Working closely with the Owner, Skyplane leveraged the culmination of its design, construction, and re-use experience to guide the award-winning restoration of 3929 Baring St.

Originally built in 1891, the building had fallen into disrepair and was regarded locally as the “Haunted House.” The stately Second Empire style home features granite from Barre, Vermont on its main façade and water table, as well as at the entry steps and railing, and “Peach Bottom” slate for its Mansard roof from Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania — both of which proved resilient enough to be restored, salvaged, and/or reused.

Pursuing a lifetime goal, the Owner, Glenn Steiffenhofer, spared no expense in restoring the building to its original glory. Working with a talented team of local tradespeople over two years, Skyplane salvaged and meticulously restored as many historic elements as possible. These included nearly half of the existing “fish-scale” slate tiles, which were matched with salvaged Peach Bottom slate of the same era, and the installation of a new property fence designed in the spirit of the building’s original period.

Ornamental corbels were salvaged and used as templates for new corbels, then placed in their original locations as accents and supports for the historic roof cornice, diligently rebuilt to its original profiles. Historically appropriate windows were installed, with only one original opening infilled to accommodate the new apartment layouts. All finishes were matched in type, texture, and color based on existing material samples.

Inside, additional historic gems were restored, including the richly colored encaustic tiles of the foyer floor and the original walnut railing, most of which was able to be salvaged and carefully restored