Windows in Time

Adam Criscuolo ’03 loves old houses. More specifically, he loves the proportions of historic buildings, the intimacy of the rooms inside them, and how well they were built. North of Philadelphia lies Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he lives and works as a historic preservation carpenter. Among the oldest cities and counties in the United States, Philadelphia and Bucks counties contain many old buildings, most of which are still used and cherished today. Be it grand iconic landmarks, or humble farming homes and estates that pre- and post-date the American Revolution, they all have one thing in common — as with all things, they need care and maintenance to survive.

“All it takes is a carpenter with a little patience to bring them back to their glory,” Criscuolo said when we caught up with him in March, while he was driving from Pennsylvania to Maryland, to pick up an order from his lumber supplier. “I see so much potential in old buildings, be it an old warehouse that’s abandoned, an old train station, an old house with vines growing over it. They’re still standing for a reason. They’re standing because they are well-built, and those practices are what I serve to maintain. I have made a living off of copying what has been done for 200 to 300 years. I can see how something has been built. There is standing physical evidence, a history of what worked, and what didn’t work.”

As much as Criscuolo is preserving the past, his work is also about sustainability. “In building trends, everyone wants vaulted ceilings and big open spaces. It takes the intimacy out of the home when every room you walk into has 10-plus-foot high ceilings,” he said, pointing out that heating and cooling big, open spaces is also less efficient.

“To quote a fellow preservation organization, Advanced Repair Technology, ‘The greenest building is the one that is already built,’” he said. “Today everyone is quick to jump into new technology and new materials to fit the idea that modern homes need to be built to a new and evolving definition of ‘sustainability.’ Truly, there is a time and place for new methodology, but I think it’s really important to see what’s been done, and what’s still lasting. I just love the old things because I love the potential of the forgotten.”

A Natural Progression

A Connecticut native, Criscuolo did not have aspirations to become an entrepreneur when he was a student at Gunn, or even a sense of his career path. It was not until he started taking art classes and studying art history in college that things began to fall into place academically. As an undergrad at Elmira College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts with a focus on sculpture and furniture design, he apprenticed with Ian Ingersoll Cabinetmakers in West Cornwall, Connecticut. He worked with Ingersoll for a year after college before moving to an architectural manufacturing company near Philadelphia. There, Adam continued to refine his skills in millwork, but also gained experience working with metal and glass, skills he put into practice for his historic window restoration and reproduction work.

During the 2008 recession, Adam found himself as an independent maker in a shop in Northeast Philadelphia, where he would take on any strange small request from the larger contractors. “Basically, contractors would come into the shop and ask, ‘Can anybody make this obscure piece of trim for this historic home?’ Nobody wanted to touch those quirky, historic parts, but I was thankful for the work!” he recalled, adding, “It wasn’t a large volume of work, but I really enjoyed it.”

In the summer of 2009, Criscuolo elected to pursue his MFA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he continued his interests in sculpture and all things “unique.” He said he was not truly an artist yet, and not completely a craftsman (in the traditional sense of the word). But graduate school brought academic opportunity, and most importantly, two of his greatest friendships, which helped to shape him into the craftsman he is today. Through IUP, he befriended a recent graduate and a shop technician. Michael Stadler, a sculptural woodworker and cabinetmaker, and Steve Soltez, a mason, blacksmith, and recreational restorer of old Land Rovers and Volvos (among many things) helped to shine a light on what truly mattered in the crafts: the rewards of working with your hands, and the potential of the forgotten.

After finishing graduate school in late 2012, Criscuolo and his wife, Noel, moved to the town where she was born, in Bucks County, where he continued to work on architectural design and fabrication projects. They bought a historic house, built in 1741, that had been abandoned for 20 years, spent two years restoring it, and started a family. They now have two children, ages 5 and 3, and their third child was born just as the Bulletin was going to press.

For a few years, Adam worked as the main carpenter for deGruchy Masonry Restoration, where he began his full-time involvement in historic restoration work. The company’s owner, Andy deGruchy, trained at The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, founded in 1888 in Media, Pennsylvania, and his company has restored hundreds of historic buildings in the Delaware and Lehigh Valleys of Pennsylvania, according to his bio. Criscuolo helped with the setup of deGruchy’s trade program, the Craftwork Training Center in Telford, Pennsylvania, where they regularly host week-long “hands-on” classes for homeowners and established tradesmen, looking to hone their skills in restoration practices.

In 2018, Criscuolo left deGruchy to strike out on his own as a historic restoration carpenter. He specialized in restoration and

Facing page: Criscuolo helped to restore all of the windows and doors on 13 houses at Washington Crossing Historic Park, including Frye House, which was built in 1828 and housed the local blacksmith. Photo credit: Washington Crossing Historic Park Adam Criscuolo ’03 (below), working reproduction of period millwork components with a focus on windows, doors, and trim. “I dipped a toe in the self-employed pool and was making a go of it for a couple of years,” he said, recalling that he was just starting to see an increase in referrals when COVID hit. Across Pennsylvania, carpenters were unable to work during lockdown, and day care centers were closed. “I had all of this work lined up, but I couldn’t go and do it.”

A Historic Park in His Backyard

As COVID restrictions were slowly lifted, Criscuolo received a call from WMG Historic Restoration, which specializes in historic window and door restoration, preservation carpentry, and custom millwork for historically significant buildings in and around the Delaware Valley. “They said, ‘We see you’re based in Washington Crossing. We have a small project in your town and could use some help. What’s your availability?’ They had won a contract for the historic park that’s in my backyard.”

Criscuolo became the lead carpenter for WMG. He spent two years helping with the window and door restoration on 13 historic buildings at Washington Crossing Historic Park. His work was part of an $8.7 million capital project to renovate buildings and restore services in the 500-acre park, which is managed by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and operated through a partnership with The Friends of Washington Crossing Park.

Each year, the park hosts thousands of visitors from around the world, who come to see the point from which General George Washington’s army made their daring crossing of the Delaware River in December, 1776. According to its website: “Restored Colonial buildings in the park, such as the Thompson-Neely House and McConkey Ferry Inn, give many clues about living conditions during the Revolutionary era. Later, homes and shops reveal how 19th century rural Pennsylvanians lived and worked. Among them are the home of a prosperous merchant, a village general store, and homes for skilled artisans.”

Criscuolo’s work with WMG also took him to two national historic sites in Philadelphia, where he was the frontman on historic window restoration projects. “One was the First Bank of the United States, Alexander Hamilton’s baby. I had to do that,” Criscuolo said. “He was the guy that created a centralized bank in the United States. That building is a monument to that history.”

The iconic structure is considered the oldest surviving federal building and is located just two blocks from Independence Hall. WMG won the contract to restore all of the windows, which had been replaced in a previous renovation in the late 1960s or 1970s, and were deemed historic. Criscuolo stepped in as the lead carpenter and handled the advanced repair work.

His next project with WMG was the restoration of the Second Bank of the United States, a National Historic Landmark. The bank was chartered by President James Madison in 1816. According to the National Park Service, the nearly 200-year-old Greek Revival structure houses a collection of original portraits of the Founding Fathers.

“We rebuilt all of the windows on the ground floor. Thirteen double-casement units came out of my shop. We worked with another company that does incredible work and helped with the engineering of its massive feature windows on the second and third floors. There were 14-foot diameter fan windows, each the size of a car. It’s a partial circle so I had to create a templating system to capture the arc, and translate it into my rendering software to verify that my computer drawings and physical jig would both work for the fabricators. It was successful. Our replica is an exact match for what was there,” Criscuolo said.

Discovering Details Hidden for Decades

In December 2022, as Adam’s work on Washington Crossing Historic Park was wrapping up, he made the decision not to renew his contract with WMG to focus on growing his small business full time. “It’s only been a few months, but we’re booked out a year. We’re thrilled about it,” he said, adding “Stepping back from full-time work with WMG was a hard decision to make, given the great leadership presence and friendship I developed with Michael and Rebekah Gallant, owners of WMG. My kids helped with the decision to go solo again. Being a parent changes your priorities, and forces you into those ‘dare to be great’ situations. It’s no secret, childcare is a huge issue for today’s families where both parents work. Being self-employed is the best option, and I’m incredibly fortunate in that the work is here, close to my home, and I can be closer to my family.”

If there is anything he hopes young alumni and students will gain from his experience, he said it is this. “The relationships I’ve made in this work are of the utmost importance. I would not be where I am without the leadership and guidance of my former employers, in particular, one of my closest mentors, Leroy Supper, of LJS Builders and John Ubel Restoration.”

Criscuolo has happily returned to focusing on residential projects, such as a home in Newtown, Pennsylvania, that was built in the early 1900s by the owner of a local hardware store. “The house has incredible hardware in it. He got the best stuff for himself. I get to repair and rebuild some of it,” he said.

Woodwork, glasswork, and even repairing the mechanical parts of the window are a lost art, and Criscuolo seems to approach every project as an opportunity to find or learn something new. “When I get a new project, I am discovering details that have been hidden for decades if not hundreds of years. One of the last houses I worked on had some kind of trim detail around the old windows. When you take 200 years of paint off of it, you’re going back in time. You can see how it’s aged,” he said, adding, “You are giving new life to what’s been hidden for 150, 200 years. We help uncover the history of a home.”

He has a loyal following. One homeowner waited two years for him to finish his work at Washington Crossing Historic Park, so he could restore her windows. His current location in the heart of historic Bucks County also ensures the demand for his services will continue. “That is really what helped me to be comfortable in my decision. There’s just so many historic buildings around us, and even windows that are as young as 30 to 100 years old can be restored and refitted to work better.”

He is already working with one full-time and one part-time employee. “I’ve got my shop in the garage and one outbuilding. It’s a full woodworking shop. It has everything we need to make lowvolume custom doors and windows. We’ve got your standard table saw, jointer, planer, drill press, plus a mortising machine, shapers, routers, piles of hand tools, a drum sander, dust-free sanding setups, draft table, HEPA vacuums, infrared stripping machines, and then of course, custom-made easels for glazing and painting window sash.”

Asked about his plans for the future, Criscuolo said: “I’d like to keep growing it. Right now, it’s a matter of how much I can handle and still deliver top-tier service and a top-quality product. The mistake I made when I was young was I would say yes to everything. Now I’m in a great position — I carefully pick and choose the work I take on. The more I grow, the more work I’ll be able to manage. But, I’m not in any rush to get there. My business is young. It’s been on paper and operational for five years. This is the first year that I’m letting it take that next step. I’m not going to rush it. I’m going to go with it, nice and easy.”