About Me

A New England resident for most of my life, I am an 'old house' architect. I have worked with over 1200 old houses and their owners over the past 40 years. I have received numerous historic preservation awards for my designs. I now live in Bennington, VT.  

My email is jegriswold@gmail.com.
My website is http://www.janegriswoldradocchia.com. 
You can ask a question  by adding a note under any post on this blog. I will see it and respond.

I am a practicing architect. I work with old houses. What I learn from the houses, the contractors, and my own experience informs my research.

I currently research  Practical Geometry in design and layout.
I also explore the implications of technology on American residential construction from the earliest settlements to World War II, especially the ways in which the Industrial Revolution changed architectural design and what we could build.

I lecture and teach Practical Geometry - the name our ancestors used - to students and adults using buildings in our own communities as well as European antecedents and authors like Vitruvius, Serlio, and Palladio.
In 2014, I spoke on Practical Geometry for the Timber Framers Guild. This included the geometry of the Sandown, NH, Meeting House for their bus tour.
Since 2015 I have presented workshops on Practical  Geometry for PTNW, the Preservation Trades Network Workshops. I am a member of the PTN Board. 

In 2018, I gave 4 local presentations. I gave 2 more in 2021.
I presented a workshop and lecture for the Indiana Barn Foundation annual meeting in 2019; as well as a PTN workshop in Louisiana and  a workshop at the IPTNW in Sterling Scotland. In 2021, I spent 2 days with the North Bennett Street School preservation carpentry students, focusing on Practical Geometry.

My column on local vernacular architecture, Passing By, was published in the Bennington Banner. I now post sporadically in my blog, passingbyjgr.blogspot.com.  I give presentations on architecture for local and regional  groups, 2 in 2021.
My resume is on my website.

This blog includes a series of walking tours of North Bennington, based on the 1865 map of  North Bennington. Someday they will be available through Google Maps and the Bennington Historical Society.

Past research includes Original Green Design in the Park-McCullough Carriage House, and the use of local slate for roofs in the Bennington area.

I started writing about vernacular architecture in 1988, when I created a bi-weekly column called Sunday Drive, for the Lawrence Eagle Tribune, in North Andover, MA. The series received a Massachusetts Historic Preservation Award.