Time traveler 200-year-old house restored

Every remodeling project is a challenge, but restoring a Federal-style house that hasn't been lived in for 80 years is more a labor of love.

And so it was for builder Tom Glass of Glass Construction, who has long had a deep appreciation for heritage architecture and specializes in the restoration of such homes.

However, this project was a little different Glass set about restoring the 1797 house for his own family's use as a weekend retreat in the foothills of the Blue Mountains in Virginia.

"When I first saw the house, it was totally derelict and languishing in a cow paddock, but I fell in love with it," Glass says. "Woodlawn House, as it is known, is a fine example of 18th-century Federal-style American architecture. It has common architectural traits of the Tidewater Virginia region. The massive, dominant twin chimneys, which are connected by a single-story pent, were a distinctly regional characteristic at that time, but there are not many examples left."

Glass says the fenestration, the vertical composition of the facade atop an English basement, coupled with the steeply pitched roof create a very tall house that is also characteristic of the Mid Atlantic region.

"The real charm of these houses, however, is their construction. Everything in Woodlawn House was made by hand, from the bricks and wrought iron rose-headed nails in the beaded clapboard-style siding to the hand-hewn beams and the mortise-and-tenon joints held in place by wooden pegs. The beams and joists were all numbered and incised with Roman numerals at each mortise pocket and corresponding tenon."

This was a system that Glass adapted for the restoration. Because the house needed to be moved to a new site, it had to be dismantled board by board and brick by brick, and reassembled 150 miles away.

"Every framing member and every piece of wood was numbered and shipped on two 18-wheel tractor trailers. Where necessary, we milled new joists and large beams that had started to rot. These are exact replicas of the originals."

Glass also made a decision to leave the distressed wood exposed on the interior.

"The house is a classic example of the side hall Federal style, with a huge, paneled entry hall that runs from front to back. This accommodates the stairs, which still have virtually all their original balustrading. We thoroughly cleaned all the woodwork and sealed it."

Glass says it was never his intention to create a museum piece, or to be too purist about the restoration.

"All homes change as they are adapted for family living. Old photographs of this house show the porch was changed.

"We returned the porch to its original design. And we have made the door openings wider inside, to better connect the living spaces. Because the house has a strong symmetry, there are clear sightlines right through the house and out the windows on either side."

Glass says the original kitchen would have been in a separate building. But with two huge parlors measuring 16ft x 15ft, each with its own fireplace, the house provided plenty of space for a new kitchen.

"We wanted the kitchen to look as though it belonged to the house, so we copied the simple mouldings and trim found in other rooms for the cabinetry."

The dining table sits in the side hall, which has ample space for entertaining.

Story by: Colleen Hawkes