The comprehensive Preservation Carpentry program teaches the time-honored skills and values of fine craftsmanship. Our students share a love of history, materials, quality workmanship, and working with their hands to build, restore, and preserve beautiful structures that last.
The two-year program combines an introduction to contemporary residential construction with a foundation in pre-20th century New England home construction. You’ll learn a broad range of construction methods, including stabilizing endangered buildings, preserving architectural details, and recreating historical design elements. Through lectures, hands-on projects, and collaborative field work, you’ll gain an understanding of how current technology compares to traditional techniques. You’ll graduate with the skills needed to work with contractors and institutions specializing in preservation work, including historical millwork and interior finish carpentry.
The program space includes first and second year bench rooms, where each student is assigned a bench and work space, and a central machine room. New England’s rich historical legacy of pre-20th century buildings provides exceptional field projects. Such site work is often done in collaboration with non-profit museums and historical sites.
"Immediately after graduating, I was able to start my own company in Texas. We have grown into a well-respected contractor and historic millwork provider with clients across the country."
Brent Hull PC '93
View More Preservation Carpentry Alumni Profiles
Have you ever noticed a team craning up a Christmas tree to place on top of a nearly-finished building? Perhaps you've driven under a recently refurbished bridge and spied a large wreath at the top of its massive arch. In each case, this practice is part of a long history of builder's rituals dating back thousands of years.
Preservation Magazine recently profiled the award-winning Fowler Clark Epstein Farm. This innovative project from Historic Boston, Inc. involved many years of work from our Preservation Carpentry program and other dedicated nonprofits.
WCVB-TV's CityLine featured NBSS in a segment that aired March 24, 2019. They interviewed two current students, Bookbinding student Sephora Bergiste BB '19 and Preservation Carpentry student and Carpentry graduate Diego Rojas CA '17, PC '19, as well as and NBSS President Sarah Turner during their visit to the School. Watch the full video here.
When a Topsfield, Massachusetts resident wanted to restore his historic barn, a structure he felt "represented the character and spirit" of his town, he turned to North Bennet Street School for help. Preservation Carpentry students disassembled the barn, refurbished as many pieces as they could, replaced what they couldn't, and reassembled the barn on the owner's property. The job not only offered a learning opportunity to students, but helped a homeowner preserve a local historic structure at a cost that he could afford.
Students from the Preservation Carpentry program were commissioned to build a full-scale reproduction of the decorative entryway of the long-gone Hancock Mansion as part of an exhibit on view at the Old State House. The star of the exhibit was the opulent home's original front door, which recently emerged from storage. Recreating the fine details of the structure around the door—using just old photographs and illustrations—was a feat. The team of students spent months working on hand-carved brackets, ten-foot-tall wood columns, and heavy timber frames.
In October 2014, Hollis Webb PC '18 came back to his home town on Nantucket, Massachusetts, after serving in the U.S. Army. An admiration for the historic buildings on Nantucket and for his father, a carpenter, led him to study Preservation Carpentry at NBSS. Hollis and his classmates (including several other military veterans) formed a tight-knit group over two years, building a similar sense of teamwork and camaraderie that he'd valued in the military. His story was recently featured in the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror.