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Our project in Cairo, Illinois, had the entire city buzzing about preservation, with thirty volunteers beginning a long-term project to create affordable housing while saving the town’s architectural heritage.
The city of Cairo has been in economic decline for years. Demolition of vacant and un-maintained historic buildings is commonplace. As a result, many city blocks are full of gaps and the city itself is losing much of its defining architectural character. Cairo was for many years a regional hub of commerce and had an extensive stock of mid-19th century to early 20th century commercial buildings and houses.
A group of community members, believing it was time for a change, has begun advocating a new approach involving preservation, re-use and new economic ventures rather than wholesale demolition.
The shotgun house preservation project was designed to create affordable housing for local residents who would like to own their own home while making use of existing historic structures. The project will also provide training in home maintenance for interested home owners, many of whom live in similar structures.
For the workshop HCN and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
School of Architecture and Department of History
joined forces with Cairo Vision 20/20 and workshop leader Bill Black, Jr. of Ray Black & Son, Inc. from Paducah, Kentucky, to begin restoration of a circa 1900 shotgun-style house. The house, at 2910 Sycamore Street, was selected as the pilot project because of its highly visible location.
The house had been vacant and used for storage for over 20 years, but with 16 people there the first day, it took only 2 ½ hours to clean out and sort through the varied collection of items. Photos and papers were set aside for cataloguing or return to former residents.
The house was then ready for teams to document and sample the layers of wallpaper and linoleum; record structural evidence of any additions and alterations; research city records to confirm the history of all structures on the lot; and prepare drawings and measurements of the porch’s decorative architectural features so missing pieces could be recreated. Removal of “not-so-historic” linoleum and numerous nails followed, in preparation for refinishing of the original wood flooring.
Despite the lack of maintenance, the team found the house to be completely sound, with most materials in good condition, due to the high quality materials used during construction. Only two locations showed significant deterioration – the porches and the kitchen floor.
With most of the prep work completed, Bill Black showed participants how to remove original wood windows for repair and reglazing. Participants all tried their hand at regluing window frames. Larry Jones, a window glazer, taught the group how to cut, place and putty new glass. He very generously donated all the replacement glass.
The biggest undertaking was repairing the front porch while restoring its decorative features. Bill Black led the group through the process, beginning with jacking up the sagging porch roof to be able to remove the turned posts and balustrade for repair.
Volunteers also removed portions of the porch flooring in order to reinforce supporting beams and replace deteriorated pieces of flooring. Replacement materials were for the most part salvaged from a similar shotgun house that had been damaged by fire. The “donor” house provided not only wood flooring, but also a transom window, wood siding, and kitchen wainscoting needed for a small area.
The workshop was generously supported by a grant from Landmarks Illinois, and three Landmarks staff members traveled from Chicago to Cairo to work alongside participants and see the progress firsthand. Two SIUC architecture students remained at the site with the hope of completing work on the house by September.
Electrical work is being donated by local electrician, Bill Harrell, who participated in both weeks of the workshop and will offer help throughout the summer. Financial support is still being sought to cover the cost of plumbing and re-roofing.
When completed, the house will serve as an office for the Chamber of Commerce with a display showing photos of the preservation process and explaining the benefits of creating affordable housing from existing building stock. Work at additional shotgun houses will follow.
SIUC history students also plan to continue working on related projects throughout the summer. The results of their research, including a a complete history of 2910 Sycamore, will be displayed at SIUC’s University Museum January - February 2010.
AiP, SIUC
School of Architecture, SIUC Department of History,
and Cairo Vision 20/20 plan to continue this project, taking on a second shotgun house in 2010. We are already recruiting volunteers and working to raise funds, so please consider joining us during the summer of 2010 for a remarkable hands-on community experience.
