One of my projects - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

skylands · 01-14-2008, 09:39 PM

We purchased this property in 2003 after it sat abandonded for about 15 years. All the ceilings were on the floors and much of the roof had leaked. The foundation and walls were intact and somehow the house never caved in.

http://www.sevengablesstamford.com/g...es/gables.html

This is the house today. http://www.stamfordgables.com/

I'll post some pics of an observation tower I'm restoring here in the Catskills. It's an ongoing project sponsored by the state and local foundations

mahlere · 01-14-2008, 09:48 PM

I sure hope you offer free internet access...so when one of the mugs from this site stays with you, they can still check in

**Cole** · 01-14-2008, 09:50 PM

Now this is awesome!

http://www.sevengablesstamford.com/towgallery.html

TimelessQuality · 01-14-2008, 09:51 PM

Nice work Sky..

What was that tower thing in the 1855 pic?? Cupola? Widow's Walk?

Jason W · 01-17-2008, 05:09 PM

Wow nice work. Gotta love it

neolitic · 01-17-2008, 05:49 PM

Really cool!

What got chopped off the left hand side,
of the original house?

skylands · 01-17-2008, 06:33 PM

The tower is an observation tower in the Catskills on Mt. Utsayantha. The origional tower was built in the mid 1800's and burned in 1926. The building in the photo was built in one month by the town residents. When the tourist stopped coming the building became unused. Right next to this building is a fire tower that was abandonded in the 70's. At that time, the whole park went into disrepair. I was asked to restore the building 4 years ago. We assembled a committee and aquired the fire tower from the state and we've gotten state and local funding to restore the park. People now use the park for outings or just to come and climb the fire tower. Last year we started an event called Music On The Mountain. We expected 500 people but the crowd totaled 2000. It's now an anual event.

skylands · 01-17-2008, 06:35 PM

www.utsayantha.com

skylands · 01-17-2008, 06:39 PM

neolitic

That's the side of the barn that's in the rear of the property.

I restored that as well. It now houses several businesses and I still have about 5000 sq ft on the top floor that I haven't decided what to do with yet.

Jason W · 01-17-2008, 06:51 PM

Any signs of the underground railroad in that house. It would have been right in the path. We're working on a very old Mansion in Vermont. Seems like every time we crack open a wall or ceiling we find a secrete room where people were hid. The job has to stop to give the Architect time to re-figure the layout so these areas can be visible to the public. We have found a lot of nice things in the walls. Even found a gun and cleaning kit from the Revolutionary war.

neolitic · 01-17-2008, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skylands

neolitic
That's the side of the barn that's in the rear of the property.
I restored that as well. It now houses several businesses and I still have about 5000 sq ft on the top floor that I haven't decided what to do with yet.

Now I see, the original barn had a shed roof that was
replace by another gable later in life.

skylands · 01-17-2008, 07:36 PM

No underground railroad in this house but Rt. 23 (Main St Stamford NY) was the Rip Van Winkle Turnpike. It was a popular path for the underground railroad.

mahlere, I have wireless on the property for all the commerical tennants. So we get business travelers staying at the B&B on average 3 nights a week passing through here.

Milhaus · 01-31-2008, 01:05 AM

Skylands -

do you spend a lot of time dealing with grants and the govt? Have you perfected the process, or do you leave that up to the owner?

mark

skylands · 01-31-2008, 09:43 AM

Mil,

Let me banter a little since I've had to watch grant funding get P*ssed away on the wrong people time and time again.

Grant money is a strange animal.

There are Main St grants that on the surface appear to be great and they are sold to the community on the premise that they are going to clean up Main St.

The problem here is that the money ends up in the hands of people who take the funds, do the amount of work that eats up their portion of the grant money, then come looking for more. They give nothing back to the community except a great looking building until it comes time to paint again. They have no means of keeping their building up to code after they've been given these huge amounts of hand outs.

Meanwhile, you have serious investors such as myself that pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into their communities and get told that you don't qualify because you make to much.

If your broke you can get tons of money free of charge with no strings attached to "almost" fix your house. But If you have "almost" enough money to restore a property, your SOL because you told the truth.

Here's an example of NY State grant disbursment.

I just bought an historic home that has been abondand for the past 35 years. The moldings in the house are massive step out style that were cast in place plaster. The madalions are 8 ft in cercumference. It was built in 1876 by Ned Buntline (do a google search). I estimate to restore the building will cost in excess of $600,000.00. I can't get a dime from Fed's, state or local because I am a private owner "not" on Main St. In contrast, there is a former hotel in town (on Main St.) that was converted to apts back in the 60's and is now a slum building. There's no insulation in the building, the roof leaks, the electric is scary at best and the fire escapes are falling off the building. They are getting Main St grant money to re-side and put in new vinyl windows. These owners don't live here, contrubute nothing to the community and never fix a damn thing. But they'll grab there share of the free money.

I was told that there is SHPO (state historic preservation money) available. However, my house is not in the target section. There is Economic Development money available. (are you ready for this) I can qualify for $5000.00 of grant money as long as I match that with my own personal funds.
There are watershed "loans" available at low interest----5%. (right)

In short, don't work, smoke your lungs out, be an illegal and don't make your mortage payments. You'll be financially rewarded handsomely.

Jason W · 01-31-2008, 09:59 AM

Skylands,

Are you working with an Architect that is familiar with Grant situations? If you are just developing your plan of attack for this new restoration project I can recommend someone who can help. I'm almost sure (given the original homeowners history) that you could set up part of the building as a non-profit museum of sorts and then be eligible for grants to help preserve those areas and the exterior.

I can't be 100% certain this would work, but like I said, I know someone who knows a lot about it and might be able to find some money for your project. The problem is time lines as well. These grants can take years to develop.

skylands · 01-31-2008, 10:20 AM

Hi Jason.

The musieum approach has been explored. So has:

Tourisum, (we're creating jobs since the house will be an Inn.
Historic, (the building has never been remodeled or upgraded)
Matching funds (max of $5000)

But I'm always up for talking to anyone who can give input on restoring America.

neolitic · 01-31-2008, 11:30 AM

Yeah, surely there is some way...
"Ned Buntline National Historic Site"....
It would seem there would be lots of
tie ins with him.
New York newspapers, the Earps,
Buffalo Bill, politics....

Jason W · 01-31-2008, 11:32 AM

I sent you a PM with some contact info

skippythetownie · 03-11-2008, 09:40 AM

That's some beautiful work

. I'm originally from Greenville and still have relatives in New Baltimore. Next time I get down there I'll have to take a drive through Stamford, looks like a nice town.