Restoration, Modern Style

One day while he was working for the American Red Cross in Washington shortly after the war, Ben Burch '32 saw a "For Sale" sign on a dilapidated house and without even looking at the interior, bought it. He spent the summer restoring most of it himself, contracting for the remainder. He found that the project proved both interesting and profitable and decided to devote two years exclusively to buying, restoring and selling old houses. Today this is his business and profession as well, for he must of necessity be an ad lib architect. He and his wife Dorothy have restored more than ao dilapidated old houses in the past six years and are looking forward to going to Italy to study architecture and get tips on how really old buildings are rehabilitated.

Most recently, they have obtained seven houses in a challengingly run-down section of Washington called Foggy Bottom, near the Potomac and, like most of their other houses, in walking distance of government buildings. This ambitious renovating project has been completed and some of the houses already sold.

The Burches themselves have restored and now live in a house once owned by Francis Scott Key, in 1809. They have found that their best workmen are men who are accustomed to, and like, old houses. A team of skilled Latvian D.P. carpenters help to make the houses sound while preserving as much of the old as possible.

The Burches ran the Ethan Allen ski lodge in Manchester, Vt., for one winter and are inclined to think their love of old places dates from that experience. Not one to be idle, Dorothy Burch runs a specialty shop not far from her home. One day she saw an old shoe-shine parlor for rent, leased it, and now has a thriving little shop that specializes in Dutch pottery. It's name is Foggy Bottom, too.

THIS ONE THEY KEPT: Ben Burch '32 and his wife Dorothy in the living room of one of the old Washington houses they have rebuilt and redecorated as professional restorers.