The
Post Carriage House, formerly a part of the Caleb Post/James Howell
Post property, is currently being used by the Old South Haven
Presbyterian Church as a Parish Hall. It was remodeled for this
use shortly after the main church building was moved from the original
site on Montauk Highway in Southaven Hamlet to the present Brookhaven
Hamlet site in 1961.
The original Post Carriage House was
mostly supported by locust tree posts, a common early construction
technique for barns and similar structures. These posts had been
augmented by concrete block pilasters around the exterior walls --
perhaps added when the building was converted from the carriage house to
the parish hall. The locust posts had largely rotted away with
time, providing little interior support. In addition, the hill
against which the building is nestled had gradually settled against the
rear wall, resulting in rotting of the rear wall sill and some of the
supporting wall studs.
In 2002, the church congregation decided
that immediate conservation of the building was required if it was to
continue to be used as a parish hall. After consultation with the
church's architects, Knowles Associates (serving the church and
community pro bono), it was decided that the best
and most economical long term conservation design was the construction of a new full height
basement beneath the building, and repair of the structural members.
In the Spring of 2003, Christopher Bland
Builders, Inc. was contracted to manage the conservation project.
Construction started in June, 2003. Kazel Bros. - Dawn House
Movers of Yaphank, NY raised the building and excavated the basement.
The purpose of these series of photographs
is not only to document the course of the construction, but to
document construction features of the original building not otherwise
visible. I will be visiting the site almost daily, or at least after
major construction milestones.
Old South Haven Church is conducting a
Capital Fund Campaign for the repair and conservation of the Post
Carriage House.
