Historic preservation, coffee, community + pink flamingos
Preservation Photos #22
A Greek Revival inspired doorway (and a creepy dentist chair sort of visible in the foreground) at Mason Brothers Architectural salvage in Essex Junction, VT. What are your thoughts on salvage? For it? Against it?
Very conflicting feelings on salvage. On one hand, if there is nothing that can be done to save the building from demo at least you can preserve elements for future study/enjoyment. On the other you have people demolishing a building (especially old barns) just to salvage parts (saw a kitchen completely made with “salvaged” wood from an old barn once- it was pretty and all but not at the expense of tearing something down just for that purpose).
Architectural salvage: for it, but more as a “last resort” for those buildings that are too far gone for the whole to be preserved. I’d hate to see people knocking down old buildings only to get at specific materials, it feels like looting! Salvaged materials can be an important part of a rehabilitation/restoration project, especially when the item you need to replace was mass-produced at one time in the past. Finding a salvage piece makes that “replacement in-kind” a lot easier!
Very conflicting feelings on salvage. On one hand, if there is nothing that can be done to save the building from demo at least you can preserve elements for future study/enjoyment. On the other you have people demolishing a building (especially old barns) just to salvage parts (saw a kitchen completely made with “salvaged” wood from an old barn once- it was pretty and all but not at the expense of tearing something down just for that purpose).
Architectural salvage: for it, but more as a “last resort” for those buildings that are too far gone for the whole to be preserved. I’d hate to see people knocking down old buildings only to get at specific materials, it feels like looting! Salvaged materials can be an important part of a rehabilitation/restoration project, especially when the item you need to replace was mass-produced at one time in the past. Finding a salvage piece makes that “replacement in-kind” a lot easier!