Historic homes TLC focus of free workshop

TAMPA Old is good, especially when it's a house rooted and aged in history.

But those cozy turn-of-the-20th-century bungalows, stately Colonial revivals and mid-century moderns that populate the Tampa Bay area from Seminole Heights in Hillsborough County to Kenwood in Pinellas County need tender loving care.

On Saturday, a Historic Homes Workshop sponsored by Tampa Preservation Inc. will offer expert advice on how to maintain and preserve those historical treasures.

For Steve Quillian, owner of Wood Window Makeover, saving old homes is a livelihood and a passion.

"Throwing away something that's got character to me is like trading in your grandmother for a grandmother replica," he said. "Old houses communicate to us about a time when people were more involved in their homes. They made statements. These homes are teachers for me."

Quillian is among more than a dozen preservation experts who will participate in the workshop. Skilled craftsmen will offer tips and demonstrate how to restore old windows, do hands-on plastering, refinish vintage furniture, repair wood floors and research your home's history.

Real estate experts also will talk about how to market a historic home, reap tax benefits, increase energy efficiency and landscape with Florida-friendly plants. And Steve Cannella and Mario Nuñez, hosts of the cable access program "The Tampa Natives Show," will share old photographs and memories of growing up in Tampa.

Last week, Quillian installed screens for a set of hopper windows at a 1919 Hyde Park bungalow owned by Veronica Ten Kate.

Ten Kate said the house had been sitting vacant for nearly 10 years before she bought it in 1997. There was carpet inside covering beautiful wood floors and layers of paint hiding the wood finish on the front porch.

Over the years, she has zeroed in on even more than authentic restoration and preservation of the home. Searching for the genealogy of the house's former owners, she has flipped through city directories, scanned old fire insurance maps and searched the Burgert Brothers photographic collection at the Hillsborough County library. She discovered some prominent local pioneers, including William Brorein, president of the Peninsular Telephone Co., which became Verizon.

Ten Kate's research hit the right resources, said Lucy Jones, president of Florida History. She will be one of the workshop's experts.

"I think it's a fairly common human urge, to know who has been there before you," she said.

The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the office of Weichert Realty, Yates & Associates, 1046 W. Busch Blvd. There is no charge. For information, go to www.TampaPreservation.com or call (813) 248-5437.

ksteele@tampatrib.com

(813) 259-7652