No Payments, No Taxes, No Ownership: Resident Curators Restore Historic Buildings
Why would some people willingly spend decades — and hundreds of thousands of dollars — renovating houses they will never own?
The New York Times asked this question last year and talked to a few of the growing number of resident curators along the East Coast who are doing just that, living in historic and previously neglected state-owned houses.
Most of them said that it enabled them to live in grand houses in locations they would not otherwise have been able to afford. Some of them had already restored houses that they owned and knew what sort of work it a full restoration entailed. All of them saw it as a way to preserve an historic landmark, a piece of our history.
No mortgage, no property taxes, long term lease usually for your lifetime. Those are the the pluses. The negatives? You must put $150,000 minimum of your own money toward restoring the home, along with your sweat equity. And you do not own it.
The house pictured above is one of the historic residences currently up for curatorship in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Remember where the Pilgrims landed? Well, this house looks like it has been neglected since that time.
The front facade looks cute enough. Almost cute enough to lure you in. But a look at the repairs the home needs to make it habitable are daunting to say the least. There is no working septic system, the barn outside is falling down, all house systems need replacement, as do the shingles and cedar roof. There is nothing inside of the home that does not need to be restored.
Does this appeal to you? Maryland currently has a few resident curatorships available.
As do Massachusetts and Delaware.
Don’t forget to pack your hammer.
