A renovation of historic proportions

A Warren couple lovingly restores a house as old as America itself

BY ETHAN HARTLEY

Although many people in the East Bay have gone through the effort of restoring an historic home, it is difficult to imagine that many have gone to the lengths that Patricia Mues and David Gaskill of Warren have gone.

They purchased The Rufus Barton House at 47 Broad St. in 2015 and have painstakingly restored every conceivable element within the nearly 240-year-old house. They have taken great care to keep the restoration as historically accurate as possible, and outside of a few times where they enlisted some help, the couple (David is 76, Pat is 72) have done the vast majority of work themselves.

“We really didn’t get any breaks in here,” David recalled from the main living room area during a recent tour.

“Everything that could go wrong pretty much did go wrong. It was a little bit daunting at some points.”

Pat recounted one instance where David was coming down from a ladder, when one of the legs shifted and sank into a hole they hadn’t known was there. He was flipped off the ladder, which flew sideways and whacked him in the chest.

“Luckily it didn’t hit his face,” Pat said.

Such pain is expected when trying to revive a home that was first erected circa 1783 — the same year the Revolutionary War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

Keeping true to history

The house Pat and David bought in 2015 looked nothing like the one you can walk by now in Warren’s charming historic district, which sits directly between the town’s bustling Main and Water street corridors.

“This house was on the market as sort of a cheap, two-family,” David said. “But as soon as I looked at the front of it, I knew it was a late 18th-century house. It

Continued on page 10 was obvious because, although it was all pretty much obscured by vinyl, you could see the the wide, full central chimney stack with multiple flus in it. That’s the giveaway.”

With an unsightly vinyl exterior matched by an equally unappealing carport, the couple knew they had their work cut out for them from the beginning. The inside offered no respite. Original plaster was long covered up, as were the original wide-pine floor boards downstairs, masked by hundreds of years of replacements, ending at the top layer with various types of linoleum. There was nothing to do but get to work, which included many hours prying, cutting, scraping, sanding, painting, hammering, plastering, and pulling lots and lots of nails. David estimated they removed up to 40 tons of “stuff”, including plaster, wood paneling, and various scrap out of the house throughout the restoration — which David roughly estimated took more than 2,000 total hours, and is still ongoing.

Outside they removed the vinyl siding in stages, exposing late 19th-century clapboards — many of which could be scraped and re-painted, but some of which needed to be replaced entirely. The carport leading to the side door was mercifully felled, replaced by an attractive gravel driveway and a homemade portico, highlighted by a unique pediment that was found sitting outside being given away for free, which of course required its own entire restoration process.

Some original remnants of the house remain, including the hardy corner posts that for centuries have supported the structure, as well as some of the original wainscoting and even a bit of original paint that can be seen on an interior window apron. They take pride in the original pine floors that run in front of one of the downstairs’ two brick hearths. An original door, with its original latch, still leads down to the cellar.

For areas where maintaining originality was not possible — such as the windows, which had been replaced by vinyl windows — the couple crafted new sills and often had to make entirely new frames. They scored a major find from friends Davison Bolster, Eileen Collins, and Scott Lial, the latter of whom had been storing glass windows from around 1830. Pat spent two years refurbishing those, which now provide passage for vast amounts of natural light.

Although the home now features a modern kitchen with granite countertops and 21st-century appliances, a feature that evokes the historic nature of the home is never far from sight. They have also taken steps to fill the home with as many antiques as possible — two late 18th-century Chinese Cormandel lacquer screens with intricate carvings that adorn either side of a library and entertainment center are a highlight.

Living in history (literally)

Mues and Gaskill don’t just live, physically, in an historic home, they make history a part of their lives. Gaskill does deed research for the historic plaque program in Warren, which can be seen adorning the numerous historic homes throughout the town, including their own. Mues is the co-chair of the Warren Middle Passage Project, and remains involved with the Warren Preservation Society.

David said that he feels incredibly fortunate to live in the house, especially after all the effort exerted.

“I feel sort of privileged to live in a house with this much history and local connection, both from an architectural and aesthetic point of view as well,” he said.

Pat concurred.

“We are so proud of what we’ve done here. It’s been really fun and really rewarding to build our home.”