DESIGN
Excellence in
historical preservation
THE KIEHNE HOMESTEAD By Melissa D. Haberstroh, Associate ASID and Principal of Melissa Jeffrey Design I’ve been an admirer of historical architecture for years, both as a novice photographer documenting the thatch roofs of rural Botswana and the hand-carved stone facades of Belgium and later as a design professional in the Texas Hill Country. My experiences in preservation design have ranged from complete restorations of residential and commercial buildings to renovations and the adaptive reuse of vintage residences for commercial use as well as the new construction of historically accurate structures. I believe that quality preservation design is born from the respect for the tradition and the story of the building. My process is both scholastic and narrative in approach. I begin all my preservation design projects by researching the structure’s written and photographical history. If a structure is a designated or a registered historic structure, the physical and historical documentation used in the vetting process provides easy-to-obtain, valuable information. In many cases, the building or structure is considered unremarkable or its history not readily known. A simple farm house, for example, might not be a pillar of historical significance but represents the heritage and tradition of an area and its people. - 26 - ISSUE 4 2018/2019 | ASID TEXAS CHAPTER