Restoration Primer: Fancy Fences of Yesteryear

Fancy Fences Of Yesteryear by Walter Jowers More and more these days, when I’m asked to consult on a renovation project, the contractors and homeowners want to know about period landscaping details—fences, trellises, and outbuildings in particular. When it comes to fences for early-twentieth-century buildings, I have some answers. A while back, I ran across some designs in the August 1911 issue of American Carpenter and Builder, a magazine that was published by the Radford company in Chicago— the same company that helped popularize mail-order houses. The plans show everything you need to know to build the fences. With a little explanation, just about anybody with a cutoff saw could put one of these fences together. And it shouldn’t be hard to