Ruth,

The construction you describe is not unusual.  I believe the inner 
bricks are probably cruder and softer than the exterior brick and serve 
as both a structure for the interior wall system and insulation (as it 
were, fuel used to be cheap).

There are indeed private building inspectors that will work up a report 
on the building's condition.  Many people use their services when buying 
real estate.  While many are not necessarily familiar with historic 
buildings local inspectors may have some experience with buildings of a 
similar era.

To go backwards a bit, is the building listed on the State and National 
Register of Historic Places either individually or as contributing 
within a district?  Is there a local historic district and/or a local 
Historic Preservation Commission (HPC)?  The reason I ask is that, at 
least where I live, there is considerably more money available for 
listed buildings.  In fact, through grants, many local groups have been 
able to fund detailed building studies and develop "Preservation Plans" 
with the help of an historic building architect to guide the appropriate 
stabilization/preservation/restoration of historic local buildings.  You 
may get more specific advice and recommendations from your State 
Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and your local HPC.
The only problem is that with grants, the projects can take a 
considerately long time to complete.  If the building is not listed, it 
might be a beneficial effort to make but again can take a considerably 
long time (for example, we are still waiting for official recognition of 
a local historic district whose report was contracted for nearly four 
years ago and whose designation was discussed many more years prior).

Maintenance and stabilization are key to having a building to work on in 
the future.  A few (relative) dollars spent maintaining the building 
envelope can help keep major repair costs down farther (or is it 
further, what's the difference?) into the future.

Can't help with the deed question but I wonder what the point of 
including stipulations in a deed is if they can easily be removed, 
especially by someone other that the original party.

Again using local experience as an example, there seems to be a limit to 
resources, i. e. people and money, that a community can supply so that 
separate organizations tend to compete with each other.  There may be an 
advantage to merging the groups as long as there are not profound legal 
or personnel problems involved.

Good luck,
Tom Gale



Ruth Barton wrote:
> OK folks, as usual I'm in over my head and need some help.  The Putney
> Historical Society, of which I am President--again--has been asked to join
> forces with another small, nearly defunct, organization in town.  The full
> story being that the other organization owns a building, a former church
> built 1820-30 timeframe, that they cannot afford to keep up.  This building
> was deeded to them with the stipulation that it must be used for community
> activities, kept in good repair, and insured or it would go back to the
> heirs of the donor.  Now, I think there are ways to get those sorts of
> things removed from deeds but no one has mentioned trying to do this.  This
> building "appears" to be in fairly sound condition but I am certainly not
> qualified to do a through inspection to say so, my inspection consists of:
> Yup, it's still standing and there's no puddles in the middle of the floor.
> We know the roof needs replacing soon and I wouldn't be surprised if the
> electical system could use a good upgrade but beyond that I am clueless.
> 
> This is a relatively small brick building.  Yesterday I was looking the
> building over and in one place where there was a missing brick and it
> appears that there is another layer of brick behind that.  Is this
> possible, was it common in the timeframe?  The walls aren't very thick so
> it appears that there are 2 layers of brick and then the interior plaster
> is stuck right on the brick.  I don't know.  Fortunately the plaster seems
> to be intact.
> 
> My question is, are there people who inspect old, historic buildings to
> tell you what needs to be done?  If so what are they called?  Will they
> give a report prioritizing work needed?
> 
> I feel this building would qualify for grants given for Historic
> Preservation but first we would need to know what needs to be done.
> 
> Thanks for any advice you all can give.  Ruth

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