The Roanoker - Sept/October 2021 - 58
homes
HOUSING
WITH A
HEART
A local nonprofit restores historic dwellings to create affordable places to live.
written by Christina Nifong
Isabel Thornton first fell in love with the Rickrack that ran across the house's
ornamental front peak. She liked the Folk Victorian trim above the windows and
the way the cornices below the roof's eaves circled into a curl.
By the time she stepped inside this crumbling gem in Roanoke's Belmont
neighborhood, she was so smitten that not even the rotted ceilings and floors
or the unstable load-bearing walls could keep her from doing everything in her
power to return the 1,800-square-foot home, built around 1900, to its former
glory.
" The house was threatening to close in on itself, " she explains, looking up at
the spot where a tiny hole in the roof allowed rain to slowly destroy much of its
framing. The first structural engineer to see it advised her to walk away. She found
another who felt confident he could save the dwelling. When she landed a grant
specifically for stabilizing an unsound home, she knew she could succeed.
" This is just a great little block, " she says wistfully, looking around at
the other homes on Dale Avenue. And then, almost apologetically,
she shares: " I have an instinct about houses. "
Thornton's lifelong passion for historic homes has served
her - and the Roanoke community - well. In the seven years
since she founded Restoration Housing, a nonprofit dedicated to
rescuing structures a step away from demolition and repurposing
them into affordable housing, the organization has acquired six ailing
58
September/October 2021
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
TheRoanoker.com
CHRISTINA NIFONG / COURTESY OF RESTORATION HOUSING
http://www.TheRoanoker.com
The Roanoker - Sept/October 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Roanoker - Sept/October 2021
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The Roanoker - Sept/October 2021 - Cover3
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