A Patchwork of Old and New—Chase’s Tavern

By Ellen Nielsen

(from The Unity Newsletter, August 2002)

When the Driving by the Chase’s Tavern project during July, Unity residents probably noticed dramatic changes.  The north side of the old house, which faces the road, has new siding, painted with pale gray primer, surrounding a large irregular patch of old siding, still covered with faded bile-green paint.  On the south side, and on the east end, all of the old siding has been replaced and a new south porch has been built.  The other obvious change is that the new two-story west wing has been constructed, along with its two porches.  (Not so obvious is the cap for the new 400-foot deep drilled well.)   Also, most of the new six-over-six windows have been installed.

The green patch on the north wall is all that remains of the original pine clapboards.  These clapboards were cut with an up and down saw and fastened to the inch thick board sheathing with cut nails.  The “reveal” (the area of one clapboard not covered by the overlapping clapboard) varies from 2 1/2 to 3 1/4 inches.  Where the ends of two original clapboards meet, they have been tapered or “skived” so that one piece overlaps the other. 

The new siding on the north wall has been installed so that it continues the horizontal lines created by the varying reveal of the old siding.  However, the new clapboards are cedar, not pine, and they are joined end to end with simple butt joints. Care has been taken to blend old and new materials to preserve the 1800 appearance, although the new work will be visible on closer inspection even after the siding is painted.

The rest of the siding on the house had been replaced (in some places with shingles) and much of that replacement siding was in poor condition; therefore it was replaced again with new western red cedar clapboards.  In this case, the reveal is a standard 4 inches.  The siding installation was not quite finished on July 21; some tarpaper was still visible on the upper part of the west end.

The north side of the Tavern looks older for another reason—it is on this side that the original granite block foundation has been preserved.  In fact, the granite slabs, which are about six inches thick, formed the outside layer of the original stone and brick foundation, which has been backed on the inside by a poured concrete wall and shelf, which can be seen through the cellar window.

Also on the north side is the only surviving original exterior door, which served as the formal front entry of the Tavern.  This six-panel door topped by a glass transom, and surrounded by an elaborate doorframe with an overhanging cornice and two pilasters.  The classical style of this doorframe, containing elements from Greek architecture, was popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.  Inside, the door has original hand wrought iron strap hinges, which span the width of the door.  The bottom parts of the pilasters and the door were damaged by rot, and are being repaired by Rod Gray, again carefully joining old and new wood.  

Meanwhile, Jim Kahn has made four 2-inch thick exterior doors, similar in appearance to the original front door, which will soon be hung in the four new doorways.  The lumber for these doors was sawn with a modern circular saw, and planed with a power planer, but the mortise and tenon joints were put together the old way with a chisel and a mallet   Later, Jim will make twenty new six-panel interior doors to match the existing old ones.

Two hundred years from now, assuming Chase’s Tavern still stands and people still care about historic buildings, it will be easy to tell which parts of the building are original, and which parts were rebuilt in 2002.  One of the guiding principles of historic preservation is to harmonize the old and the new; in this case, rebuilding in the style of 1800, but using modern materials and construction methods where appropriate, and deliberately leaving tell-tale signs of restoration.

Information for this article was contributed by Jim Kahn, Jim Romer, and Rod Gray, Pictures by Doug Lawson..