Join Old House Journal as we celebrate all month long with exclusive online content on all things restoration and preservation, giveaways, and a live webinar.
To follow along with us during Historic Preservation Month, be sure to check back here and on our social media sites all month long as we continue to share the message of “Saving Our Heritage One House at a Time” with the participation of our like-minded sponsors.
Look for more content throughout Historic Preservation Month in May.
The Wide World of Preservation
The words “historic preservation” retain some of their snooty image, I suppose, but my own involvement in it has been down and dirty, especially under the fingernails. Given it to do over, I’d marry this field all over again. I love both the work on old houses and the magazine work. Preservation has allowed me to pursue so many interests; I’ve never been bored. Through OHJ, I learned about construction and building mechanics, social history, architectural styles and terminology, design . . . and the ghosts who walk the halls. I’ve been privy to beautiful work past and present that could only have come from the maker’s soul.
I’ve met great people: a motley and dedicated assortment of chemists and architects, engineers and decorators, historians and writers. Remarkably, all share a kind of joyful dedication. The people who end up involved with old houses have a penchant to blur the line between work and home life. They want to leave things better than they found them.
As a homeowner who restored old houses for my family to live in, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that preservation has given us back our past. As I research a house or work on it, I find myself in touch with previous owners—those who are gone—not in a spooky way but because it forces me to see how short our time is. I find in most old-house people, as I’ve found growing in myself, a respect for the past and because of that, better perspective.
Most old houses are not exemplars, and nobody famous ever lived there. But even a stoic little Cape or Greek Revival farmhouse embodies centuries of history and, well preserved, is a cultural artifact. Victorian houses and Craftsman Bungalows conjure an era. A cluster of old houses defines a neighborhood or town. It’s all worthy.
~ Patricia Poore, Editorial Director of Old House Journal
Plus: Cheap Old House, thoughts from Peter H. Miller, Hon. AIA
Design feature: Preservation at Home
Case Studies of Residential Preservation
Sponsor Exclusives
- Abatron, Inc. – Providing Tools for Window Pros
- 3 Ways to Make Your Windows Last Another Hundred Years
- The Kitchen: Heart of the Home, More Than Ever
Preservation Help for Homeowner
- State Historic Preservation Offices
- Incentives for Old-House Preservation
- How to Research Your Home’s Past
- Easements Explained
Giveaways
- Whether you’re needing somewhere to turn for repairing, rehabilitating, updating, or decorating your homes in classic style, or you have a new home built with the integrity of yesterday and the modern innovations of today and are looking for inspiration—no matter the case, there is a giveaway for you!
- Winners will be announced no later than June 5, 2021.
Thank you to our Historic Preservation Month sponsors:
