D AMERICAN USE OHbw to l estore Them 1700-1850 by HENRY LIONEL
WILLIAMS and OTTALIE K. WILLIAMS DOUBLEDAY COMPANY, INC, Garden
Gity y New York 1946 X3ST XTXO 3ST To All Who Love Old Houses Credo
We believe That it is quite possible to create a modern, up-to-date
home in a small house belonging to another age, blending with the
quiet simplicity of old time living the advantages of present-day
labor-saving facilities, materials, and methods. That living in an
old-time house does not necessarily connote an old fashioned way of
life, with its accompaniments of drudgery and dirt. And it does
offer something besides the hard impersonality of plate glass, the
clinical asepsis of white enamel, the cacophony of clanging tin
cupboards, and hard lines that make a fetish of function at the
price of restful beauty and elevate the machine product above the
manual skills of the craftsman who put something of himself in
everything he made. That in this feverish age, when change is so
often mistaken for progress, we would all do well to consider the
advantages of a lessened tempo in our hours of relaxation. A less
challenging atmosphere than that which the modernists offer is a
step in the right direction. In our small towns, villages, and
rural countrysides we can still find these quiet backwaters small
worlds where harried human existence gives way to more natural
living, and people have time to be neighbors instead of competitors
in an economic race. There the quiet, unostentatious small house is
the symbol and the core of a way of life that is human a far cry
from the materialistic impersonality of the modern functional cage
that is the dream of those who forget that senti ment is as
important asreason in a full and rounded life. Preface buying of a
little old house to make into a home is, for - 1L the
understanding, a sentimental adventure that can bring rich rewards.
But to achieve the aim of making it livable, in the twentieth
century sense, without destroying its character and rubbing off the
mellow bloom of age, calls for far more knowledge and determi
nation than we may realize at first. More often than not, this job
of intelligent remodeling is coupled with the need for removing the
mistakes of others and restoring features that have been altered or
eliminated by those who did not value the things that give these
early houses their distinctive charm. Both of these matters require
attention soon after the house is bought. The process of acquiring
a house is, therefore, not the end but the beginning of a venture
that may bring years of satisfaction and happiness, or
disappointment and regrets. The decision lies in the manner in
which the restoration and adapta tions are carried out. These are
matters in which most people need help, for intelligence is no
valid substitute for experience, and enthu siasm is no sure guide.
The purpose of this book is to answer some of the questions which
every new owner of an old house must sometime ask to reveal the
skill and care which our forefathers put into the little houses
that became the first American homes and to show how their
character, developed and sometimes marred by time and human
activity, can be preserved or revived. If you are one of those who
seek, but have not yet found, one of these small houses built a
century and a half or two centuries ago, there is encouragement in
knowing how much can be done to re- 7 Prefacecapture the spirit of
the past and make it a splendid part of life today. Even in the
searching there are compensations for the time and effort spent. As
we discovered long ago, prospecting for an old-time house can be as
thrilling as a treasure hunt, and more worth while. As you drive
along quiet village streets, through tangled lanes and over hilltop
trails, or wade through hog wallows and farmyard mud in search of a
house, you are likely to acquire a good deal more than an appetite
and muddy shoes...
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