From the article (bold quotes), my thoughts (italics):

"Thousands of Americans are restoring historic homes today, and some of them probably shouldn’t be."

*Smile* lol

"Before rushing into alterations, you should understand what its significant, or character-defining, features are and prioritize the preservation of those."

If only people really cared about preserving architectural integrity. :-( The sad reality is, most of them don't, and they don't see anything wrong, whatsoever, with changing whatever they want about the house. After all, it's their house to do with, what they please. Which I totally understand.

Still, it's sad when a beautiful historic house is remuddled. I see it all the time in local real estate listings. :-( I get all excited to see a cute old house, and then BAM the interior photos suck the joy right out of me.

"Many historic houses have the more significant rooms toward the front and rooms with less detail toward the back and on the upper stories."

Dude, if only I could find a bunch of homes with this arrangement! My area of Central TX doesn't have very affordable houses -- period -- let alone good houses with living/kitchen/dining/foyer in front and bedrooms/baths/laundry in back. Total deal breaker for me, to have kids' bedrooms immediately off the street! :-O

"If contemporary interiors appeal to you but you like the exterior appearance of historic houses, please don’t gut an intact house."

Absolutely! But how to sell this idea to the masses....? It's really too bad that art programs are not given more importance in most public schools.

"The two most important things to do if you are considering the restoration of a historic house are to educate yourself about what you are getting into and find professionals with experience in the restoration field to do the work you won’t do."

It would be helpful to know *exactly* what title(s) these professionals hold... All I can think of is "architect with extensive historic renovation experience."

Previously in the article, the author mentioned "architectural historian" but I have NEVER heard that term before, here on the forums. Is that even a real title that would grant someone desirable results? How would the average consumer locate an architectural historian? Or is that just another way of saying, "architect with extensive historic renovation experience"?

Good article, Miss CP. :-D

One of the best things I learned from this site (after purchasing an almost 200 year old home) was to be patient. First, repair anything that allows water, elements in the house such as roof repairs and weatherstripping. Then wait at least a year to get to know the house and how life functions in it. Use that year to research and learn about how the house was built, what it would have looked like knew, what other same age houses in the area look like. Then proceed with changes/repairs that are appropriate and sympathetic to the house and yard.

Fortunately my interior walls are brick so ruining it with the "open concept" style couldn't be done to it by PO's.

Still, it's sad when a beautiful historic house is remuddled. I see it all the time in local real estate listings. :-( I get all excited to see a cute old house, and then BAM the interior photos suck the joy right out of me.

That's why we wound up building a new house to have the look and feel of an older craftsman house instead of buying an older home. Too many here had been completely remuddled and the cost to try and bring it back to even half it's original beauty would have been prohibitive.

I'd add "Avoid architects and designers." Especially young aspiring types, who want to "re-imagine" and re-orient the past, typically defacing historical facades by removing porches and roofs and replacing multi-lite windows with ubiquitous blank eyes. And all in colours far removed from the original designs.

"Previously in the article, the author mentioned "architectural historian" but I have NEVER heard that term before, here on the forums. Is that even a real title that would grant someone desirable results? How would the average consumer locate an architectural historian? Or is that just another way of saying, "architect with extensive historic renovation experience"?"

Wasn't Magnaverde an "architectural historian"?

ETA: Excellent article. Thanks for sharing, CPartist.

"It's really too bad that art programs are not given more importance in most public schools."

This would help. I'd like to see the disdain for recent history mollified as well. ("Updating" houses as often as recommended by the powers that be isn't good for the pocketbook nor the environment. But that's a whole other discussion...)

On a site I follow, for friends and lovers of MCM, a poster had a picture of the fireplace in their 1950s home that they wanted to make more period-appropriate. The thing is, it was entirely appropriate to a 1950s home, very mc, just not mc"M" enough for the owner.

I would love to read that article but unfortunately I can't access the link. Can someone try to include it in a comment?
This topic is a hot button for me. My community is known for being a top area to buy an affordable historic home so lots of good and bad examples in the area. Until COVID, we had a yearly historic homes tour which showcased interesting homes in various neighborhoods. Local preservation groups are often a great source of referrals and knowledge.

This house is just down the road from me, built in the late 1800s:
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/7837-Brown-Gulf-Rd_Manlius_NY_13104_M34920-57891
I wonder why it hasn't sold?

Omg, Seabornman - that hurts to look at. That poor old house.

Yikes! For contrast, enjoy this beautiful house with more sympathetic updates https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/510-N-Worth-Ave_Elgin_IL_60123_M73187-05775

Lyndee, they need to properly hang those stick on shutters.

here is one sort of around here. I have mixed feelings because they absolutely did save a historic structure. And there isn’t anything wrong with it. they did quality work. There was no option besides a full gut. But the interior is just so very very 2019. And the exterior is from 1842. Perhaps the buyer can make them blend better

https://www.estately.com/listings/info/17-church-street--47

Church Street: They did get the shutters right! Unfortunately those don't look like original windows. One thing that I don't understand is why you would put an apartment washer & dryer in a regular sized house unless they are secondary.

The exterior counts most in my book in a historic community. And all for a price that wouldn't buy much of anything in urban centres!

@User, those are normal sized washer & dryer, just stacked to save floor space.

@worthy. Yes I used to live in a high cost of living area. And this is a low col area. i am still surprised how cheap things are here. Of course salaries tend to be lower. And career opportunities more limited.

That house is in a sweet location and a school district that’s considered among the best of the best nationwide. I do wonder if an increase in work from home is going to cause some migration to lower cost areas overall!

Some locations will even pay you to relocate if you have a work from home job. How about Tulsa? https://www.today.com/tmrw/would-you-relocate-10-000-towns-across-us-offer-incentives-t200838
Lots of affordable older (and newer) properties; 125 listings under $100K

My husband and I bought our first house in 2005, a Craftsman that had beautiful potential but had all the character covered up. Living room had baby blue paint with marbled blue carpeting, many layers of paint on the brick fireplace. Dining room had everything painted peach and white including the built ins. Luckily, they didn't completely get rid of the historical elements, just covered them in tons of paint and carpeting.

We spent about 10 years restoring the house, doing a lot of the work ourselves. Here is what it looked like when we sold it. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/526-Brittania-St_Los-Angeles_CA_90033_M11095-00062

There are lots of projections that the move to the suburbs/ex-urbs and beyond will continue post-Covid. Exorbitant taxes, animousity to business and the meltdown of community order in the US red-state cities adds to that impetus. I fled the Rotten Apple to TO many years ago for exactly those reasons. Interesting to see the process repeat itself. In fact, we later left TO for a bordering city for some of the same reasons.

LL that is an incredible job you did

Gorgeous house LL

Thanks! I was in my 20s at the time and didn't have kids yet, so I had all the energy and time to work on the restoring over the years we lived there. I could never take something like that on at this time now though LOL. I'm happy that we left the house with integrity that the new owners appreciated and will keep. That neighborhood has a lot of flipping and it's pretty sad to see what has been done to a lot of the historic homes there.