Demolishing Anachronistic Features of a House

Sometimes in our line of work, we come across architectural features that aren't original to the structure or are added, but don't fit in with the historic character of the house. In these cases a little demo is required before rebuilding.

We restored the Hilary Baker House in Church Hill a couple of years back and this is one area that the client couldn't address at the time. Two years later, we are finally getting to remove this anachronistic porch. What we now see as the front of the house was actually the back of the house in 1819 when this house was built. At this point this would have been the only house on a large lot. Over the years, development of the neighborhood by filling in portioned lots with row-houses has turned this around.

We will be putting in a period-appropriate stone porch here in the near future.

Custom door frame also known as Syd's most favorite project ever

This is the door frame that I am replicating. This door frame is made from one solid timber, with channels cut in to take the little bead detail you can see here. This is the back door of the house.

The front door was replaced, and the proportions were all wrong. In order to make the jamb, I had to glue up two boards to mimic the large timber (top photo). In the two lower images, the channels are begun. Today I will let in a small bead. Keep posted for the finished product!

Trimming out the basement at Hilary Baker

The RBVa crew has been hustling to come behind the subcontractors with trim and detail in the basement.

We're installing a wainscoting knee wall with a fir cap. Syd has been putting lots of thought into scribing the cap to fit the profile of the brick wall behind it. We are, as usual, backpriming the wainscoting to ensure lasting quality to our work - Sean is working on that.

The stairs that Chris built are also coming along nicely, with wainscotting and skirt in place. The scribing on the skirt against the brick wall is beautiful. Treads should be coming soon - we are re-using old original ones and getting replacements milled out of old wood for the treads that weren't original.

We've got various other projects in the works around the house. Ben has been working on making sure we stay ahead of the subs and have everything ready for plumbers, electric, and HVAC. Nick has been prepping the floors for the floor sander by setting nails and securing any lose boards. Cody is setting up our brand new trim saw to replace an old one that wore out. Mo has been working on replacing broken panes of glass in transom windows around the house.

200 year old letter found!

Letter found in a rats' nest behind the base trim at the Hilary Baker house. The letter is addressed to Mr. H Baker and dated March 23rd, 1815. The text is legible but not necessarily decipherable.  Will post more information after the experts look it over. 

Other things found yesterday while cleaning: a tiny bird skeleton, a few buttons, some periodicals from 1885 (35 cents for mens' garters!), a license plate from 1923, and a tiny wooden comb.