A Service for Homeowners:
Conserving and Maintaining Historic Houses

Historic houses are where we live in New England: Federal and Greek Revival farmhouses, Italianate row houses, Craftsman bungalows, post-War suburban Ranches.

Our houses embody the patterns and diversity of our history
Our houses give our cities, towns and villages their historic scale and character and embody the distinctive patterns of our past: the town green surrounded by Georgian mansions, the country road dotted with farm cottages and barns, the streetcar suburb of Shingle Style and Queen Anne houses, the tract development of Modernist split levels. Our houses come in all sizes, from tiny workers’ cottages to boxy three-deckers and apartment buildings, and every type and condition, from the simplest to the most elegant.

How can I conserve the character of my old house?
For those of us who cherish our old houses, and for those of us who want to care for and maintain an old house, how do we make sense of the advertisements that pressure us every day to replace our windows, redo our siding, update our kitchens and baths, insulate our attics, or add on a second floor, a garage or dormers? How do we prioritize needed repairs to preserve or enhance the character and the value of our historic homes? How do you know what is best for your historic house?

Can we conserve and maintain the best and most distinctive features of our old houses and still keep them affordable, livable and practical for us and our families?

Historic New England is committed to helping you as a homeowner care for and conserve your historic house. As the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional preservation organization in the country, Historic New England offers access to its legacy of stewardship and preservation excellence through the Historic Homeowner membership category.

Historic Homeowner membership supports you and your old house and the everyday needs, concerns, and problems you encounter as the owner of an old house, whether that house was built in 1750 or 1950.

How Historic Homeowner membership works for you and your historic house
Historic Homeowner membership provides individualized access to Historic New England’s Historic Preservation staff for evaluation, consultation, and referrals on a range of issues confronting older houses. Annual membership benefits include:

• online or mail-in consultation to help you select historically-appropriate paint colors OR to evaluate design or construction proposals to ensure compatibility with your old house;
• Exclusive password-protected website. Click Here to Login
• online and telephone access to Historic Homeowner staff for two additional technical assistance requests annually;
• two electronic newsletters on historic house maintenance and resource issues;
• invitations to two members-only historic house workshops and events; and
• all the benefits of household membership in Historic New England.

We invite you to join.

Membership fee:
	$200

To join, please call 617-994-5910 , or use our convenient online membership form .

Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page to get answers to many of the inquiries received by our preservation experts.