The company is involved in so many projects right now I don't always get the whole story of what I am working on until I show up on site for the first time. When I turned down an unassuming suburban cul-de-sac a few miles outside of Boston in Milton, MA, the last thing I expected was a 1776 house full of colonial character, beautifully manicured gardens, and a bit of derelict charm.
The house, originally a summer cottage use by the Colonial Governor of Massachusetts Jonathan Belcher, was owned by the town historical society until being purchased by the current owner for use as a private residence. In an interesting approach to phased restoration, the owner has chosen to restore one side of the exterior of the home per year. During each phase, window, door, siding, framing, and shutter repairs are made on the given exterior elevation before painters do their badly needed finish work.
At the South entrance of the home, the bulk of our work revolves around replacing a massive badly rotted door sill that spans the oversized front door and adjacent sidelight windows. The trim and base of the pilasters will also require replacement as well as some clapboards. Finally, we will remove a badly broken shutter for refurbishment in the shop.
After making some field drawings of the parts and pieces to be replaced, we spent the day removing rotten section of the old door sill as well as making a few repairs to some vulnerable areas of the roof. We will be back soon to finish the work but I managed to snap some pictures of this awesome piece of history.
Posts
