A preservationist is pushing respectful renovations instead of quick fixes.
By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published November 11, 2005
OLD SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - In a frenzied era of real-estate flipping and fast fix-ups, Suzanne Prieur crusades for one thing: respectful renovation.
Vinyl windows, laminate floors and Euro-style kitchens might look good now but, in a few decades, "they'll look as dated as some kitchens do now," she says.
Prieur, a passionate historic preservationist who owns a 1924 California-style bungalow on a quiet street not far from Hillsborough Avenue, encourages homeowners to do the right thing when it's tempting to go for the quick fix.
Wednesday, Prieur and the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association preservation committee will offer a program on "How to Make Appropriate Choices for Your Old House Renovation." The event runs from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Seminole Garden Center, 5810 N Central Ave.
The program sprang from Prieur's frustration at seeing "historic fabric and character-defining features destroyed by people seeking to improve old houses."
In other words, if you own an old house, it's a good idea to educate yourself about its history before making choices that might alter its future.
A pass-through from kitchen to dining room, Prieur explains, makes a great feature on a 1950s ranch-style house, but it looks sorely out of place in a historic bungalow. Ditto for those ubiquitous, too lavish bathrooms.
"Consider how horrid a '60s kitchen looks in a bungalow today," she explains. "Well, 50 years from now, the current fashionable kitchen will strike the eye with the same degree of discord."
The forum also will offer plenty of advice to old house owners who dream of someday hanging one of those "preserved" banners from their front porches.
"A lot of people were asking me how they could get a preserved banner on their home," Prieur recalls of the coveted banners awarded by Tampa Preservation Inc., a nonprofit group that honors top-notch historic preservation. Since 1982, the group has singled out outstanding preservation and rehabilitation efforts as part of its mission to identify and protect historic neighborhoods and structures of Tampa.
"People usually have the idea that if they spend a lot of money to make their house beautiful that they should have a preserved banner, but just by spending a lot of money doesn't mean they've followed the rules," she said.
Specifically, those rules are the guidelines issued by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation, which provides guidelines for adaptive re-use and rehabilitation of historic properties.
Tampa architect Geoffrey Meyer, who lives in a 1921 bungalow in Hyde Park and served as a juror for the 2005 TPI banner awards, says that when restoring an old home, following the guidelines is key.
"The important thing to remember is to do whatever is necessary to preserve the existing structure, to maintain its character and integrity," he says.
Still, Meyer admits he's a "realist" who's lived in his house 14 years without receiving a banner and is still "just working on the surface of things."
When judging a house, he says, he looks at whether the owner has made choices that in the long run will help or hurt the house: "It's the details that make a significant difference," he says.
Some things can be easily remedied, like light fixtures, ceiling fans or an inappropriate front door.
Next week's event also will offer ideas on how to save money and protect the value of historic homes. It will provide a quick primer on different types of Tampa residential architecture, from bungalow to Tudor to Key West to colonial revival, as well as advice on how to maintain the character of a historic house. Although the program will provide insight into how to qualify for a preserved banner, the topic promises to be of interest to all old home aficionados.
As a real estate agent who specializes in interesting old homes, Prieur describes herself as "pretty out there as a preservationist." Her clients tend to be educated people from Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles who are willing to spend $20,000 on a rehabilitated historically accurate stove in a small kitchen.
Though her formal arts training is in ballet, Prieur grew up in an artistic and musical family among relatives who taught at Juilliard. She honed her eye as a child going to museums in Washington, D.C., with her mother.
While living in Los Angeles a few years ago, she rehabilitated a 1910 craftsman-style bungalow in Eagle Rock, a historic neighborhood near Pasadena, home of Greene & Greene, the turn-of-the-century architectural firm revered for its arts-and-crafts style bungalows. She left Los Angeles for Tampa after losing a preservation battle with a major drugstore chain over a historic Art Moderne grocery store.
In her own home, where she serves homemade lemonade on an airy front porch decorated with antique Chinese bamboo furniture, she researched the style and philosophy behind its particular design. She opted to repair her lovely old windows instead of replacing them, giving her an old-fashioned view in her gardens. She hired a carpenter to rebuild the wood-and-glass cabinets, once built into the living room. She painted the outside of the house in the earthy, forest colors appropriate to the period.
In her kitchen, she eventually hopes to buy an antique, renovated stove that would have been used in her bungalow. For now, she lives with a mid-20th century oven as she slowly coaxes her bungalow back to its original look.
Her best advice to others hoping to rehabilitate historic homes, no matter what the architectural style, is to not destroy historic materials. When something needs repair, do so gently rather than replacing it.
"It's all about making appropriate choices," she says.
