Restoring Your Historic House: The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners

Although there are other books about renovating old houses, this is the first that prioritizes the identification and preservation of the historic, character-defining features of a house as a starting point in the process. That is the purpose of this book: to describe and illustrate a best-practices approach for updating historic homes for modern life in ways that do not attempt to turn an old house into a new one. The book also suggests many ways to save money in the process, without settling for cheap or inappropriate solutions. Scott Hanson is a historic-building preservation professional and has 40 years' experience rehabilitating historic houses. He has illustrated this authoritative book with hundreds of step-by-step photos, illustrations, charts, and decision-making guides. Interspersed throughout are photo essays of 13 restored historic houses representing a range of periods and architectural styles: Italianate, Victorian, Queen Anne, Federal, Colonial, Colonial Revival, Greek Revival, Ranch, Adobe, Craftsman, Shingle, and Rustic. With interior and exterior photography by David Clough, these multi-page features show what can be achieved when a historic home is renovated with a desire to preserve or restore as much historic character as possible.

Scott T. Hanson has thought deeply about the renovation of historic homes in his 40 years as a designer, carpenter, municipal district regulator, historic preservation consultant, and architectural historian. His own fifteen-year renovation of a historic house, doing most of the work himself, allowed him to put his ideas to the test and to learn from his mistakes while accumulating the library of how-to photos that illustrates this book. Scott is the Director of Preservation Consulting Services for Sutherland Conservation and Consulting. He has researched and written numerous National Register nominations of historic building documentation projects. He is also the co-author of Homes Down East: Classic Maine Coastal Cottages and Town Houses.

David J. Clough has had a lifelong fascination with images that tell a story. His architectural photography places exteriors and interiors within a context of spaces that the built environment does not encompass. He lived for ten years in Japan, where his work has been published in the Japan National Trust's Official Guidebook for the Yasuda House. A touring exhibit of his work in 2016 was exhibited in Venice, Yokohama, Milan, Suzhou (China), and Stockholm. His photography has appeared in Built Heritage Journal, Coastal Home, Down East, Maine Home + Design, and Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors magazines,and is also featured in Homes Down East.