J.M. Kelley Ltd. - Preserving a piece of history

Articles
Preserving a piece of history
By Tom Calarco for Northeast
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In 1988 Kelley took Carpentier's advice and "followed [his] bliss."
He said he was frightened by the prospect of being unable to get jobs, but thanks to referrals from Carpentier, the work started coming. In 1989, he collaborated with Carpentier in documenting and dismantling four Dutch barns; in 1990, he restored, moved and rebuilt a 1790's Dutch barn in Old Chatham, New York, converting it into a high-tech space; in 1993, he dismantled significant Shaker storage building, reconstructed it in an agricultural setting, then designed and built a 16,000 square foot state-of-the-art sheep milking and research facility using Shaker design in the same location.
One of his best known works came shortly after when he renovated a house in Columbia County that became known as The Old Chatham Sheepherding Company Inn, which has been widely written about, including an article in the New York Times.
It's not as easy as it sounds.

Restoring old houses to their original state, or deconstructing them as is the case with the Winne house, requires an enormous breadth of knowledge. The preservationist must be familiar with the materials used during the period the house was built – what kind of wood, copper, or stained glass. But even when using the same type of wood, there can be differences because of variations in the conditions when the trees were grown.
For example, the white pine used 200-300 years ago was older, denser, and consequently more durable. Also, different tools were used and people had different sensibilities about proportion and aesthetics depending upon their period. At the same time, preservationists must combine 18th century aesthetics with 21st century comforts and safety. People today won’t live without plumbing or electricity, and there are building and fire codes to follow. Unavailability of materials, which is not, as one expects uncommon, can be another problem.
No matter how knowledgeable the preservationist, the process of deconstruction is complex and tedious. Some Georgian houses Kelley has reassembled contained thousands of pieces. Hours of intensely concentrated effort and observation are necessary.
During the six weeks of deconstructing the Winne house, Kelley's whole world became one obsession, to dissect the house piece by piece and layer by layer in order to determine what was part of later renovations and what was part of the old house.
In many cases, parts were missing and Kelley was forced to look for barely discernible markings and imprints that told him where, for instance, the once prominent staircase was positioned, or where the original nails and floor joists lined up. Sometimes, he was forced to state at sections for hours and wait for just the right light to see the markings.
"The house isn't going to reveal its secrets by shouting at you, it's going to whisper," he says, "and you have to listen very carefully."
At times, he also was forced to set pieces aside because he could not readily determine if they were part of the original house.
In the Winne house, a boxed stair panel was found to have been used later as part of a sub-floor, but that one piece had enough markings to reveal information about the original staircase. These markings were important to recreating parts of the house that no longer exist, and the reason why he needed to peel away the plaster layer by layer.
"The trick is to make it look like you were never there," Kelley says of his restorations, "to use a light hand, and a subtle touch. Its getting all the details just right, you don’t settle for close enough."
Kelley says he often feels subtle connections with the people who lived in the houses on which he works. During periods of reflections, after everything is cleaned up, he sometimes notices nuances of wear in the houses.
In the Winne house, he became fixed upon the floor that had surrounded the fireplace. He observed imprints and gradations indicative of constant activity by people around it, and it caused him to imagine what their life had been like.
As marvelous as his own skills are, he marvels at the skills of the artisans of days gone by. "When you have an appreciation of these skills, much of the reward when you finish a job is knowing that it's being preserved," he says. Now that the house is deconstructed, documented, and boxed up for future restoration, Kelley and Kenny will examine other similar old houses in the Hudson Valley and compare them with the Winne house, looking particularly at items like their doors - the original front door of the Winne house was missing - and their staircases, whose design in the Winne house they were able to piece together from markings they found, but about which they still have questions.
Kelley relishes his work. It's so much more to him than a way to make a living. You could say he is performing a kind of miracle, bringing something back to life, perhaps not as exactly as it was, but as close as is humanly possible. His work is truly something that reaches deep within our psyche: the longing to preserve what and who we are as long as we can.
As he says, "It's part of the history of the country. Once it's gone, it's gone, if no one's there to preserve it, to record it accurately."
That's what Michael Kelley lives for.