Century-old Roof in Need of Magical Repairs

By Yvette Cruz. 

A roof that needs a fairytale makeover.  

On the corner of South Yale Street in Spring Garden Township, Pennsylvania, stands a “Storybook house.” Once looked upon with great admiration began to slowly despair over the years. Homeowners Susan Machado and Ed O’Brien wanted to restore the house to its historical glory.  

A “Storybook house” is a home built similar to those of fairytale stories. Various structures resembled cottages to castles. Originating from Hollywood, California these homes were built from 1924 to 1932 and even sprouted throughout the United States. This particular Storybook home was given an enchanting wooden shingle roof that lasted for ninety-four years.  

Unfortunately, with this style of roofing and the limited architecture throughout history, there are only two known companies who could actually replicate a roof like this. Hired by the couple, Brian Calamita of Roofing Artisans was ready to take on this challenge. 

Brian has studied the art and tradition of these roofs. There is both design and functionality that these roofing tiles provide. That being said, the process of creating the curved wood-like feature is a tedious process. Each cedar shingle that was used was thrown into a pot of boiling water and watched until it was ready to bend into shape. Each shingle was custom and was not able to be mass produced in a factory. This was all done inside a garage.  

To ensure that the roof could last another century, Brian used red cedar shingles, the secret weapon. The excess of shingles overlaps the sculpture of the roof, creating multiple layers and are more than “one hundred and fifty percent more square foot of material used when compared to an asphalt shingle roof,” Brian says.  

This project took about four months to complete. Susan explained that, “It isn’t just remolding a house. This house is different...it’s architecturally so significant that it needed to be saved.” This fairytale home has been slowly restored to its formal glory, giving this couple a happy ending.  

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Photos source: York Daily Record