Combining the Old with the New

OTHER ORIGINAL ELEMENTS.
The skeleton of the house—its wooden frame, usu­ally visible in the cellar and attic—may also give you some ideas Solid old beam? have been revealed in many old houses, though they often look like what they are rough structural elements that the builders never for a moment intended visitors to see

Old masonry is to be regarded with the same wary eye: always conserve what you can, but don't be tempted to reveal surfaces if you believe that was never the mason's intention. Sloppy, untooled mortar joints and broken brick pieces that are just packed at random into openings are signs of masonry work that was to be cov­ered up, perhaps by plaster or other surfaces.

Rehabilitating a house requires more than satisfying your own desires. The best remodeling work on old houses almost invariably involves preserving some original elements, restoring others, and identifying how the new work can augment the old.