This Old House Carlisle Project Marks 25 Years of Craftsmanship

Concord, MA, April 22, 2004 - For the broadcast centerpiece of its 25th anniversary season, This Old House has purchased, will renovate, and plans to sell a simple Greek Revival-style farmstead built in 1849. Beginning in May, expert craftsmen from This Old House, master carpenter Norm Abram, general contractor Tom Silva, plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey, and landscape contractor Roger Cook will for the first time mentor a crew of selected apprentices to transform the tired Carlisle, Massachusetts farmstead into a modern home with historical depth. The This Old House Carlisle project featuring Emmy-nominated host Kevin O'Connor along with the expert crew will premiere exclusively on PBS this fall in the first half of The New This Old House Hour (check local listings).

The finished home, 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. Further, in keeping with This Old House's mission of ensuring that excellence in craftsmanship and innovation will be passed on to the next generation of artisans, some proceeds from the sale of the This Old House Carlisle project will endow a new scholarship for the building arts.

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 if the connecting ell will be torn down and replaced with a crisply detailed addition we hope to have built in a factory; and adaptive reuse of the old timberframe barn will be converted to a dramatic living space."

Please note that as This Old House has chronicled in its 25 years, surprises always await the remodeler. The latest information will be continuously updated at www.thisoldhouse.com. Stay tuned for more details about the apprentices, show house, scholarship, and more.

Beginning in April, This Old House Online will feature 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 beginning with the July/August 2004 issue (on sale June 28) and running 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. This Old House creative director and founder is Russell Morash. Executive producer is Bruce Irving, senior producer and director is David Vos, and producer is Deborah Hood.

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

This Old House Ventures, Inc. is an affiliate of Time4 Media® and 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 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

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

Read more: Download the Press Release (pdf)