Many of the most beautiful homes also happen to be the oldest homes. The pioneers in Utah were famous for adding beautiful woodwork to their homes and storefronts.

Unfortunately, many of these homes and businesses have been lost forever. The ones that are left are treasures indeed. They are worth preserving for future generations.

In the era of mass production, and streamlined "cookie cutter" designs, modern buildings have lost that individual quality and care in craftsmanship that once was so commonplace in the older structures. Modern builders themselves have largely lost the skills needed to build such exquisite works of art. Skills and building techniques which took centuries to cultivate. We might never see new buildings look like these again in our lifetimes. Because of this, it is imperative that all buildings like these be preserved.

We at Kimball Brothers Carpentry consider ourselves fortunate to take a small part in preserving our heritage. Few things give us more satisfaction than restoring old buildings to their original splendor.

This beautiful house below was restored in 1993. It was built in 1892-93 on the west side of Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City. The porch was rebuilt. The roof was replaced, and extensive repairs were made to the brick walls. Windows were repaired,and the woodwork on the entire house was given an extensive paint job.

Before	After
Before	After
Back of house before	After
Beautiful detail in the gables.

The pictures below shows the before and after shots of a porch restoration. Unfortunately, the railing was too weathered to save, and it was too short for safety at only 30" tall. The new wooden railing was reproduced exactly as the original, with the exception that it is now 36" tall.

Before	After
Before	After
Before	After

The next pictures show a new porch on a house built in 1870. Although not a true restoration, it replaced a metal porch, that once replaced the original porch on the house. All of the posts, balusters, etc. are hand turned on a lathe. The fret work is all hand crafted and modeled after four other houses in the neighborhood, built by the same builder over one hundred years ago.

Before	After