If you’re working on a remodeling project that calls for removing old woodwork, here are some tricks from the pros to keep it intact so you can reuse it.
Photo: shaggybevo.com
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If you’re thinking of building new, you can streamline construction and save costs by going modular. Modular construction has come a long way in the last few years; if you shop around you can find a manufacturer that’s right for you.
Photo: rbahomes.com
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Acorn Street in Boston's Beacon Hill is one of the city's few remaining true cobblestone streets. Photo: blog.oyster.com
A walk through the historic districts of many older American cities will reveal a rustic and romantic street standard of the past: cobblestones.
Cobblestones date back to ancient times, with many pre-Roman cobbled streets dating back to the 3rd and 4th centuries. They’ve been used worldwide throughout history—mainly in Europe but also in Latin America—and are still in use and painstakingly maintained (stones are replaced and arranged by hand).
Before the advent of modern heating and cooling systems, home builders would design temperature control directly into a home’s layout. In warmer climates, that would often mean features such as deep porches and window awnings on the exterior, high ceilings on the interior. Colder-climate abodes positioned chimneys in central locations; some employed steeply pitched, Saltbox-style roofs to deflect northern winds.
Photo: kitgentry.com
Hasbrouck House—George Washington’s headquarters—Newburgh, NY
The Biltmore Estate, Ashville, NC. Photo: Jane Dagmi
I recently toured The Biltmore in Asheville, NC—a 250-room estate on 8,000 acres, the largest private home built in America. It is architecturally splendid, wildly romantic, and absurdly luxurious.
Inspired by chateaux in France, George Vanderbilt hired architect Richard Morris Hunt to interpret his vision and Frederick Law Olmsted to landscape it.
Over six years, 1,000 men worked six days a week to complete the estate, with George Vanderbilt and his guests christening Biltmore on Christmas Eve 1895.
This was my first visit to the estate, and from the moment I glimpsed it, my heartbeat seriously raced. I was in awe of the scale, the scenery, and the lifestyle that it must have supported.
Here are six of the Biltmore’s most memorable architectural features:
Photo: NewYorkPictures.org
Incredible garden inspiration can be just around the corner, especially if you live in a city that is graced with a park designed by legendary landscape architects Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted.
Architectural details fascinate me. Looking up at various historical buildings in and around the Hudson Valley, I always find myself noticing structures topped with decorative cornices.
Cornices date from classical Greek architecture and historically have served both functional and decorative purposes. On the functional side, cornices typically are basic horizontal structures designed to funnel rainwater away from a building’s walls and can be as simple as a straight, projecting ledge that caps the top edge of a wall; the term “cornice” actually is derived from the Italian word for ledge.
Photo: roofer911.com
Beloved for its impeccably researched and beautifully designed architectural history books, Acanthus Press recently introduced a pair of new titles concerning the evolution of American residential and landscape design.
Gardens for a Beautiful America tracks the evolution of landscape aesthetics in this country during the formative period 1895-1935. Enlivened with over 400 breathtakingly restored original photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston, this elegant, oversized tome allows a special glimpse into the grand aesthetics of a bygone era’s planted environments.
House Arc by Bellomo Architects
The House Arc, designed by Joseph Bellomo of Bellomo Architects in Palo Alto, California, is a kit home that represents an off-the-grid model for compact, easy-to-build housing. Featured as part of the Sunset Celebration Weekend in Menlo Park, CA, earlier this month, the 150-square-foot abode—with its lightweight, modular bent-steel tube construction, was conceived for both emergency shelters and backyard retreats. In addition to floor-to-ceiling doors, a trellis-shaded roof overhang, and various cladding options, the House Arc can be ordered with solar panels, plumbing, and furniture. Best of all, it comes flat-packed, shipped in a 4’ x 10’ x 3’ box, and ready for assembly. Prices range between $55,000 to $75,000. For more, including a film strip of an installation, check out the architect’s site.
For more compact, modular housing, consider:
The E.D.G.E.
Downsizing with Style
Chicago’s First Prefab Modular House
