Antique Heart Pine and Heart Cypress – New is Not a Suitable Substitute
Historic preservation projects have a special place in the history and heart of our business.
Goodwin provides custom milled River-Recovered® and reclaimed wood flooring, paneling and other products, guaranteeing accuracy and authenticity when replacing “like for like” historic building materials.
River-Recovered heart pine and heart cypress are the same aged virgin growth species that were harvested from the colonial period in American history up until World War II. Therefore, River-Recovered heart pine and heart cypress offers the perfect fix when replacing damaged material in historical buildings that were constructed during that period. Legacy – or building reclaimed heart pine – has the unmistakable patina of the past because it once graced older buildings, thus has been air dried for 120 years or more.
There is no substituting new growth for old growth, which is why the best preservationist architects only specify quality old growth materials. While the species may be the same, the properties of long lived old growth wood are vastly different from quickly grown and freshly harvested modern trees. Density, growth rings, frequency of knots, greater amounts of olio resin in virgin heart pine and greater amounts of wood preserving cypresene oil in virgin heart cypress are just a few of the pronounced qualities distinguishing old growth heart pine and heart cypress from new.
Below are a few of our favorite historic preservation projects. Enjoy!
Charnley-Norwood House
Designed by Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright in 1890, this historical restoration called for curly heart pine as well as Legacy vertical clear heart pine. Photo curtesy of the Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History.
Firestone Building
The restoration of this 1927 building involved 1600sf of River-Recovered® and building reclaimed heart pine solid tongue and groove flooring. It was recognized by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation as an Adaptive Reuse Honorable Mention in May of 2015.
Old Gainesville Train Depot
Antique building reclaimed legacy heart pine flooring and paneling breathed new life in this historic train depot, which is now home to a Pop-a-Top.
Matheson History Museum Library and Archives
This historic building was originally built for the Gainesville Gospel Tabernacle. Today, it has been restored to house the Matheson Museum Library and Archives, boasting a gorgeous old Florida heart pine floor.
