For me, restoration has always been a learning
experience, because there is no set formula for restoring a building. It demands
people who are willing to learn and experiment. There are two important concepts
that define the beliefs and goals as to what we as preservationists do. The first
concept is the history of the buildings lie in their context. We can see how
people lived by the context of the buildings themselves, such as the width of floorboards or the paint color of the walls. The second concept is certain trends and anomalies, whereas adaptations in the vernacular
were created. It is finding the unusual and the usual in history and preserving
them that make us as preservationists a service industry to the past, and to keep the memory of the long ago.
I was raised in a small southern town, where it
was imperative to have a strong work ethic. As a child I was no stranger to manual
labor in maintaining buildings. This work ethic brought about my passion to work
with historic buildings, and therefore I began my study of Historic Preservation. I
attended the Savannah College of Art and Design and fell in love with a program that was filled with people who shared the
same goals. I finished my Bachelors of Fine Arts as well as my Masters of Arts
in Historic Preservation in only four years, and upon graduation received several honors, including Academic Excellence in
Historic Preservation.
I have worked in the areas of restoration and
adaptive rehabilitation in Savannah, Georgia. I was involved in restoring a late 19th century mansion in a large-scale rehabilitation project
that was converted into a hotel called the Mansion on Forsyth. I have worked with a Savannah company
in the rehabilitation of a Victorian house, so that it could be used as rentable condominiums.
Not only have I been involved with the hands on work in restoration and rehabilitation projects, I have been successful
with planning and presenting many large scale projects of my own.
