Nicholson Builders
Four hundred days is a long time, no matter how you cut it up. But for John Nicholson, landing an Upper Arlington historic renovation project was a dream come true and well worth the wait.
As expected, the restoration of a historic home is vastly different than restoration of a newer structure.
“Some of the challenges are uncovering structural deficiencies in historic homes that need to be remedied in order for the new work to proceed in the quality-like fashion that all of our clients desire,” says John Nicholson, architect with Nicholson Builders.
The renovation actually encompassed multiple small projects over the nearly 400 days that it took to complete. There were unique profiles of trim and hand-crafted details which needed to be recreated. This typically results in a drawn-out timeline because of the need to source craftsmen and manufacturers to recreate historic detail and go through a period of trial and error.
“We had to have a lot of prototypes made for things that we installed in the house,” says Nicholson. “The first attempts were not always the perfect solution.”
When renovating or restoring a historic home, there is a period of discovery during the tear-down process. Nicholson actually returned to the project after the demolition phase made him realize the bathrooms all needed remodeling.
“This last project was largely aesthetics and exteriors, and we initially only intended to have a limited scope of remodeling,” says Nicholson. “But we ended up tearing off every bit of stucco, every bit of facia and soffit trim off of the house. We re-did the entire exterior except for the existing stone structure.”
All new wood windows were designed and installed with historically accurate proportions. New stucco with a complementing tone was installed, new carriage house doors with windows were installed and LAP siding above the garage doors was removed, radically altering the facade’s design.
“It restored the proper proportions to the gable and elevation,” says Nicholson.
Curved Tudor trim details were used, as seen in historic Tudor architecture. After cleaning and restoring, the underlaying roof tone is in perfect harmony with the tone of limestone walls and brown window and trim colors. Historically revitalized clay chimney pots were also added.
“Tudor uses stucco and timber on the facades that were actually, a long time ago, load bearing, but now it’s just simulated,” says Nicholson. “Right now, the timber is decorative, but back in historic England those timber members would have been load bearing. We recreated that.”
Boral brand composite exterior material was used for all soffit, fascia, rake and Tudor trim details. This material will never warp or rot. Clay roofing tiles from the original manufacturer were sourced and installed, half round gutters to simulate aged copper were added and authentic connecters were used.
“Sourcing the clay tiles would have been a big task if it hadn’t been a company located in Ohio,” says Nicholson. “We obtained some old records so we had a library of information from that manufacturer.”
To incorporate the family room addition into the rest of the home, the walls were removed and the window opening was reproportioned and repositioned. A matching limestone water table was added and curved Tudor trim details were installed. Cut limestone from the same quarry of the original house stone was sourced and used to integrate into the addition.
All overhead power, cable and phone lines were removed for a more authentic historical appearance. A symmetrical façade with larger, correctly proportioned windows and door was created.
The fact that this project won a NARI Contractor of the Year Award is vindication for Nicholson on a job well done.
“It was just very rewarding because the amount of passion that had been put into the work,” says Nicholson. “It was a dream project because you get to study, source, have things custom manufactured and install the proper product. It was really rewarding.”
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Nathan Collins is managing editor. Feedback welcome at ncollins@cityscenemediagroup.com.
