Exterior Elegance – How TruExterior™ Siding and Trims Transforms this Historic Queen Anne Home
A drive down the New England coastline reveals the stunning sight of historic homes that have stood a century (or longer). One of the more popular architectural archetypes is the Queen Anne, built in the late 1880s and 1890s and named after an 18th-century English queen. Queen Anne-style homes are highly decorative featuring asymmetrical and irregular rooflines, gables, massive chimneys, dormers and bay windows.
Homes that have withstood multiple centuries are a favorite project of Joe Danz from Boston Exterior Remodeling. Operating in the Greater Boston area, Joe and his team take on numerous historic remodels each year, like this 1880s Queen Anne-style painted lady where he offers a behind-the-scenes look at the project.
Do you typically work on this type of project?
Out of every 100 houses along the water, there’s at least one Queen Anne. We work on a lot of historic remodels throughout New England; I love learning the history of homes like this.
Originally, this home was a guest house of a wealthy merchant in Cohasset. We could tell some additions had been built out over the years and did not match the historic design of the home. Our goal was to renovate the whole house as one and make it look like it “grew” there.
What was your favorite part of working on this home?
I loved replicating the trim and mouldings all over the home’s exterior. When we started, the whole right side of the home did not have any headers over the windows, so we had to recreate all of those for a consistent look. We used TruExterior trim to make the recent addition from the 1990s blend with the original build from the 1880s.
Why TruExterior for this home?
With all of the historic remodels we work on, I compare a lot of siding and cladding materials. We’re moving away from cement boards and fiber cement-based products because you get lots of contraction and expansion, opening of the seams and water exposure.
With a remodel like this, you want the most authentic look possible. TruExterior gives us the look of real wood clapboard with the durability of its poly-ash composition. TruExterior is a standard material at my company. If we are going to use a clapboard style on any high-end home, we choose TruExterior every time.
What are some of the benefits of using TruExterior?
We’ve found that TruExterior is a light material that is extremely durable. It’s not heavy for my guys to lug around from job to job. Longevity on these old homes is crucial. Wood has become very expensive and it does not last like it used to. Loggers are cutting down trees too quickly, and you don’t see the same old growth.
TruExterior gives us something stable to clad the home with that has minimal expansion and extraction. We’ve found with proper installation, TruExterior outlasts well beyond its warranty.
What inspired the color choice?
These “painted lady” homes typically have three colors.
Together with the homeowner, we looked at historical photos throughout the area to select a colorscape that resembled a quintessential 1880s New England Queen Anne-style waterfront property. TruExterior holds onto paint better than any other synthetic we have tried. For this home, we used Ash Violet on the body, Black Swan for the details, and Greek Villa for the trim. We love the way this turned out.
Authentic replications of the home’s original trim and mouldings with TruExterior trim, and TruExterior Siding adorned with this fresh splash of color transformed this Cohasset’s home exterior. Tag #WestlakeRoyal to share your remodeling and renovation projects with us!
