29 May ‘Building Doctors’ will make rounds in Portsmouth June 14,15
Main Street Portsmouth, TSHD Architects and the Ohio Historic Preservation Office of the Ohio Historical Society will sponsor a Building Doctor Clinic for old-building owners in the Portsmouth area June 14 and 15.
The clinic features Building Doctors Judith Kitchen and Lisa Adkins of the Ohio Historic Preservation Office. It begins with a free seminar from 7 to 9 p.m. June 14 at the Scioto County Welcome Center, 342 Second St., Portsmouth. Open to all old-building owners in the area, the seminar will feature guidelines for renovation projects and ways to solve some of the most common problems of buildings dating from 1800 to 1955.
From 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. June 15, Kitchen and Adkins will be available to visit pre-1955 buildings within five miles of downtown Portsmouth, advising owners on specific technical or design problems by appointment. The on-site consultations are free.
The ‘doctors’ examine all kinds of older buildings. Some of the things that typically call for an on-site examination include persistent peeling paint or flaking plaster, a wet basement, deteriorating masonry, plans for remodeling, additions, or demolitions.
Kitchen heads the technical preservation services department of the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, which advises on the care of older buildings, reviews applications for federal and state historic rehabilitation tax credits, and oversees Ohio’s Certified Local Governments program. She has degrees in architecture, architectural history and business administration from the University of Virginia and The Ohio State University.
Adkins, architecture reviews manager for the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, has a bachelor’s degree in history and English from Oberlin College, with graduate studies in historic preservation planning from Cornell University. She reviews federally-assisted projects for effects on historic properties.
The seminar and visits from the Building Doctors are free, but advance registration is required. To register, visit building-doctor.org or call (800) 499-2470. For more information, contact Scott Moore of TSHD Architects at (740) 354-6621 or [email protected].
The Building Doctor program is made possible in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Historic Preservation Fund, administered by the Ohio Historic Preservation Office of the Ohio Historical Society. Each clinic is made possible by support from local cosponsors, as well.
The Ohio Historic Preservation Office is Ohio’s official historic preservation agency. A part of the Ohio Historical Society, it identifies historic places in Ohio, nominates properties to the National Register of Historic Places, reviews federally-assisted projects for effects on historic, architectural, and archaeological resources in Ohio, consults on the conservation of older buildings and sites, and offers educational programs and publications.