Protection for your porch

Every time we visit my sister in New York state we make a point of walking the nearby grounds of the Chautauqua Institution to enjoy the beautiful lakeside gardens and Victorian architecture (above and below). This historic non-profit organization — with hundreds of summer "cottages" — is located on 750 acres on the shore of upper Chautauqua Lake.

This year we were there before they officially opened for the season so we got to see a number of the buildings in their winter wraps. This is the only place Mark and I have ever seen historic structures zipped up in custom covers to protect them from the wear and tear of winter weather.

These are pretty amazing creations. Typically they wrap around porches with very decorative railings and woodwork that will be easily damaged by the serious winter snows in this part of the country.

This building has striped coverings on two sides!

Porches revealed! These are from the 1881 Athenaeum Hotel on the Chautauqua grounds. Most of the big buildings under wraps in the pictures above are apartments.

Comments

[Lisa at Greenbow]

I have never seen such a thing. Those are some LARGE coverings. I bet they help keep the wind out of the houses too. This is so interesting. Do people live in those places during the winter? Is that why some have clear plastic where the windows are? It would make for a dark home if there were no clear plastic over the windows. I would imagine they would have to bring a big crane/lift in to attach those coverings each fall and then again in spring to remove them. What a lot of trouble. I guess better than repairs and paint.

[Jane Miller]

My relatives have a cottage in Mt. Gretna, PA, the Pennsylvania Chautauqua and I loved wandering their grounds and looking at all the wonderful cottages. I also have never seen these cover ups for the buildings but it makes perfect sense, winter is so hard on wood structures. Maybe I need to make some for my wood railings:)

[Linda from Each Little World]

Lisa — Since I don't know anyone who owns one of these buildings I don't really know the answers to your questions. In general I don't think many people live there in the winter. Not sure how the power and water etc. operate. And I never thought about how they would get those multistory coverings in place. I think the "windows" are so the person working from the inside can see what they are doing and so people in the dwelling can see when they arrive before the coverings are taken down.

[Les]

The red and white striped one is almost patriotic. There is something similar here on the coast, but not as attractive. Many high-rise condos use folding metal louvers to pull across their balconies during hurricanes, but without any attempt to make them look anything other than utile.

[Cindy at enclos*ure]

Amazing. I have never seen anything like this either. Thanks for sharing!