This Old House Carlisle Project Premieres on PBS to Mark 25th Anniversary of Television's Pioneer Home Improvement Series

Concord, MA, September 13, 2004 - Twenty-five years and 45 projects of various styles and sizes later, This Old House is still renovating one timeless house at a time. To mark its silver anniversary, America's favorite home improvement series is returning to its roots by purchasing a house, this time in rural Carlisle, Massachusetts. The simple Greek Revival-style farmstead built in 1849, known as the Bradford Heald House, will be renovated and sold to homeowners who will enjoy its new life as a modern house with historical depth. Throughout the renovation, passionate apprentices will learn the ropes, for the first time, from master carpenter Norm Abram, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook as they move one step closer to their dream careers in the trades. To ensure that excellence in craftsmanship and innovation will be passed on to artisans of our next generation, some proceeds from the sale of the This Old House Carlisle project will endow a new scholarship for the building arts.

The This Old House Carlisle project premieres on PBS Thursday, October 7, 2004 in the first half of The New This Old House Hour at 8 p.m. ET (check local listings or www.thisoldhouse.com).

For the Carlisle project, the This Old House experts will incorporate their own renovation concepts serving as both renovators and homeowners while also mentoring four apprentices from Minuteman Regional High School, a vocational-technical school northwest of Boston. In addition to studying traditional academics, these students will work with America's number one home improvement team for a hands-on education in carpentry, plumbing, and landscaping. Laura Cyr and Joe Langlais, both majoring in carpentry, hope to start up their own construction companies. Shavar Oliver aspires to join the plumbing trade and go to college at the same time, while Mark Foti anticipates working with his uncle, arborist and occasional This Old House expert Matt Foti, at his tree company. The idea is to help the next generation gain practical knowledge and take on a profession in the trades.

Sixteen-year-old Laura says, "My instructor can't teach me everything in the classroom that I need to know. But working with This Old House on the jobsite, I'm learning so much more. They're so helpful and are showing me how to do things in different ways. It's so much fun working with the guys that I hope to be like."

This season, host Kevin O'Connor and the expert team also welcome senior design consultant Alexa Hampton to the crew, as she sheds light on the world of interior design and joins the team just in time for This Old House's second designer show house in its 25-year history. The finished Carlisle project, showcasing timeless craftsmanship, today's best practices, and tomorrow's technologies, will be open to the public for a limited time as a designer show house in the spring of 2005.

In designing for the renovation, noted Boston-based architect Jeremiah Eck will mix old with new to place a contemporary spin on the classic New England archetype of a connected farmstead complex's main house, ell, and barn. "The Carlisle project embodies three examples of the building arts", says executive producer Bruce Irving. Preservation will restore the main house to its Greek Revival glory; modern design and construction of the connecting ell will be torn down and replaced with a crisply detailed addition we will have built in a factory; and adaptive reuse of the old timberframe barn will be converted to dramatic living space.

Irving adds, "And when we're done, and we sell our adopted home, it's exciting to imagine that a new family will get to enjoy this beautiful property for another generation and maybe more.

This Old House Online features real-time coverage of the renovation 24/7 through five Webcams powered by EarthCam. For the fifth consecutive season, This Old House is partnering with EarthCam, an Internet global Webcam network and leader in Webcam technology, to bring these real-time images to your desktop. The coverage, which is scheduled to conclude in January 2005, will continue for the duration of the project. Visitors to This Old House Online will also be able to access a time-lapse archive for each camera and see the progress from the beginning of the project. This coverage will complement the Web site's offerings of the project's floor plans, photo galleries, Quicktime VR tours, show descriptions, house resources, and behind-the-scenes articles.

The This Old House Carlisle project will be chronicled each month in This Old House magazine, which began with the July/August 2004 issue and runs through April 2005.

This Old House is produced by This Old House Productions, Inc. for This Old House Ventures, Inc. and presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Executive producer is Bruce Irving, senior producer and director is David Vos, and producer is Deborah Hood. Creative director and founder is Russell Morash. Funding is provided by Andersen Windows, Inc., GMC, The Home Depot, and State Farm Insurance Companies.

Celebrating quality craftsmanship with homeowners and tradesmen of all kinds, This Old House Ventures, Inc. is marking the 25th anniversary of television's first and most trusted home improvement brand with a year-long multi-media program integrating award-winning television, publishing, Internet, and special events throughout 2004 and early 2005. The 25th anniversary is centered around three major events: The "Meet This Old House" tour, which will bring the This Old House brand to cities across America; the This Old House Carlisle project, a restoration and renovation marrying the latest in home technology with old-world craftsmanship; and the creation of a first-ever national scholarship fund to encourage young people to enter the building-arts trades.

This Old House inspires and informs 52 million adults every month on topics of home improvement and renovation. It is the No. 1 multi-media home enthusiast brand, offering homeowners trusted information and expert advice through award-winning television, a highly regarded magazine, a comprehensive line of books, and an information-driven Web site.

This Old House Ventures, Inc. is a business of Time4 Media®, a multi-media company whose enterprises include leading magazines, Web sites, television and radio programming, feature films, and events and exhibitions. Time4 Media is a subsidiary of Time Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.

WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcasting producer, the source of one-third of PBS's prime-time lineup and companion online content, as well as many public radio favorites. For more information, visit www.wgbh.org.

Press contacts
Leah Orfanos
National Senior Publicist
WGBH Boston
617.300.5416
leah_orfanos@wgbh.org

Frederika Brookfield
Communications Director
This Old House Ventures,Inc.
212-522-5809
frederika_brookfield@timeinc.com

Kathryn Hathaway
National Associate Publicist
WGBH Boston
617.330.5305
kathryn_hathaway@wgbh.org

Photography Contact
Olivia Wong
Promotion Assistant
WGBH Boston
617.300.5349
olivia_wong@wgbh.org

Read more: Download the Press Release (pdf)