Dealing with historic and architecturally significant structures is a very tricky endeavor. Most people approach owning historic houses in one of two ways. One, historic preservation where every aspect and detail of the original house is recreated meticulously. Two, historic renovation where someone attempts to add a room off the rear of the house to fix its size or functionality or maybe remodeling a bathroom or the kitchen. 2Kings approach to historic structures is a little different. We believe history is centrally important to our human narrative and must be preserved, but believe that the best way to protect that history is to help it evolve in a very controlled manner. Change is an inevitability and when a building remains stagnant it typically becomes obsolete and there is a higher likelihood of neglect, not being used, and eventually torn down. We believe this defeats the purpose of pure historic preservation, except in the context of very significant historic structures.

We attempt to balance between the need to protect history and the needs of contemporary living and technology. Utilizing our expertise in architecture, architectural history, and construction we identify the significant features of the home that need to be preserved and design the addition or remodel to protect those while modernizing the structure. The result is a renovated structure that maintains the character and historical importance of the original structure without being old. At the same time, the new elements fit almost seamlessly into the historic context so as to blur the lines between the old and the new. This seems like a simple enough concept, but in practice is very difficult and changes from one structure to another. What is good for one house may not be good for the house directly next door - every historic house is unique.

We call this process Historic Modernization.