November 29, 2025 • 20 mins
# Preserving Cincinnati's Historic Homes: A Deep Dive with Beth Johnson
Step inside the fascinating world of historic preservation with Beth Johnson, Executive Director of Cincinnati Preservation. In this engaging conversation, Beth reveals how her organization serves as the champion and educational resource for preserving the architectural treasures of Greater Cincinnati. From the technical aspects of window restoration to the artistry of historic mortars, this episode uncovers the passionate community dedicated to maintaining our region's unique architectural heritage.
With nearly two decades in preservation work, Beth shares insider stories of exploring Music Hall's attic and Union Terminal's roof while explaining the critical difference between National Register designation and local historic protection. Her enthusiasm is contagious as she describes the resources available to homeowners tackling restoration projects.
Whether you're a homeowner of a historic property, a preservation enthusiast, or simply appreciate Cincinnati's architectural heritage, this episode offers valuable insights into maintaining our region's unique character. Tune in to discover how you can be part of preserving the stories embedded in our historic buildings for generations to come.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, back at it we go at Home with
Gary Salvin twelve thirty five. It is, and as promised,
we'd have Beth Johnson. She is the executive director of
Cincinnati Preservation, and Beth welcome for the first time nat
Home with Gary Salvin. How you doing good?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You're quite welcome. Of course, for thirty nine years we've
sat here and talked about homes. We've talked about running
toilets and patching walls and doing all kinds of stuff
around the home. And you are the executive director of
Cincinnati Preservation, which has a lot to do with homes.
Can you kind of tell us a little bit about
Cincinnai Preservation.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, we have a lot to do with old homes.
So Cincinnati Preservation is the Greater Cincinnati is nonprofit that's
focused and recognized as the resource and champion for the
historic preservation, reuse of old buildings, and basically celebration and
acknowledgment of the importance of our historic and cultural resources.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
There's there's boy, you just said a lot. Yeah, and
I remember when we chatted this past week, you said
we're an education resource. So let's just start there because
I guess I am an education resource also, and I
know you're going to be able to tell me a
(01:21):
lot more than I know because we get we have
you know, we do a national show for the first
three hours on Saturday, and we get a lot of
calls from even New England where there's a lot of
homes and we have a lot of older homes. I know.
Northern Kentucky. Now you do Northern Kentucky too, correct, we do?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, So we are the Greater Cincinnati region, So we're
basically Hamilton County and then all of the counties in Ohio,
northern Kentucky and a little bit of Indiana that's Hamilton County.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Now there's also historic designations. Tell me how you educate
people on what historic designations? And I mean there's different
ways you have to do things. Do you help people
with that? Okay, yes you do.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah. So there's basically two different types of designations. There's
one that's called the National Register, which is through the
federal government, and that's basically kind of a good goal
thumbs up, Yay, you're historic, you should be preserved. But
then there's also local designation and that's where you get
into what you can and cannot do with the basically
the look and aesthetics of the exterior of your property only.
(02:34):
And so there's local preservation offices in a lot of
our cities that you go through and you basically get
a permit, a special permit to make changes to your house.
And we recognize that there are you know, there's special
materials often with these historic homes or materials that maybe
people aren't quite used to working with anymore. And so
(02:56):
that's where we really come in to help provide education
on and how you treat those materials or if you
need to replace it where you can find them excellent.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
So, so how do you educate people about that? Do
they come to you, do you have seminars or how
does that education process work?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
A little bit of all of it. So definitely people
come to us so that we are you know, have
people can feel free to call us or email us
if they have questions. We call that technical preservation questions
and that's really we have a preservation director who will
help walking through those. We have a lot of information
on our website. We have a whole section of our
(03:39):
website called Preservation one oh one that is a great
resource for people. Has a lot of disinformation about how
you treat windows and wood and things like that. But
then we also, for almost thirteen years, I think we
might be going on fourteen years, have been collaborating with
a group of people in Northern Kentucky made up of
most of the local preservation offices there, where we do
(04:02):
a weekend. It's basically a day long event called Northern
KATTACKI Restoration Weekend where we have classes on all of
this stuff. So we have a window restoration guy, usually
a plaster guy, someone that comes talks about warnar, We
talk about paint colors, architectural styles routine. So really anything
that has to do with a historic house we usually
(04:23):
will try and cover it there.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Well, I got to get some of those guys on,
don't I Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, we have a great list of tradesmen.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah yeah, Well we'll get together on that later and
I might use you. You've already educated me, so we
can think that steal a some of them and they
use their expertise. And I think this is so vitally important,
especially in this area. You get a good architecture, I know,
you know in the Newport and Covington area, and course
(04:55):
in Cincinnati and do you go in the Indiana at all?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I'm a little bit so south East Indiana. Okay, it's
cut part of our coverage as well.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, yeah, we got these kinds just ornate in beautiful architecture.
And the last thing you want is somebody to go
in and buy and start putting in, uh you know,
some cheap looking replacement windows and vinyl siding. I mean
that'd be im mortal sin.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, yeah, now it's and it really does. It will
dramatically change the look of a house. And and a
lot of these houses also were we're stuilt in such
a way that like the standard vinyl window won't even
sit in there, so then you have to pour down
the window, and that just it just doesn't provide a
good look. And also are there's another preservations here that
(05:48):
things we would always say replacement windows are called replacement
for a reason. They always have to be replaced. Whereas
wood windows, you can, you know, you can rehab wood windows.
Every single part of that when was meant was meant
to be able to be replaced if needed. And so
if you have good working wood windows, there's ways to
make them. Just as an energy efficient is not better
(06:09):
than any of the vinyl windows on the market, and
we talk a lot about that and show people how
they can do that as well.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, I even remember it's probably twenty five thirty years ago.
I know Barbin windows came out with a wood insert
to fit inside a window. I mean, you couldn't tell
it wasn't an original window. It was. It was outstanding.
And I imagine many companies, wood window companies, they have
a catalog of some historic looks or no they do.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, yeah, they've come a long way. So Marvin was
definitely at the forefront that they were actually worked with
the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the National Park
Service on that first window to make sure that fit
the stecks that were needed. But pretty much all the
major window manufacturers out there now create wood, aluminal cloud wood,
(06:59):
or another popular thing that's been coming is fiberglass, in
that they're able to mold fiberglass and it's just much
stronger than vinyl, so it's able to make some of
those bigger sashes that vinyl replacement windows just camped.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Sure. Sure, that's got to be a fun job you have,
it is.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I'm pretty I'm pretty lucky.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
I'm pretty lucky.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I've got. I've been in the been in the preservation
work in Cincinnati region going on eighteen years now, and
I've been with Cincinnati Preservation about three and a half.
But all of those jobs have let me go into
some amazing magical places. I've been able to go up
into the attict of Music Hall, behind the Big Rose window,
(07:47):
I've got the roof of Union Terminal and people. And
the greatest part of this job is people are so
proud of their homes and their buildings that they always
want to show them off. And so just even last week,
I got to go on a tour the Goshorn House,
which is this amazing, beautiful mansion up in Clifton that's
actually now on the market, and the owners just wanted
(08:07):
to show us all the work that he did do it,
and it was phenomenal, and it's just like, yeah, it's
like I could to go into pretty cool places.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, I know. There was a guest I had, a
young gal graduated from XU. She was in her twenties,
was you know, got married and they bought an old
home in the over the Run and I can't tell
you where, I've never seen it. And I'm going like
do you guys know what you're doing? And she goes like,
we know it's going to be a lot of work,
(08:37):
but we're just so excited about taking this, you know,
not dilapidated, but in a state of disrepair, and you know,
talking just some of the things that they were her
and her husband were doing and friends were helping. It
was fascinating to me. I mean, it was fascinating and
I always wonder, because I haven't really talked to her
(09:00):
of lost tract evers, did they get it done? And
somebody told me when I was telling that story, they said,
you never get it done.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Now. There's always something to do to do. Even once
you've finished something, it's probably time to time to update
or replace or share something, maintenance, all that sort of stuff.
So it's a constant cycle. But I love it. I
take it your your listeners probably love it as well.
There's just something wonderful about being able to put your
(09:29):
own blood button tears into your home.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Even things like you know, there's a lot of stone
and a lot of you know, different mortars and different things,
which is all different than what we used today. So
much of it was used whatever the materials were on
site or in that region, and then keeping them clean.
You know, you've been through a lot of air pollution
(09:54):
when there wasn't regulations on that, and even just cleaning
them properly without something that's too aggressive. I guess that
there's a whole education in that.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
There is. And the great thing is that technology is
constantly evolving. So we always say, you know, you want
to start with the least invasive, the gentlest means possible,
and then you build up. And so obviously sand blasting
to us is just as we said earlier, is a
mortal fin like that will just completely damage your brick
and stone. But they're actually coming out with new technologies.
(10:28):
They've been experimenting with lasers and how lasers can clean
phone and do it safely without ruining it. So it's
neat because the technology is still advancing. But also the
great thing though with some of the historic materials, you know,
the historic mortar, you can still make historic mortar. You
might not maybe maybe be able to get the horse
hair sometimes that they might put in that well fiscally
(10:51):
and plaster, but you can still you know, they still
make the basic ingredients and so there's still lime and
other stuff that you can right, that is used to
be able to make mortar, and so it's not impossible,
right to be able to preserve these materials, right.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah. Boy, it just goes really on and on and
so yes, I got a thousand questions going through my head,
but I was just thinking we'd One of the sponsors
of our show is a company called Dumont Global and
they have They had a product probably in the eighties
(11:30):
they still haven't It's called peel Away and was removing
paint off of you know, lead paint off walls. And
I remember I met the founder and he was fascinating.
He was like using it in Europe, removing thirty five
layers of paint. And I guess I was just gonna say,
(11:52):
I would assume that you're familiar with that product, and
it's probably used in some of those restorations because it
just pulls it off. It's not corrosive.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I'm very, very familiar with Tilloy, and I've actually used
it myself on windows because the great thing about steal
Away is that you can easily get it into like
it will take the shape of the window profile. So
it's really easy then to get it in there, and
so it actually cuts down on the scraping and then
potential damage to wood if you accidentally, you know, get
(12:23):
a creeper to put a groove or something. And so
it's you know, it's a great resource and we still
love it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Sure, sure do you ever And this may be a
silly question, we'll take a break and we'll kind of
wrap things up. I know you got a fundraiser going on,
and I want to get that information out. Do you
ever have tours of homes? You know, like a cavalcade
of preserved homes that people want to open their doors to.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
So every now and then we'll do do kind of
one off one. But what we really love to do
is really support our neighborhoods because there's a lot of
neighborhoods around here that put on house tours. So like
Clifton does a big one. I know Westwood has done
one for several several times, east Row down in Newport
(13:12):
and like having to neighborhoods and so rather than trying
to replicate what they're doing because a lot of these
as it's a big fund raiser for them. Sure we
sure will go and support them. So we'll do like
calls of volunteers and just help support them, to help
them fulfill their mission and to highlight their homes.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, I was just saying for the general public to
get to view some of these what a great idea.
And if there's that many tours out there, let's we'll
get that word out. I think that's wonderful. That's wonderful.
All right, Let's take a little break, Bet, and when
we come back, we'll talk about the fundraiser and kind
of wrap things up because we always quickly run out
of time. Beth Johnson, she is the executive director of
(13:50):
Cincinni Preservation, and we'll take a little break here at
home with Gerry Salvin right here in fifty five carre
see the talk station. Well, our wonderful guest, Beth Johnson,
the executive director sure of Cincinnati Preservation, is my guest today,
and we're just talking about just talking about the preservation
of historic housing. A couple of real quick questions. You
also do work where there isn't a house we got.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, we say that we can. We do above above
amvelo ground presgregation and so we you know, we recognize
that archaeological resources or even when buildings have been torn down,
still have stories to tell, and so we want to
make sure that, especially with archaeological resources and with southwest
(14:34):
Ohio and northern Kentucky having a lot of native mounds,
that we want to make sure that those are respected
well and taking care of properly. And then when buildings,
you know, unfortunately, some buildings obviously do have to be demolished,
but there's still stories of the people and of the
building that can be told, and we want to make
sure that we still are able to tell those as well.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
When people buy these types of homes, are they usually
renovation by pros or is a lot of a DIY work.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
I think it's a bit of both. So I think
it really depends on kind of where you where you are,
I know, you know, and over their ie we've definitely
had both. We've had professionals and we've had a lot
of di wires. Obviously there's challenges with with di I
wires and you know, just basically the knowledge base and
making sure that they have the knowledge base. And there's
(15:27):
you know a couple of things obviously electric and plumbing,
h fact, things that that need licenses and permits that
we always encourage people to look for. The professionals but
you know a lot of the stuff like you know,
painting and maybe basic carpentry and stuff like that. You know,
take take a hand at it, and if you can't
do it, then then you can always bring in a professional.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
That's what I always talking about. Anybody can paint, especially
with today's quality of paints. Quite honestly, they're wonderful. Yeah,
and uh, but nobody should be ripping out knob and
tube and rewiring unless learn electrician exactly. All right, so
you're dispensing all this knowledge. You sound like you have
a wonderful, wonderful program. How's it funded?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
So we most of it's funded through we are a
membership based organization for membership, and then we have our
end of the year fund drive, where a good portion
of our yearly budget and revenue comes from. And so
it's you know, a common thing for nonprofits that we
fund raise. But we're currently in the midst of what
we're calling our Guiding Star fund Drive where people can
(16:34):
can donate to us so we can continue this work
throughout the region.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
How do they donate?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They can go online onto our website and it's the
first thing that pops up is a would you like
to be part of it. Would you like to be
a guiding Star? And so people can click on that
and can donate to us. They can also send us
checks if they'd rather do that. I know some people
still don't like internet donating things on the internet, but
we also people can send us checks to our address
(17:03):
at a twelve Dayton Street, Cincinnati, Ohio for five two one.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Four, right amongst a lot of historic buildings.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yes, yeah, we're located in the John House House, which
is a historic house.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Any volunteers needed in your organization.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Always, we always love having people volunteer. So we you know,
we have quite a few events throughout the year and
so it's always great to have extra hands for that.
And then also we have a bunch of different committees
that do that do various work, and so people want
to get even more involved and want to really lend
their their knowledge or talent that way we have we
(17:46):
have that as well, or if people just want to
come in and help us with things such as envelopes
and stuff and letters, that we can always have that
as well. And so people can find out about how
to volunteer with us as well on our.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Website and a website again.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Is www dot Cincinnati Preservation dot.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Org dot org. All right, Beth, thanks so much for
giving up your Saturday or part of it on this weekend,
and it's been fun. I am going to touch base
with you. I want to get a couple of your
resources if you don't mind, so we'll probably chat with
you this week. But thanks for thanks for joining us
today and thanks for your knowledge. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Thanks for the work you do, so thank you and
thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
All right, Beth, thank you, bye bye. All Right, Beth Johnson,
Cincinni Preservation and interesting. I bet we scratched the surface.
I know, literally. Uh, there's a lot more to learn
about this organization. And you know, we have guests on
(18:52):
to do basically the same kind of work that she's
doing to educate you. Not all of us can go
do all the you know, redoing or rehabbing of these homes,
but the knowledge to do some of it. We talked
(19:12):
today about an old handrail, put a hair handrail and
an old plaster wall and how to do it those
you know, maybe not preservation, but it's older homes, older materials,
different types of ways to accomplish that, and so maybe
I can get a couple of her resources on during
(19:34):
our regular shows weekend and week out. But I hope
you enjoyed the conversation. We will have that podcast available
maybe for your friends. If you know somebody that's into
that kind of work or into that kind of history,
you could pass that along to them. I'd certainly appreciate it.
You can find it on the iHeart app A little
(19:54):
magnifying glass just put in at Home with Gary Salvan
so Beth Johnson. We certainly appreciate your time today. All right,
Danny boy, another weekend, well not another weekend, but half
of a weekend is in the bay. Another Saturday. Yeah,
thank you so much for your efforts today. Yes, it
was kind of slow in the beginning with it, but
(20:15):
then everybody woke up, got the turkey hangover over, ready
to go. That's what I say. All right, good Lord Willing.
We'll be back tomorrow for more At Home with Gary
Sullivan
All right, back at it we go at Home with
Gary Salvin twelve thirty five. It is, and as promised,
we'd have Beth Johnson. She is the executive director of
Cincinnati Preservation, and Beth welcome for the first time nat
Home with Gary Salvin. How you doing good?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
You're quite welcome. Of course, for thirty nine years we've
sat here and talked about homes. We've talked about running
toilets and patching walls and doing all kinds of stuff
around the home. And you are the executive director of
Cincinnati Preservation, which has a lot to do with homes.
Can you kind of tell us a little bit about
Cincinnai Preservation.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, we have a lot to do with old homes.
So Cincinnati Preservation is the Greater Cincinnati is nonprofit that's
focused and recognized as the resource and champion for the
historic preservation, reuse of old buildings, and basically celebration and
acknowledgment of the importance of our historic and cultural resources.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
There's there's boy, you just said a lot. Yeah, and
I remember when we chatted this past week, you said
we're an education resource. So let's just start there because
I guess I am an education resource also, and I
know you're going to be able to tell me a
(01:21):
lot more than I know because we get we have
you know, we do a national show for the first
three hours on Saturday, and we get a lot of
calls from even New England where there's a lot of
homes and we have a lot of older homes. I know.
Northern Kentucky. Now you do Northern Kentucky too, correct, we do?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, So we are the Greater Cincinnati region, So we're
basically Hamilton County and then all of the counties in Ohio,
northern Kentucky and a little bit of Indiana that's Hamilton County.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Now there's also historic designations. Tell me how you educate
people on what historic designations? And I mean there's different
ways you have to do things. Do you help people
with that? Okay, yes you do.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah. So there's basically two different types of designations. There's
one that's called the National Register, which is through the
federal government, and that's basically kind of a good goal
thumbs up, Yay, you're historic, you should be preserved. But
then there's also local designation and that's where you get
into what you can and cannot do with the basically
the look and aesthetics of the exterior of your property only.
(02:34):
And so there's local preservation offices in a lot of
our cities that you go through and you basically get
a permit, a special permit to make changes to your house.
And we recognize that there are you know, there's special
materials often with these historic homes or materials that maybe
people aren't quite used to working with anymore. And so
(02:56):
that's where we really come in to help provide education
on and how you treat those materials or if you
need to replace it where you can find them excellent.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
So, so how do you educate people about that? Do
they come to you, do you have seminars or how
does that education process work?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
A little bit of all of it. So definitely people
come to us so that we are you know, have
people can feel free to call us or email us
if they have questions. We call that technical preservation questions
and that's really we have a preservation director who will
help walking through those. We have a lot of information
on our website. We have a whole section of our
(03:39):
website called Preservation one oh one that is a great
resource for people. Has a lot of disinformation about how
you treat windows and wood and things like that. But
then we also, for almost thirteen years, I think we
might be going on fourteen years, have been collaborating with
a group of people in Northern Kentucky made up of
most of the local preservation offices there, where we do
(04:02):
a weekend. It's basically a day long event called Northern
KATTACKI Restoration Weekend where we have classes on all of
this stuff. So we have a window restoration guy, usually
a plaster guy, someone that comes talks about warnar, We
talk about paint colors, architectural styles routine. So really anything
that has to do with a historic house we usually
(04:23):
will try and cover it there.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Well, I got to get some of those guys on,
don't I Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yeah, we have a great list of tradesmen.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Yeah yeah, Well we'll get together on that later and
I might use you. You've already educated me, so we
can think that steal a some of them and they
use their expertise. And I think this is so vitally important,
especially in this area. You get a good architecture, I know,
you know in the Newport and Covington area, and course
(04:55):
in Cincinnati and do you go in the Indiana at all?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I'm a little bit so south East Indiana. Okay, it's
cut part of our coverage as well.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, yeah, we got these kinds just ornate in beautiful architecture.
And the last thing you want is somebody to go
in and buy and start putting in, uh you know,
some cheap looking replacement windows and vinyl siding. I mean
that'd be im mortal sin.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, yeah, now it's and it really does. It will
dramatically change the look of a house. And and a
lot of these houses also were we're stuilt in such
a way that like the standard vinyl window won't even
sit in there, so then you have to pour down
the window, and that just it just doesn't provide a
good look. And also are there's another preservations here that
(05:48):
things we would always say replacement windows are called replacement
for a reason. They always have to be replaced. Whereas
wood windows, you can, you know, you can rehab wood windows.
Every single part of that when was meant was meant
to be able to be replaced if needed. And so
if you have good working wood windows, there's ways to
make them. Just as an energy efficient is not better
(06:09):
than any of the vinyl windows on the market, and
we talk a lot about that and show people how
they can do that as well.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah, I even remember it's probably twenty five thirty years ago.
I know Barbin windows came out with a wood insert
to fit inside a window. I mean, you couldn't tell
it wasn't an original window. It was. It was outstanding.
And I imagine many companies, wood window companies, they have
a catalog of some historic looks or no they do.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, yeah, they've come a long way. So Marvin was
definitely at the forefront that they were actually worked with
the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the National Park
Service on that first window to make sure that fit
the stecks that were needed. But pretty much all the
major window manufacturers out there now create wood, aluminal cloud wood,
(06:59):
or another popular thing that's been coming is fiberglass, in
that they're able to mold fiberglass and it's just much
stronger than vinyl, so it's able to make some of
those bigger sashes that vinyl replacement windows just camped.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Sure. Sure, that's got to be a fun job you have,
it is.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I'm pretty I'm pretty lucky.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
I'm pretty lucky.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
I've got. I've been in the been in the preservation
work in Cincinnati region going on eighteen years now, and
I've been with Cincinnati Preservation about three and a half.
But all of those jobs have let me go into
some amazing magical places. I've been able to go up
into the attict of Music Hall, behind the Big Rose window,
(07:47):
I've got the roof of Union Terminal and people. And
the greatest part of this job is people are so
proud of their homes and their buildings that they always
want to show them off. And so just even last week,
I got to go on a tour the Goshorn House,
which is this amazing, beautiful mansion up in Clifton that's
actually now on the market, and the owners just wanted
(08:07):
to show us all the work that he did do it,
and it was phenomenal, and it's just like, yeah, it's
like I could to go into pretty cool places.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Yeah, I know. There was a guest I had, a
young gal graduated from XU. She was in her twenties,
was you know, got married and they bought an old
home in the over the Run and I can't tell
you where, I've never seen it. And I'm going like
do you guys know what you're doing? And she goes like,
we know it's going to be a lot of work,
(08:37):
but we're just so excited about taking this, you know,
not dilapidated, but in a state of disrepair, and you know,
talking just some of the things that they were her
and her husband were doing and friends were helping. It
was fascinating to me. I mean, it was fascinating and
I always wonder, because I haven't really talked to her
(09:00):
of lost tract evers, did they get it done? And
somebody told me when I was telling that story, they said,
you never get it done.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Now. There's always something to do to do. Even once
you've finished something, it's probably time to time to update
or replace or share something, maintenance, all that sort of stuff.
So it's a constant cycle. But I love it. I
take it your your listeners probably love it as well.
There's just something wonderful about being able to put your
(09:29):
own blood button tears into your home.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Even things like you know, there's a lot of stone
and a lot of you know, different mortars and different things,
which is all different than what we used today. So
much of it was used whatever the materials were on
site or in that region, and then keeping them clean.
You know, you've been through a lot of air pollution
(09:54):
when there wasn't regulations on that, and even just cleaning
them properly without something that's too aggressive. I guess that
there's a whole education in that.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
There is. And the great thing is that technology is
constantly evolving. So we always say, you know, you want
to start with the least invasive, the gentlest means possible,
and then you build up. And so obviously sand blasting
to us is just as we said earlier, is a
mortal fin like that will just completely damage your brick
and stone. But they're actually coming out with new technologies.
(10:28):
They've been experimenting with lasers and how lasers can clean
phone and do it safely without ruining it. So it's
neat because the technology is still advancing. But also the
great thing though with some of the historic materials, you know,
the historic mortar, you can still make historic mortar. You
might not maybe maybe be able to get the horse
hair sometimes that they might put in that well fiscally
(10:51):
and plaster, but you can still you know, they still
make the basic ingredients and so there's still lime and
other stuff that you can right, that is used to
be able to make mortar, and so it's not impossible,
right to be able to preserve these materials, right.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah. Boy, it just goes really on and on and
so yes, I got a thousand questions going through my head,
but I was just thinking we'd One of the sponsors
of our show is a company called Dumont Global and
they have They had a product probably in the eighties
(11:30):
they still haven't It's called peel Away and was removing
paint off of you know, lead paint off walls. And
I remember I met the founder and he was fascinating.
He was like using it in Europe, removing thirty five
layers of paint. And I guess I was just gonna say,
(11:52):
I would assume that you're familiar with that product, and
it's probably used in some of those restorations because it
just pulls it off. It's not corrosive.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I'm very, very familiar with Tilloy, and I've actually used
it myself on windows because the great thing about steal
Away is that you can easily get it into like
it will take the shape of the window profile. So
it's really easy then to get it in there, and
so it actually cuts down on the scraping and then
potential damage to wood if you accidentally, you know, get
(12:23):
a creeper to put a groove or something. And so
it's you know, it's a great resource and we still
love it.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Sure, sure do you ever And this may be a
silly question, we'll take a break and we'll kind of
wrap things up. I know you got a fundraiser going on,
and I want to get that information out. Do you
ever have tours of homes? You know, like a cavalcade
of preserved homes that people want to open their doors to.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
So every now and then we'll do do kind of
one off one. But what we really love to do
is really support our neighborhoods because there's a lot of
neighborhoods around here that put on house tours. So like
Clifton does a big one. I know Westwood has done
one for several several times, east Row down in Newport
(13:12):
and like having to neighborhoods and so rather than trying
to replicate what they're doing because a lot of these
as it's a big fund raiser for them. Sure we
sure will go and support them. So we'll do like
calls of volunteers and just help support them, to help
them fulfill their mission and to highlight their homes.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Yeah, I was just saying for the general public to
get to view some of these what a great idea.
And if there's that many tours out there, let's we'll
get that word out. I think that's wonderful. That's wonderful.
All right, Let's take a little break, Bet, and when
we come back, we'll talk about the fundraiser and kind
of wrap things up because we always quickly run out
of time. Beth Johnson, she is the executive director of
(13:50):
Cincinni Preservation, and we'll take a little break here at
home with Gerry Salvin right here in fifty five carre
see the talk station. Well, our wonderful guest, Beth Johnson,
the executive director sure of Cincinnati Preservation, is my guest today,
and we're just talking about just talking about the preservation
of historic housing. A couple of real quick questions. You
also do work where there isn't a house we got.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Yeah, we say that we can. We do above above
amvelo ground presgregation and so we you know, we recognize
that archaeological resources or even when buildings have been torn down,
still have stories to tell, and so we want to
make sure that, especially with archaeological resources and with southwest
(14:34):
Ohio and northern Kentucky having a lot of native mounds,
that we want to make sure that those are respected
well and taking care of properly. And then when buildings,
you know, unfortunately, some buildings obviously do have to be demolished,
but there's still stories of the people and of the
building that can be told, and we want to make
sure that we still are able to tell those as well.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
When people buy these types of homes, are they usually
renovation by pros or is a lot of a DIY work.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
I think it's a bit of both. So I think
it really depends on kind of where you where you are,
I know, you know, and over their ie we've definitely
had both. We've had professionals and we've had a lot
of di wires. Obviously there's challenges with with di I
wires and you know, just basically the knowledge base and
making sure that they have the knowledge base. And there's
(15:27):
you know a couple of things obviously electric and plumbing,
h fact, things that that need licenses and permits that
we always encourage people to look for. The professionals but
you know a lot of the stuff like you know,
painting and maybe basic carpentry and stuff like that. You know,
take take a hand at it, and if you can't
do it, then then you can always bring in a professional.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
That's what I always talking about. Anybody can paint, especially
with today's quality of paints. Quite honestly, they're wonderful. Yeah,
and uh, but nobody should be ripping out knob and
tube and rewiring unless learn electrician exactly. All right, so
you're dispensing all this knowledge. You sound like you have
a wonderful, wonderful program. How's it funded?
Speaker 2 (16:12):
So we most of it's funded through we are a
membership based organization for membership, and then we have our
end of the year fund drive, where a good portion
of our yearly budget and revenue comes from. And so
it's you know, a common thing for nonprofits that we
fund raise. But we're currently in the midst of what
we're calling our Guiding Star fund Drive where people can
(16:34):
can donate to us so we can continue this work
throughout the region.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
How do they donate?
Speaker 2 (16:41):
They can go online onto our website and it's the
first thing that pops up is a would you like
to be part of it. Would you like to be
a guiding Star? And so people can click on that
and can donate to us. They can also send us
checks if they'd rather do that. I know some people
still don't like internet donating things on the internet, but
we also people can send us checks to our address
(17:03):
at a twelve Dayton Street, Cincinnati, Ohio for five two one.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Four, right amongst a lot of historic buildings.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Yes, yeah, we're located in the John House House, which
is a historic house.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Any volunteers needed in your organization.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Always, we always love having people volunteer. So we you know,
we have quite a few events throughout the year and
so it's always great to have extra hands for that.
And then also we have a bunch of different committees
that do that do various work, and so people want
to get even more involved and want to really lend
their their knowledge or talent that way we have we
(17:46):
have that as well, or if people just want to
come in and help us with things such as envelopes
and stuff and letters, that we can always have that
as well. And so people can find out about how
to volunteer with us as well on our.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Website and a website again.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Is www dot Cincinnati Preservation dot.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
Org dot org. All right, Beth, thanks so much for
giving up your Saturday or part of it on this weekend,
and it's been fun. I am going to touch base
with you. I want to get a couple of your
resources if you don't mind, so we'll probably chat with
you this week. But thanks for thanks for joining us
today and thanks for your knowledge. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Thanks for the work you do, so thank you and
thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
All right, Beth, thank you, bye bye. All Right, Beth Johnson,
Cincinni Preservation and interesting. I bet we scratched the surface.
I know, literally. Uh, there's a lot more to learn
about this organization. And you know, we have guests on
(18:52):
to do basically the same kind of work that she's
doing to educate you. Not all of us can go
do all the you know, redoing or rehabbing of these homes,
but the knowledge to do some of it. We talked
(19:12):
today about an old handrail, put a hair handrail and
an old plaster wall and how to do it those
you know, maybe not preservation, but it's older homes, older materials,
different types of ways to accomplish that, and so maybe
I can get a couple of her resources on during
(19:34):
our regular shows weekend and week out. But I hope
you enjoyed the conversation. We will have that podcast available
maybe for your friends. If you know somebody that's into
that kind of work or into that kind of history,
you could pass that along to them. I'd certainly appreciate it.
You can find it on the iHeart app A little
(19:54):
magnifying glass just put in at Home with Gary Salvan
so Beth Johnson. We certainly appreciate your time today. All right,
Danny boy, another weekend, well not another weekend, but half
of a weekend is in the bay. Another Saturday. Yeah,
thank you so much for your efforts today. Yes, it
was kind of slow in the beginning with it, but
(20:15):
then everybody woke up, got the turkey hangover over, ready
to go. That's what I say. All right, good Lord Willing.
We'll be back tomorrow for more At Home with Gary
Sullivan
At Home with Gary Sullivan News
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