For the first time in at least a century (if not 200 years), this arched architectural feature is revealed! We believe that this feature was associated with the bar and tavern during William Brown's tenure (c1760-1790). Our best guess as to when the feature was bricked up is sometime during the late 1700s or early 1800s. If you look closely at the above image, you will see an archway made out of bricks. Though this image doesn't show it too well (it is best seen in person), t

An important component of the William Brown House preservation project focused on repairing some deteriorating roof joists and brick work. The image above shows how the wooden joists and framing connect to the brick walls. The wooden joists go through the bricks and then connect with some of the roof supports on the other side. The curved wooden pieces (knees) are meant to provide additional stability. The image below shows the area where deterioration had occurred. Some of t

An notable architectural feature of the William Brown House are the two central chimneys. As you might expect, the chimneys get battered a lot by the weather and needed a lot of attention for this preservation project. The Worcester Eisenbrandt (WEI) crew is spending a lot of time repointing the brickwork and just checking the "health" of the chimneys. Below are some pictures of their work and the chimneys. The image below gives us a view of how the chimneys are capped. Befor

We're excited that Worcester Eisenbrandt (WEI) is back on site! They started last week and will work through the end of April on the southern side of the William Brown House. Their goal is to repoint the bricks/mortar, clean and repaint the wooden trim, and repair/preserve all of the windows. After the southern side is finished, WEI will move inside to fix some deteriorated joists in the attic, remove plaster so that we can see the tavern-related passthrough on an interior wa

One of the neat benefits this preservation project has given us is the chance to climb around the scaffolding and look more closely at parts of the building you can barely see from the ground level. This post focuses on an interesting exterior feature of the building on the western elevation. The pictures will be larger than usual so that you can examine them more closely. So just keep scrolling down to read the text either before or after each image. (The picture above is ju

Throughout the years, the William Brown House has served multiple functions (colonial tavern, almshouse/poorhouse, and historic house museum). Each of these periods of use has altered the building in some way. Because of these alterations, and due to the lack of documentary evidence for the colonial period, we often have to rely on architectural investigations and similarities between the Brown house and other period buildings to better understand how the Brown house may have

Today's post about the William Brown House preservation project is focused on a challenge we've run into with the building's windows. There'll be a longer Facebook and blog post about how we're preserving all the windows later this fall. The first photo shows the type of "surprise" we've received for most of the windows when the exterior trim has been removed. A lot of the space behind the exterior window trim has either been empty or just packed with bits and pieces of wood

The William Brown House project is meant to accomplish a few goals. First and foremost, the preservation work will repair damage caused by moisture. This includes repointing the brick (replacing damaged mortar), repairing the windows, ensuring that the seams and joints for windows and doors are weather-proofed, and repairing some interior damage in the attic. This photo shows a large portion of mortar that needs repair. There are many other areas on each side of the William B

The much-needed preservation project has started for the c.1760 William Brown House! The first part of the project will focus on repairing moisture damage to the building. This includes repairing or replacing rotted wood in the exterior windows as well as repointing the brickwork. We expect this phase to last about 24 weeks. Also included in the first phase is some preservation work in the attic. There are some rotted joists and deteriorating brick supports that will be fixed