February’s History Talks focused on how and why people restore older homes in the St. Louis area. Master carpenter Eric Lavelle and home restorer/YouTube creator Kaleb Higgins shared details about how they work on older homes, many of the tools involved in restoring wood doors, trim, molding, and other features, and why it’s important to preserve these older structures.
The talks
We started the talks with Eric discussing Hall & Brown and some of the equipment and then Kaleb talked about buying and restoring the home. From there, we had a lively Q&A session discussing the neighborhood and the importance of historic preservation among other things.
Hall & Brown Wood-working Co.
Eric described some of the large tools he uses to restore the wooden features of older homes. Most of these machines are contemporary to the period when these late 19th-century and early 20th-century homes were built, and as a testament to the industrial nature of early St. Louis, many were even made right here in the city. From there he showed some photos of his work as well as passing around some restored wood pieces.
You can view Eric’s slides below:
Charles S. Brown home
Kaleb, meanwhile, talked about his Second Empire home owned by Charles S. Brown, who also owned the Hall & Brown Woodworking Machine Company that made some of the equipment Eric discussed.
The Charles S. Brown house is located on St. Louis Ave. between the Griot Museum and the Vashon Museum and just north of the new NGA campus, as indicated below:
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Unseen STL History Talks: Restoring and preserving old buildings