Barn Again

This New York Times article show how a family converted an old window-less shell of a barn into a beautiful home.

Images courtesy of NYT.

How To Take One Old Barn And Call It Home is a This Old House magazine article that discusses the basics of a barn to home restoration plan. The article highlights the appeal of large open interior space, concerns about shoring up an old property, the advantages of historic preservation and a resource page for help and information.

Images courtesy of This Old House.

Barn Again Program is a program supported by the The National Trust For Historic Preservation that helps find ways to maintain and use historic barns as part of modern agricultural production. They also have information on rehabilitation tax credits for restoring older and historic properties.

Image courtesy of National Trust For Historic Preservation.

This shows us we can use what is already here and still have a beautiful and unique place. There are great resources available to help with restoring and preservation.

La Ronda's Tragic Story

La Ronda is the final work of architect Addison Mizner and dates back to 1929.

Today could be the start of it's final days.

The permit to demolish this historic property falls into the hands of the new property owner today.

The new owner plans to demolish the home despite numerous offers from preservationists to move it to another location.

It is being replaced with a 10,000 sq ft McMansion. Unbelieveable!

Read more at National Trust For Historic Preservation.

Images courtesy of Palm Beach Daily News

A Threat to History

The Cooper Molera Adobe preserves life from the era when Monterey was part of Mexico to the beginnings of California statehood. The Adobe was fully restored in the 1980's. The house built by several generations of the Cooper and Molera families, and includes, historic barns, vegetable and flower gardens, and an extensive museum store. The three acre site is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and operated by California State Parks.


The California Parks system, yes, the WHOLE system is on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2008 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Places.


According to the Save Our Parks coalition..."the total General Fund cut for this budget year is $14.2M". It is expected that this will result in the closure of perhaps more than 100 state parks.


Check out the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is a very informative site. Our country's deteriorating economic situation has effected many more places than just California's park system. It would be unfortunate to lose any of these historic gems.

All images of Cooper Molera Adobe courtesy of National Trust.