Kirk Westbrook - Restoration Professional

     Many villagers thought Kirkland Westbrook had taken leave of his senses when he began sharing plans to move his pregnant wife Diane and their two-year-old son Josh into the property at 109 Front Street in 1980.

     “The place was in such deplorable condition that the previous owner had considered bulldozing it and when you look at photos taken at the time, it’s easy to understand why many people thought the building should be condemned,” recalls Kirk. “The pipes had frozen, the electricity was shot, the trim had been ripped off the walls and Diane and I had to walk through about three feet of plaster to get from one end of the place to the other. It would be an understatement to say that the exterior was also a shambles.”

     Yet as bleak as things looked inside and out, the young couple – who soon thereafter welcomed son Adam -- remained optimistic that the 1867 landmark could be slowly but surely restored to its former glory.

     Although the $10,000 price tag was low, the interest rate was sky high at 18% and the amount of work facing the self-taught carpenter was daunting. By the time he completed restoring the spacious duplex, which once boasted eight working fireplaces as part of its unique floor layout with back-to-back staircases and matching doors and windows, Kirk had amassed enough material to fill a book on the topic.

     Nearly 30 years and thousands of “sweat equity” hours later, the historic structure is even more splendid than Kirk and Diane ever imagined it would be . . .

(End of this chapter excerpt.)

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