Nantucket Official Guide | Page 84

55 Union Street:

A Study in Sustainability

©Photos Courtesy of Nantucket Preservation Trust
and Ann Troutman

By Michael May, Executive Director, Nantucket Preservation Trust

The house at 55 Union Street is a perfect
example of sustainability, not only when
it was restored in 2015, but when it was
constructed 180 years ago.
This typical Nantucket house was built in
1835 by John B. Nicholson, a carpenter who
had constructed dozens of dwellings in the
downtown area during Nantucket’s whaling
heyday. Nicholson believed in re-using
material – a common practice on island due
to the expense of transporting goods from
the mainland – and incorporated elements
of an earlier house at the site that had been
owned by Essex Boston, an African-American
shoemaker.
Following Nicholson’s example, the new
co-owners of 55 Union – Michelle Elzay and
Pen Austin – saved and re-used virtually
all of the building’ s original material, even
some that other, less diligent restorers might
have said were too far gone. Rather than
tearing out and discarding the house’s old
lath-and-plaster interior walls, Austin – very
experienced in traditional building methods –
restored the walls to their original beauty, and
carefully fitted insulation and electrical wiring
behind them.
82 • 2016 Official Guide to Nantucket

The co-owners also refused to rip out the
building’s old windows, with their old-growth
wood frames and wavy glass, and insisted
on restoring them. The result: no waste, and
tight, efficient, historic windows that will last
many times longer than the “replacement
windows” that have become so common.
Still another example of how 55 Union is
a model of preservation and sustainability
was the decision to save the old, steep
back staircase, which adds charm. Also,
the house’s old chimneys were rebuilt, the
original mantels were kept in place and
restored, and the old wood floors were only
lightly hand-sanded so they retain their
character.
When faced with an old, quirky, creaky
house that needs fixing up, many would be
tempted to “make it new” by replacing old,
time-worn elements with modern materials.
But this is the wrong approach, in two ways.
First, it is the gradual aging and the history
of an old house that make it unique. Second,
the craftsmanship and materials used in old
houses can’t be beat, and it would be so
wasteful – so un-sustainable – to throw all
that history and quality in a dumpster.