2011 Interns on National Trust Retreat in Portland Harbor

Fellows will be placed with Preservation Timber Framing, Consigli Construction or Bagala Window Works. (Other trades firms, including a building engineering firm, have expressed interest, and their involvement will be posted here in the coming weeks.)

Preservation Timber Framing is headed by Arron Sturgis, the current President of Maine Preservation’s Board of Trustees, whose firm generally repairs and restores 17th, 18th, and 19th century barns, steeples, museums and homes. Maine Preservation Trustee Matt Tonello, an engineer, is the Project Executive at Consigli Construction for the state of Maine, which rehabilitates large-scale historic commercial buildings like mills, hospitals, churches and courthouses in New England. Bagala Window Works has been restoring historic windows and doors from houses, churches, commercial blocks — and any place that has antique windows — since 1988. Bagala designed and manufactures their own large-scale steam stripping machine. Duties at the trade/professional sites will be according to skill set and available projects at the time.

Responsibilities at Maine Preservation’s headquarters will include assistance with research and professional writing (press releases, etc.), event and advocacy orchestration, and general assistance in the office. Fellows will receive education about building restoration to practice and apply at Maine Preservation’s headquarters, the historic Captain Reuben Merrill House (1858). Benefits of a Fellowship include introduction to the preservation field, both of the tangible applications of construction and repair, and of the program, policy and advocacy side of preservation, including the financial models available for developers and the latest best practices on “green” rehab.  Fellows will be introduced to the preservation professionals community, policy makers, preservation consultants, supporters and donors, and allied organizations in the field. Fellows will gain important practical knowledge of how preservation businesses run and how preservation nonprofits function.

An academic or professional background in preservation is encouraged and some experience related to the professional or trades placement is advantageous. Several Maine Preservation Fellows have gained post-grad employment through Maine Preservation contacts, although, Maine Preservation does not have paid positions available following the Fellowship at this time. Housing and transportation will be the responsibility of the Fellow, but Maine Preservation has secured limited local housing options for Fellows without a Maine connection. Maine Preservation is located at 233 West Main Street above the Yarmouth village, 10 miles northeast of Portland on the highway. Transportation will also be required to get to the trades site each day, which can be up to an hour away from Portland (carpooling is common, but not guaranteed).

To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume to Robert O’Brien at Robert@MainePreservation.org by Sunday, February 26, 2012.

Please include in the cover letter (1) a brief introduction of your background, (2) a description of your relevant experience and skill set (expand on your resume), (3) whether you have access to transportation and a Maine connection for the possibility of housing, (4) optimal timeframe between May and September when you are available, and (5) your level of commitment (whether you have competing options this summer). A succinct response to each question is sufficient in the letter. Ideally, a cover letter will span a page to a page and a half.

After the application deadline has closed, Maine Preservation will review the applications with our partner trades organizations, and selected candidates will be interviewed by phone. The coordination takes time among busy people, so please be patient while we conduct the selection process. Maine Preservation plans to announce Fellowships by the end of March.

In the meantime, Preservation Timber Framing posted a blog entry of Maine Preservation interns in 2011 that resembles the experience Fellows should expect in 2012: http://www.preservationtimberframing.com/ice-house-in-a-heat-wave/

Each year, Maine Preservation makes an appeal to its supporters to make a financial gift to the organization outside of membership toward the end of the year. Maine Preservation gratefully accepts any amount.

Maine Preservation has had a great year of growth and change. Late this spring, the organization moved into its first solo statewide headquarters, the 1858 Italianate Captain Reuben Merrill House in Yarmouth. We are grateful to the house’s owner Merry Chapin, the great-granddaughter of Captain Merrill, for leasing Maine Preservation the house with its many historic furnishings, and entrusting us with stewardship of this historic property. We have received a terrific amount of positive media attention around our move, and contractors and volunteers have been incredibly generous in improving this impressive landmark. And in conjunction with unveiling our new home to 300 attendees of our Open House and 160 attendees of our successful Inaugural Gala, Maine Preservation launched our new website, funded generously by the Davis Family and Elmina Sewall Foundations.

We have achieved policy victories, too. Despite tense debates on other matters in the State House this year, Maine Preservation with the Maine Downtown Coalition successfully advocated for the extension of the Maine Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit for an additional decade by the Maine Legislature with a unanimous bipartisan vote. These development projects take years to arrange and having plenty of time to complete the project is critical to gaining financing for them.  Over $145 million in construction costs have been committed since the Maine credit was introduced in 2008, bringing investment funding into Maine, creating property tax revenue for towns, hiring Maine building craftsmen and professional consultants and renewing significant commercial and apartment properties that spur more development. The tax credit is a big boost for the real estate sector of the state’s economy, which has been particularly hard hit during the recession.

And as the weather turns colder, it’s a good time to tell you that the Maine State Planning Office contracted Maine Preservation to write the state’s guidelines for the appropriate weatherization of historic properties to accompany MUBEC, the Maine Uniform Building & Energy Code. Historic properties are grandfathered from the State’s energy codes, but we all agree that reducing energy consumption in older properties is critical for their livability and our broader societal goals of reducing fuel dependence.

While we continue to take calls on a daily basis about preservation projects all over the state, our Field Service Advisors Chris and Rochelle have visited over 120 communities this year all over the map, giving free guidance to the little church on the corner and the massive mill rehab alike. We have several Revolving Fund prospects materializing, and our six easements are still in force, including Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village.

We are grateful for your generous support. We hope you can join us next year for our 40^th Anniversary – Celebration of Preservation!

Best wishes for the holidays.

Yours truly,

Greg Paxton                      Arron Sturgis
Executive Director            President

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In an Economic Impact Report commissioned by Maine Preservation earlier this year, Frank O’Hara, author for Planning Decisions, wrote: “When a historic building is fixed in a neighborhood, it stimulates investment and enterprise from neighboring property owners, creating new jobs and more revenue to local government. A rehabilitated historic building on Main Street brings customers to other downtown businesses, and improves the image and ‘brand’ of the community.” For these and other reasons, the 2011 legislature extended the historic tax credit for 10 years with unanimous bipartisan support.

Read the Economic Impact Report.

Two observations to consider about how occupants controlled their building climate in generations past:

1. Climate control was local. Occupants sat in front of the fireplace or stove in the winter, and under the shady porch in the summer. Keeping every room in a house at a constant temperature is a relatively modern concept.
2. Older buildings were constructed “green.” Most of the building materials were sourced regionally and were organic (no petroleum or synthetic ingredients). Before technological advances, many buildings were designed for life without fossil fuels or electricity.

Using technology and energy to meet modern standards of living is necessary, but understanding how a building was designed for climate control before modern technology and fossil fuels were introduced can greatly enhance an old building’s energy efficiency.

Maine Preservation was commissioned by the Maine State Planning Office to write energy guidelines for older homes and buildings with a grant from the US Department of Energy. These guidelines have been incorporated into the Maine Uniform Building & Energy Code.

Read the complete guidelines:

Maine Preservation Guidelines for Improving Energy Efficiency

The brief summary:

Preservation is all about planning and phasing. Maine Preservation recommends the following approach to improving energy efficiency in older buildings.

1. Initiate your project by identifying and evaluating the historic features of the building.
2. Conduct a building performance evaluation.
3. Seek to retain historic features that were designed to save energy and increase comfort.  Think holistically about the building.
4. Determine the most cost-effective energy-saving strategies: insulate attics; retain and weatherize historic doors and windows; seal gaps and penetrations to minimize air infiltration.
5. Develop a long-term energy efficiency plan that prioritizes rehabilitation decisions and establishes short-, middle- and long-term phasing for desired goals.
6. Employ durable and repairable materials with a lifetime of 30 years or more.
7. Make changes that are reversible and can be monitored and inspected. Be wary of unproven materials on the market.
8. Control for moisture, particularly in walls and basements, and for unhealthy air quality.

For further reading, the National Park Service has also released Preservation Brief 3, Improving Energy Efficiency in Historic Buildings.