Identify, Retain and Preserve
Identifying, retaining, and preserving entrances
and porches from the restoration period--and their functional
and decorative features--such as doors, fanlights, sidelights,
pilasters, entablatures, columns, balustrades, and stairs.
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Located in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, Villa Lewaro was the home of Madam C.J.
Walker, creator of a popular line of African-American
hair care products and the woman reputed to be
America's first black female millionaire. The three-story
structure with its significant porticoed entrance, is the design of
Vertner Tandy, New York's first licensed black
architect. Photo: HABS Collection, NPS.
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Altering entrances and porch features from the restoration
period.
Failing to properly document entrance and porch features
from the restoration period which may result in their
loss.
Applying paint or other coatings to entrance and porch
features or removing them if such treatments cannot
be documented to the restoration period.
Changing the type or color of protective surface coatings
on entrance and porch features unless the work can be
substantiated by historical documentation.
Stripping entrances and porches of sound material such
as wood, iron, cast iron, terra cotta, tile and brick.
Protect and Maintain
Protecting and maintaining the masonry, wood, and
architectural metals that comprise restoration period
entrances and porches through appropriate surface treatments
such as cleaning, rust removal, limited paint removal,
and re-application of protective coating systems.
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The primary character-defining aspect of this early 20th century building is its long arcaded entrance.
If the arcade were to be removed,
the exterior visual character of the building
would be totally changed. Its repair and preservation are thus critical. Photo: NPS files.
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Evaluating the existing condition of materials to
determine whether more than protection and maintenance
are required, that is, if repairs to entrance and porch
features will be necessary.
Failing to provide adequate protection to materials
on a cyclical basis so that deterioration of entrances
and porches results.
Failing to undertake adequate measures to assure the
protection of historic entrances and porches from the
restoration period.
Repair
Repairing entrances and porches from the restoration
period by reinforcing the historic materials. Repairs
will also generally include the limited replacement
in kind--or with compatible substitute material--of
those extensively deteriorated or missing parts of repeated
features where there are surviving prototypes such as
balustrades, cornices, entablatures, columns, sidelights,
and stairs. The new work should be unobtrusively dated
to guide future research and treatment.
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Portions of the small porch on an Italianate
mansion were carefully numbered prior to Restoration.
Some original elements were restored in place,
while others had to be removed for repair, then
reinstalled. Any element too deteriorated to save
was replaced with a new one replicated to match
the original design. Photo: Morgan W. Phillips.
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Replacing an entire entrance or porch feature from the
restoration period when the repair of materials and
limited replacement of parts are appropriate.
Using a substitute material for the replacement part
that does not convey the visual appearance of the surviving
parts of the entrance and porch or that is physically
or chemically incompatible
Replace
Replacing in kind an entire entrance or porch from
the restoration period that is too deteriorated to repair--if
the form and detailing are still evident--using the
physical evidence as a model to reproduce the feature.
If using the same kind of material is not technically
or economically feasible, then a compatible substitute
material may be considered. The new work should be unobtrusively
dated to guide future research and treatment.
Removing an entrance or porch feature from the restoration
period that is unrepairable and not replacing it; or
failing to document the new work.
The following Restoration
work is highlighted to indicate that it involves
the removal or alteration of existing historic
masonry features that would be retained in Preservation
and Rehabilitation treatments; and the replacement
of missing masonry features from the restoration
period using all new materials.
Removing Existing Features from Other Historic
Periods
Removing or altering entrances and porches
and their features from other historic periods
such as a later porch railing or balustrade.
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The Meyer May House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, which featured a distinctive low-roofed porch, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and constructed in 1909 (top left). Over the years, the shape of the house and the porch had become obscured by the addition of more bedrooms upstairs and downstairs in 1922, and later subdivision of the house into apartments (right). In the 1980s, after historians concluded that the original Wright design was more significant than any later changes, the house and the porch were restored to their 1909 appearance based on physical and pictorial evidence (bottom left). Photos: NPS Files.
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Documenting materials and features dating
from other periods prior to their alteration or
removal. If possible, selected examples of these
features or materials should be stored to facilitate
future research.
Failing to remove an entrance or porch feature
from another period, thus confusing the depiction
of the building's significance.
Failing to document entrance or porch features
from other historic periods that are removed from
the building so that a valuable portion of the
historic record is lost.
Re-creating Missing Features
from the Restoration Period
Re-creating a missing entrance or porch or
its features that existed during the restoration
period based on physical or documentary evidence;
for example, duplicating a fanlight or porch column.
Constructing an entrance or porch feature that
was part of the original design for the building
but was never actually built; or constructing
a feature which was thought to have existed during
the restoration period, but for which there is
insufficient documentation.
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