To see the article follow this link:
Friday, September 30, 2011
Rusty's in the Press!
Last week when AP reporter Stephanie Reitz came to visit the steel house she wrote an article about the house which has been sent out across the country on the AP wire. The story has already been run in over 100 papers!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Historic Preservation in New England Symposium
Work will not resume on Rusty until next week, but there is a symposium on historic preservation going on next weekend in Rhode Island for anyone who is interested in attending. Here's some information about it from preservation specialist Doug Royalty:
Rusty will be among the topics of discussion at a symposium on the future of historic preservation in New England on Saturday, Oct. 1, at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I.
The day-long symposium, titled “Looking Forward: Preservation in New England in the Twenty-First Century,” will bring preservation professionals and recent graduates of historic preservation and public history programs together to explore the opportunities and challenges facing preservationists in the region. Papers will explore subjects ranging from the preservation of “gendered space” at Smith College to the development of Cape Cod's modern summer houses.
My paper, “Preserving Progress: Assessing the Significance of a Small Steel House in New London,” will be part of the symposium’s “Integrity and Treatment” section. Royalty’s paper recounts the development of the steel house preservation planning and restoration project and discusses the challenges of determining significance, assessing integrity, and developing treatment plans for the mass-produced modernism represented by Rusty.
“Looking Forward: Preservation in New England in the Twenty-First Century” is sponsored by Historic New England, the country’s oldest and largest regional historic preservation organization, and Roger Williams University. Registration for the conference is $60 ($50 for Historic New England members) and includes breakfast, refreshments, lunch, and a reception. For students, registration includes a one-year individual membership to Historic New England.
More information on the “Looking Forward” symposium can be found at Historic New England's website, http://www.historicnewengland.org/events-programs/looking-forward-symposium, and on its Facebook events page, http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129345727143307
Friday, September 23, 2011
Day Nine
We’ve made it to the end of week two! Rusty isn’t completely disassembled, but most of the back of the house has been taken apart, packed up and sent back to Philadelphia. In addition, the interior wall panels in the bedrooms (the two rooms at the front of the house) have been removed along with all the insulation packed inside the walls. Loosening Rusty’s rusty fasteners has sometimes been slow going. That, combined with the bad weather over the last few days has put them a little behind schedule. Because they didn’t completely finish disassembly, as was the original plan, Milner + Carr Conservation will be back sometime next week to take down the rest of the house. The workers that were here this week left to return to Philadelphia this afternoon, taking with them a truck full of house parts.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Day Eight
Rusty is coming apart! Today the rest of the interior panels from the main room were removed and work on the exterior panels began. The ceiling panels from the back part of the house were also removed. By the end of the day several panels from the back wall of the house were removed. The plan is to work from the back wall up to the front of the house. Most of the wall panels came off relatively easily. They are constructed similarly to the garage panels, with a metal sill running around the edge of the concrete base. This has bolts coming up through it and into the panels. The metal sill along the back edge was in better shape than the one below the garage wall panels, but it was still badly corroded.
One surprise today was a steel spacer in the ceiling that ran the width of the house. There may be more spacers farther up that will be found as the deconstruction progresses. The spacer uncovered today was a single 20-foot piece of metal that stretched from near the front door to the opposite wall of the house. It was probably put in for stability to stiffen the construction. Earlier General Houses models used steel I-beams, according to Connecticut College preservation specialist Doug Royalty, and shortly after Rusty was built General Houses changed their roof design, eliminating the need for metal spacer reinforcements. This discovery was a reminder that the house design built in 1933 was still somewhat experimental and General Houses had not finalized its construction system. Many early houses built by General Houses had differences in design as they gained more experience with prefab construction, making Rusty even more unique!
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