For some homeowners, older houses mean solid construction, careful attention to architectural details and a link to earlier times--when craftsmanship was acquired by doing and the results conveyed a builders identity. Houses built before 1964 offer their owners unique preservation opportunities to return to those standards and to reconnect with Kansas history.

Active preservation efforts by public and private entitles on the local, state and national levels also provide tax incentives, tax credits and available grants to qualifying properties for all stages of the restoration process. Historical preservation can bring up to 90 percent rebates from city tax increases on improvements and, with state or National Register of Historic Places designation, properties become eligible for income tax credits and restoration grants. Beyond financial incentives, historic preservation of older properties also conveys intangible rewards: Improved neighborhoods, better aesthetics from coherent and authentic architecture, and the security that comes with structural integrity.

Restoration may reveal hidden gemsa previously unknown cast-plaster or pressed-metal ceiling, finely crafted details beneath painted wood trim or clues to engineering innovations to resolve 19th Century building dilemmas, said Wes Darnell, of WDM Architects.

Darnell, founding member of WDM Architects in Wichita, specializes in historic preservation. WDM is one of very few Kansas firms offering historic preservation expertise; its past preservation efforts have focused predominantly on public and commercial structures, including the Andover Public Library in Andover, KS, and within Wichitas historic district. WDMs year-long restoration of the Eaton Hotel returned it to its 1883-1900 design and recreated the last block of old downtown Wichita. By comparison, architectural involvement in residential restorations is rare, Darnell said, for budget reasons and because city historic preservation offices now help in this work.

Katrina Ringler defines Three Rs to fixing up older houses renovation, restoration or rehabilitation each with a different goal to making repairs. Ringler, who is with the Historic Preservation Office, within the Cultural Resources Division at the Kansas State Historical Society, deals with non-profits, private home owners, public and private groups fixing up structures built more than 50 years ago.

Most home-owners or real estate investors are interested in renovating an older home to increase its re-sale value on the housing market, or to make it more livable as a rental or as their own home. Renovating might involve upgrading the kitchen cabinets and counters, adding a modern bathroom and re-wiring electrical outlets to facilitate the location of a dishwasher or clothes dryer. Add a coat of paint, some wood sealer and the house is ready for move-in.

By comparison, rehabbing a house, means paying attention to authentic, historical details in upgrading the structure, Ringler said. The objective is to reproduce the character and appearance of the original architecture while adding modern conveniences to increase occupant comfort. This might include improved electrical wiring, modern plumbing and central air. Outside the house should look like it did when first built, say vintage 1900 architecture, but inside, the home has all the comforts of today.

Restoring is the most difficult approach and means returning the structure to the time period of its construction, both in character and detail, to retain its historical integrity. An 1880 home or courthouse would be restored to an 1880 standardno air conditioning, indoor plumbing or dual-pane windows. These restoration standards are maintained by successful nomination to local, state or national historic registers. Nomination to the Register of Historic Kansas Places requires application at the state level and can take up to 12 months for a decision by the Kansas Board of Review. Successful nomination carries tax incentives and makes the sponsoring preservationists eligible to apply for annual renovation-aid grants of up to $90,000. By law, half this funding goes to restore public buildings like courthouses, one-room schools and other structures with documented historical significance and a demonstrable benefit to the community.

Local, State and National Historic Registers

A separate review process for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, administered through the National Parks Service, can earn federal tax incentives and eligibility for restoration grants. Information is available online, at the NRHP website, http://www.nps.gov/nr/research/. Topeka also accepts applications for its Local Landmarks program. For properties so designated, the city conveys an historic zoning overlayprotecting the property, and adding a review by the council-appointed zoning board for changes that require a building permit. Those interested in Local Landmark applications, city property tax rebates and grant eligibility should contact Tim Parish, Topekas Historic Preservation Planner, 785-368-3013.

Excerpt from:
At Home Living: Could your home be a historical landmark?

RIPLEY, Ohio | From the days when runaway slaves sought a beacon of hope at his home above the Ohio River, to years of changes and plans for restoration, the time to tell the story of the late Rev. John Rankin and his part in history is near.

"He preached anti- slavery from his pulpit," said Betty Campbell, Ripley Heritage Incorporated volunteer site manager for the Rankin House historic site, during a media tour of the restoration process at the site. "... stressing you cannot own another human."

The Rankin family lived in the home from 1829-1866.

In 1938, Ohio Historic Society, now known as Ohio History Connection, acquired the site.

In 1981 it turned over management of the site to Ripley Heritage Incorporated, which has worked with OHC to secure grants and research programs to clarify the design and use of each area of the house, and get the restoration done.

Though other phases of the project have gone on over many years, the hard core restoration, with research into everything from paint and stenciling to shutter placement, began about a year ago and is set to be completed by re-dedication of the site on Aug. 23.

On that day the house will be open, free to the public, with re-dedication ceremonies at 11 a.m.

The most amazing find in the project is the section of original stenciling in Rankin's bedroom/study, officials said.

Once the stenciling was ready to be recreated, it took about two and half weeks to complete the process, said Kris Lemon, artist and owner of Deco Works which is completing the wall decor.

"This setting is fabulous," Lemon said.

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Rankin House revisiting historic times

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Soldiers relocate Brisbane's Eternal Flame from the cenotaph on Thursday to begin a "huge transformation of Anzac Square".

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk says he is confident Brisbanes Eternal Flame will be safe from vandals during its temporary relocation while the CBD cenotaph is renovated.

On Thursday, the flame was moved to a small fenced plot in Anzac Square, about 25 metres away the Ann Street site it has occupied since 1930.

While the cenotaph flame was protected by locked gates and is in full view of Ann Street, the temporary location is down the slope in Anzac Square behind a fence only about a metre high.

Brisbanes Eternal Flame has been temporarily moved from the Ann Street site it has occupied since 1930. Photo: Bradley Kanaris

I think people will respect the flame, what it means and obviously the reality is we have some CCTV coverage as well, Cr Quirk said.

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Well be watching, well be making sure the respect that ought to be maintained for this flame is maintained.

With a small crowd in attendance, including senior veterans, Corporal Christopher Purdie was given the honour of taking a burner from the cenotaph, walking down its steps and lighting the fire at the new location.

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Eternal Flame's temporary home

Video will begin in 5 seconds.

Soldiers relocate Brisbane's Eternal Flame from the cenotaph on Thursday to begin a "huge transformation of Anzac Square".

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk says he is confident Brisbanes Eternal Flame will be safe from vandals during its temporary relocation while the CBD cenotaph is renovated.

On Thursday, the flame was moved to a small fenced plot in Anzac Square, about 25 metres away the Ann Street site it has occupied since 1930.

While the cenotaph flame was protected by locked gates and is in full view of Ann Street, the temporary location is down the slope in Anzac Square behind a fence only about a metre high.

Brisbanes Eternal Flame has been temporarily moved from the Ann Street site it has occupied since 1930. Photo: Bradley Kanaris

I think people will respect the flame, what it means and obviously the reality is we have some CCTV coverage as well, Cr Quirk said.

Advertisement

Well be watching, well be making sure the respect that ought to be maintained for this flame is maintained.

With a small crowd in attendance, including senior veterans, Corporal Christopher Purdie was given the honour of taking a burner from the cenotaph, walking down its steps and lighting the fire at the new location.

Read the original post:
New home for Brisbane's Eternal Flame

Video will begin in 5 seconds.

Soldiers relocate Brisbane's Eternal Flame from the cenotaph on Thursday to begin a "huge transformation of Anzac Square".

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk says he is confident Brisbanes Eternal Flame will be safe from vandals during its temporary relocation while the CBD cenotaph is renovated.

On Thursday, the flame was moved to a small fenced plot in Anzac Square, about 25 metres away the Ann Street site it has occupied since 1930.

While the cenotaph flame was protected by locked gates and is in full view of Ann Street, the temporary location is down the slope in Anzac Square behind a fence only about a metre high.

Brisbanes Eternal Flame has been temporarily moved from the Ann Street site it has occupied since 1930. Photo: Bradley Kanaris

I think people will respect the flame, what it means and obviously the reality is we have some CCTV coverage as well, Cr Quirk said.

Advertisement

Well be watching, well be making sure the respect that ought to be maintained for this flame is maintained.

With a small crowd in attendance, including senior veterans, Corporal Christopher Purdie was given the honour of taking a burner from the cenotaph, walking down its steps and lighting the fire at the new location.

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Brisbane's Eternal Flame in temporary new home

Theres a big piece of eastern Connecticut Colonial-era history right in Washington. And its for sale.

What is known as the Avery Homestead was moved piece by piece from Preston during the middle of the last decade and became the home of the Lovelace family, the 250-plus-year-old dwelling merged impeccably with a modern addition on Upper Church Hill Road. The home, which has 10 rooms, four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and sits on almost 13 acres of pristine countryside, is listed for $2.195 million. Peter Klemm of Klemm Real Estate is the listing agent.

This quintessential gentlemans farm entails all the factors that represent the romance of Litchfield County living, said Mr. Klemm. The house offers the best of both the old and new world. It provides the authenticity, charm and character of an antique house with the amenities and reliability of modern construction.

Originally built in 1755 by Capt. John Avery for his son, John Avery Jr., and his new bride in Preston, the home was carefully dismantled, relocated and rebuilt in Washington. The interior of the main house has been restored to its original state in 1755, while the new addition includes a modern kitchen with high-end appliances and a large family living area that provides stunning views of the property.

Vermont soapstone was tastefully used for the kitchens countertops and center island. The kitchen also has an array of Wolf appliances, including the gas range, conventional and microwave ovens, as well as both a Subzero commercial-size refrigerator/freezer and separate wine-cooler. A living area off of the kitchen and dining room incorporated original wood beams from the Avery Homestead.

A main keeping room features original exposed post and beams and oak wide board paneling and floorboards.

The room has a massive stone fireplace, with a center beehive oven, that is the focal point of the room. The two front rooms of the house, one currently used as a music room and the other as a formal dining area, showcase impressive (especially for the era in which the house was originally built) paneled walls and floorboards.

Each of the front rooms has its own fireplace built with the original brick.

The front staircase of the home conceals a small secret that had been hidden for nearly 300 years. When the staircase was being removed during the dismantling of the house, the original builders (John Averys) signature, written in chalk, was discovered on the inside of the staircase.

The house has tall ceilings for its pre-Revolutionary War period and intricately carved paneled walls that reflect the wealth of its original builder, a well-to-do and respected farmer, goldsmith and clockmaker. Continued...

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Avery Homestead, a Relocated Restoration, on the Market

When Ann Marohn led the first tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, Ill., 40 years ago, she entered through a garage on the building's south side. Green shag carpets, water-damaged walls and uneven floors greeted visitors inside.

"All of the rooms needed a great deal of work," Marohn, 78, said recently.

A middle-school English teacher who had developed an interest in Wright, Marohn was selected to lead that first tour in July, 1974, after the building came under public ownership. She typed up some notes and led visitors into a maze of a building that over the next dozen years would be meticulously restored.

"I just tried to tell the story I knew and tell them what the house would ultimately look like," said Marohn, who still conducts tours.

Marohn has been part of a celebration in connection with the home marking marking 40 years of tours.

The restoration of the Home and Studio, a massive volunteer-led effort that took 13 years, also started in 1974, said John Thorpe, 69, one of three architects who led the restoration.

He and other volunteers worked to restore the 1889 building to the way it looked in 1909, the last year Wright lived there, Thorpe said.

Wright used the Home and Studio as a testing ground while developing and refining the unique architectural style that would come to be known as the Prairie School of Architecture, Thorpe said.

A group of around 10 volunteers gathered most Saturday mornings to help restore the home, Thorpe said.

The restoration cost about $2.5 million, Thorpe said, noting the amount was in 1987 dollars and would be much more in today's dollars.

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Frank Lloyd Wright home marks 40 years of tours

Arlington, Va.

A historic plantation originally built as a monument to George Washington overlooking the nations capital, a site that later was home to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and 63 slaves, will be restored to its historical appearance using a $12.3 million gift from a wealthy history buff.

David Rubenstein, a billionaire history buff and co-founder of The Carlyle Group, said July 17 he is giving the National Park Foundation the funds needed for a full restoration of the historic house, grounds and slave quarters to show visitors how they appeared in 1860, as well as an overhaul of the sites museum exhibits. Rubenstein said the site crowns the most sacred land in the country, Arlington National Cemetery, but needed major repairs.

Rubenstein also has given multimillion-dollar gifts in recent years to restore the Washington Monument, the first presidents Mount Vernon estate and Thomas Jeffersons home at Monticello, including a recreation of its historic slave quarters.

The goal is to remind people of American history, Rubenstein said. I think when youre restoring history, you should remind people of the good and the bad.

Arlington House, as it is known, was built between 1802 and 1818 by Washingtons step-grandson, George Washington Parke Custis and his slaves on a hilltop overlooking the new capital city and the Potomac River. Lee later married into the family, and it became his familys plantation estate.

After Lee resigned from the Union army and joined the Confederacy, Union troops captured the estate during the Civil War and made it their military headquarters to defend Washington from Virginia. Graffiti from Civil War soldiers is still visible in the mansions attic.

After the war, the area became a community for emancipated slaves, and Union troops began burying their war dead on the grounds, in part to prevent Lee from returning. It eventually became Arlington National Cemetery, the burial site for many soldiers as well as President John F. Kennedy.

The 200-year-old house and grounds symbolize the nations reconciliation after the Civil War, said National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis, but it is in poor condition.

The roof leaks inside, and the climate control system is so unstable some artwork cant be displayed. Decorative paint on the buildings facade is peeling away. Exhibits in a nearby museum building havent been updated in 30 years. The needs are part of an $11 billion backlog on maintenance across the national parks.

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Gift to restore Robert E. Lees home

An elderly couple who ran a pair of nonprofit faith-based ministries had a garage fire that severely damaged their Orlando house and everything in it. But they did have a lot of good karma stored up, which paid off.

When a fire struck the small Orlando home of Jeaney and Wayne Brooks, destroying their cars and leaving a sooty, acrid stench on everything they owned, they had no insurance to pay for repairs.

The couple both volunteer pastors at Discovery Church had only one thing going for them: karma.

The fire in late April was largely limited to the garage, but it was so hot it melted their vehicles and much of the wiring in the attic. Smoke blackened the attic and permeated every room.

"Both of us are seniors," Jeaney Brooks says. "We can't walk very well, and we both have breathing issues. We had let our homeowner's insurance lapse a couple of years earlier because we couldn't afford the premiums, so we couldn't fix anything."

At 69 and 71, the Brookses both have health issues. He suffers emphysema; she has apnea. The latter requires her to use a breathing machine each night so her oxygen levels don't drop to dangerous levels.

Despite those problems, they figured they had no choice but to continue living in a burned-out home with no functioning air conditioning. They had no idea there was a small army of volunteers about to come to their rescue.

In their years of working for a prison ministry and providing Christian counseling to women battling addiction, they had built up a reserve of good will. So, too, had Jeaney Brooks' son, Sam Burton, 40, who runs a tree-trimming service and has worked a gamut of construction jobs. Three years ago, he had joined the church's Discovery in Motion team to do community-service work. He'd help clear lots, shape landscaping, remove dead trees. He was a leader on a Holden Heights neighborhood-revitalization project.

"Sam is a standout," says Bill Schneider, 55, who spearheads the Discovery in Motion team. "He just shows up and works hard, and he's always volunteering his company's services."

At first, Burton tried to fix his mother and stepfather's home himself. But it quickly became obvious the project was too big for one person. Then Schneider and his wife, Liz Wenta, learned of the fire and reached out to a small community of contractors known for their generous hearts.

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Couple find good karma helps them heal | Video

Gail Cooper (left) and Kora Sevier have applied colours to the W.H. Falding house that accentuate the homes unique architectural features.

image credit: Grant Granger/NewsLeader

A facelift every 30 years or so is a good idea, especially at 123 years old.

The cute cottage that became the first home in New Westminster to receive heritage designation, and inspired formation of the New Westminster Heritage Preservation Society (NWHPS), now has a fresh look.

In the early 1980s, a group of residents decided to follow the example of fellow heritage enthusiasts in Victoria. They bought the gingerbread house at 431 Fourth St., built by B.C. Supreme Court registrar W.H. Falding in 1891. The plan was to restore it, resell it and reinvest the funds into buying and restoring others.

In 1985, it became the first home in the city to be designated as heritage. The list has since increased to 33, with plans in the works for more in the next year.

A huge amount of time, money and effort was put into making the cottage look beautiful by that original collection of idealists. But by the time they were done the real estate market had plunged and any dream of profit didnt pan out. The group eventually sold the home to Gail Cooper and her husband, put their hammers away and became heritage activists instead.

Those passionate preservationists eventually formed the New Westminster Heritage Foundation in 1992. One of its missions is to raise funds for an annual building grants program. Every year since 1997, thanks to its annual home tour, the society puts $10,000 toward the foundation which the city matches. The foundation doles out the $20,000 to homeowners to help them with their heritage restoration projects. In those 17 years, the foundation has given out 64 grants, including three for 2014.

The money is meant for those little historical extras that become quite costly. Theyre often projects that are lower priority in older homes.

If a person was going to spend some money and recreate some mouldings, that would be a nice thing to do but that wouldnt be as critical as someones house is leaking, said Ethel Field, a director of the heritage foundation who coordinates the grant giving.

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Heritage home comes full circle