Windows of opportunity

May 14, 2023

May 11, 2023

James Richardson, left, and Erik Genalo of Richardson Window Works look over an antique window sash in the former home and office of Edward Livingston Trudeau, which Historic Saranac Lake is restoring, on Tuesday.(Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — As James Richardson inspected antique windows at Historic Saranac Lake's Trudeau Building on Tuesday, he took some time to talk about the importance of repairing historic windows instead of replacing them.

This is something he's passionate about.

"I could go on forever," Richardson said with a laugh.

He owns Richardson Window Works, which is based out of Cooperstown and specializes in restoring windows from the 1930s or older. Richardson said when people get windows to replace their antique ones, they often throw out their existing windows that are fine. There is nothing structurally wrong with these frames, he said, they just need some maintenance.

Richardson was working on windows in Edward Livingston Trudeau's former home and medical office, built in 1894, which HSL is converting into a museum.

James Richardson, left, and Erik Genalo of Richardson Window Works look over an antique window sash in the former home and office of Edward Livingston Trudeau, which Historic Saranac Lake is restoring, on Tuesday.(Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

HSL Executive Director Amy Catania said she hopes these windows will be a "model" for the community and anyone who has historic cure porch windows at their home.

She said HSL has helped get hundreds of these old houses around town on historic registries. Catania owns a home with cure porch windows herself, and wanted Richardson to give her a quote on restoring her windows.

Catania said that historically registered homes can get tax credits to cover up to 20% of costs to maintain their historic components.

Richardson thinks a disposable mentality about glass came with the advent of the replacement window in the 1980s, as technologies like insulated glass and vinyl made mass-producing windows easier.

In modern times, he said widows are made to last a certain amount of time until they’re replaced again. If one thing breaks, homeowners are meant to just replace the whole window.

"These are more durable," Richardson said, tapping one of the historic sashes. "It's made out of wood, glass and paint. You can fix any of that."

This old wood is good and doesn't rot like new wood does, he said, because as trees have been forested and replanted over decades of increasing industrialization and expansion, the wood they produce has changed over time.

Richardson said there's a lot of "noise" made about how people can save money on their energy bills by replacing their windows. But he said windows and doors only constitute 10% of energy loss in a building. Replacing them outright creates a lot of waste, as well as all the energy and carbon emissions that go into manufacturing and shipping these new windows, made from synthetic materials from all over the world.

Catania said there are several companies that do window rehabilitation in the state, but not many. Most of the windows in HSL's building have been replaced in the century since Trudeau practiced and studied tuberculosis there at his home and medical office on the corner of Main and Church streets. But the ones that haven't, or the ones that were saved — the cure porch windows and decorative oval windows on either side of front door — are being restored and reinstalled.

One of the ovals was in the possession of Jay and Dorothy Federman, who ran a medical office out of the building for years before HSL purchased it from them, and was installed in their own bathroom in their shower. Catania said the Federmans allowed the museum to reclaim it.

Catania said for the architects HSL is contracting with — Kim and Jack Alvarez of Landmark Consulting — restoring windows is one of their favorite things to do, so they donated their time to restore some of the windows for fun.

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