Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-06-18
Making Over Old Houses.

From The Builder
To those who contemplate ''making over" an
old house, the famous advice to candidates for
matrimony is supposed to be always pertinent
don't" But as in the one case, in spite Of
this prohibitory counsel, the children of men
still continue to marry and to be given in mar
rage, so in the other, notwithstanding much
apparently disastrous experience, men persist
in renOvating, remodeling, rebuilding, charging
and otherwise attempting to rejuvinate their
old houses They are likely to continue to do
this as long as love of home exists, as long as
families Increase in numbers and men improve
their own worldly condition or find the houses
of their fathers inadequate to their own wants.
1t Is the commOnest thing in the world to find
that the making over of an old house has re-
CURED greater outlay than would have been
necessary to build anew outright, while there
still remain in the renovated structure radical
defects which could easily have been avoided if
the building had been new and yet if this
losing experience were well known to be the
rule rather than the exception, it is probable
that men would still go on trying to improve
their old houses by patches. amendments and
compromises. There are various reasons for
this apparent lack of wise management
Sentimental considerations, though often I'M
acknowledged, are undoubtedly strong. The
love OF home, however hOmely, is an Anglo
Saxon instinct of such strength that it seems
almost sacrilege to destroy its visible temple,
though 1t may be old-fashioned, inconvenient
and unsuited to present needs Moreover. 1t is
not readily believed that 1t will really and truly
cost quite as much to ''make over" what is al
ready in existence as to begin at the beginning
and produce new structure from raw mate
rails. Deliberately and with malice aforethought.
to pull house down. fromturret to foundation,
leaving not one stone upon another, seems SO
much more destructive and wasteful than taking
1T down by degrees, replacing the removed por-
tions one at a time as the work goes on. Yet
every builder knows that the Inconvenience and
loss that result from working in this way far
more than offset the small amount Of rough ma
teral that may be saved.
Still another apparent motive exists when it
Is desired to keep the house in the same old
place. The occupants labor under the pleasing
delusion that they can save rent and trouble of
moving by beginning the work of renewal at
one corner and working gradually toward the
other extreme, somewhat as the plague crosses
continent or q cyclone moves across western
territory, the house being all the while habit
able without serious annoyance. Experience is,
perhaps, the most efficient teacher on this
point. Those who have tried it will generally
assent to the old estimate in geometrlcal pro-
erosion with another term added: Three house
cleanings eq ual one moving. three movings one
fire and three fires one remodeng.
But there is another and most worthy and
honorable side to the question of making over
an old house; not additions, simply, they are
always In order, some of the most charming
houses in the world having grown with the
growth OF the families occupying them. their
added wings and stories indicating the increased
numbers and strength of the household But
aside from alterations that are additions simply
"made over" house has often this advantage
over a new one; it has been lived in; it's merits
and defects, both Of which exist in every house
that ever was built, have been discovered by
actual use and if the right changes are made In
the right way 1t will fit its occupants after its
conversion better than new one 1t has some
what the same superiority. to set forth great
things by small, which suit of clothes that is
made to order and tried on" before compile
ton, has over suit that is bought ready
made"
When thorough remodelng is undertaken
there are two courses at opposite extremes, one
OF which, especially as regards the exterior,
should always be pursued. Contrary to the
common rule, there Is danger rather than safety
In the middle course. Either the style of the
old, provided 1t ever had a style, should be re-
ligiously maintained and reproduced in the addi-
TONS no matter how antiquated it may be, or
else the old should be treated with entire con-
tempt, making no pretence, Of preserving any
part which is not In harmony with the new. AS
American architecture has unfortunately little
that is worth saving for it's own sake, with the
rare exceptions that may have historical value
the latter is more likely to be the most promis-
ing route, especially when it will cost more to
match the details of the old work than to
make new for the whole.