Old House
Gospel
by Walter Jowers
Starting From the Top
After ten years of taking apart old
houses and putting them back
together–from the 1880s Brooklyn
remodeled row house I lived in for a
year, with its all-white walls and tendollar
light fixtures; to the 1950s
nondescript South Carolina bungalow
that I grew up in, with its hardboardand
fiberglass porch built out of spare
parts from my father's building
business–I've developed more than a
few prejudices about renovation
projects. Let me share just a few of
them with you...
Let's start on the outside at the top.
If somebody had an old house–any
old house built in this continent since
the Pilgrims came–and they asked
me what kind of roof to put