The Lewis Conservation Center will be made up of five connected timber frames, a “Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn” where the Big House is a reproduction of the 1722 East Derry Meetinghouse. One frame, the Gallery, re-uses the Green Barn, a scribe rule frame from the 1740s. The Education frame has the same…
“They still call it Black Monday,” says Don Pendergast, standing over a 10″ x 16″ timber, 48′ long. He’s trying to grade a yard full of timbers destined for the Lewis Conservation Center while a wannabe April O’Neil peppers him with questions about his 20 year career grading wood for NELMA, the New England Lumber Manufacturer’s Association. He’s…
Many of our clients know that their building needs help, but don’t know where to start. It can be hard to understand how disparate repairs are interrelated, and which ones should take priority. Building committees must be able to convey the historical significance of their building, and phase repairs to raise funds over time. PTF…
PTF has worked with large urban museums like the MFA-Boston and remote historic sites like Wood Island Life Saving Station. Some follow strict preservation guidelines, like the Marrett House, and others are innovators in adaptive re-use, like the Mill at Freedom Falls. Some of our most interesting projects are the ones that defy categorization, like…
Church and Steeple repair can be daunting. Big, historic buildings face myriad problems that can be difficult to comprehend and prioritize. PTF has lifted churches on steel and rebuilt the undercarriage. We have threaded a 20′ bed timber through a 18″ x 18″ hole for an in situ repair, and removed entire clock towers to the…
An enduring feature of timber frames is that they can be dismantled and re-used. A traditional barn-raising, in which a community comes together to erect a frame in one day is preceded by weeks of joiners’ labor: cutting and fitting the posts, girts and braces, plates and tie beams. With the help of many hands, or…