Strawbery Banke. Unlike Colonial Williamsburg and Historic Deerfield, and more similar conceptually to England's Downland and Weald Museum or Sturbridge Village, the idea for Strawbery Banke was launched by the Works Projects Administration during the Great Depression and began to mature in the 1950's and 60's, with Urban Renewal. The financial pressures on these rare collections of historic buildings with their public programs and serious research agendas can be excruciating. The complex maturation cycle of individual buildings may begin with purchase and relocation (at Strawbery Banke, this once involved transportation by barge -- organize the insurance policy that would provide uninterrupted coverage for that!), stabilization, mothballing, research and incremental restoration, public interpretation, and end with deaccession with a preservation restriction, can crawl across decades. The relationship between our work on early historic houses and museum acquisition and deaccession policies could be a fruitful topic for further discussion as some of our members sit on boards or advisory committees for organizations that own and manage multiple properties. Realistic evaluation of the number and size of historic properties that a non-profit with limited income and endowment can truly afford to own and properly maintain can lead to difficult decisions. Consequently, Richard Candee recommended that Strawbery Banke consider selling half its properties… 8: 00 a.m., Thursday, October 11, 2007 Featuring Sara Wermiel "History of American Lighthouse Construction Types" The Architects' Building, 52 Broad Street, Boston, Fifth Floor
Henry Moss, Matthew Bronski, and Sara Wermiel co-leaders and scribes
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