Lakeport Plantation before and after.

 

After having been in the antique furniture restoration business for more than 20 years, David decided to move onto even larger "antiques." He received a degree in Building Preservation Trades in 2003, from Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas, graduating with honors and a 4.0 GPA.

 

Among other things, he studied preservation theory and principles that guide work on historic buildings. Historical perspective on architecture and construction technologies. Issues impacting building deterioration. Practical building skills, tools, and materials. Methods for managing restoration projects and supervising restoration projects.

 

He is also a skilled carpenter and skilled at window restoration.

 

David completed the restoration of National Register site, the Rock Cafe, an iconic stop along Route 66, in May 2009. A year before the cafe had burned leaving nothing but the walls. Today it is thriving and popular as ever, thanks to David's careful restoration.

 

Past projects include:

 

Preservation Contractor for Lakeport Plantation.

Lakeport Plantation is the last antebellum Mississippi River Plantation in Arkansas. David spent two and 1/2 years overseeing subcontractors to prevent them from making mistakes or damaging historic fabric. He oversaw construction of the smokehouse which houses geothermal system, fire suppression, sensory and all electrical systems. David stabilized the 150 year old log slave quarters. He salvaged hundreds of historic slave-made bricks. He guided both professionals in the field and tourists through the big house while explaining its history and describing building techniques.

 

While working as a carpenter for Bob Sanders Construction in Helena, Arkansas, David restored the facade of a historic downtown building, the Wilson Building, which appears in the movie, "Walk the Line." Adaptive reuse fitted the inside to be a state revenue office.  David also build the Cherry Street Pavilion for the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival. He stabilized and repointed the historic Solo man Building and he did restoration work on the 1850s Moore-Horner house for the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

 

As a preservation technician he practiced good adaptive reuse when he retrofitted the 3-story 1919 McRae Hardware Store to be used as classroom space for the Arkansas Institute of Historic Building Trades.

 

In 2008 David was awarded an Oklahoma Scholarship to the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference in Tulsa.

 

In May 2009 David remodeled the restrooms at the historic Pawnee Bill Ranch in Pawnee, OK, bringing them up to ADA standards.

 

In 2009 and 2010 David restored the historic Rock Cafe on Rt. 66. The Restoration won a citation from the State of Oklahoma for Preservation of Oklahoma Heritage.

 

In 2009 he restored the ornate but rotting porch and decorative railings of the 1904 U.S. Weather Bureau Building in Oklahoma City.

 

In 2010 David helped keep the integrity of a 1930's Oklahoma City private home while adding a tornado safe room to the 80-year-old structure.

 

A 1917 private home in Heritage Hills in OKC had its unusual and historic facade recreated by David and his crew.

 

 

The restroom has almost reached historic status. It hadn't changed since the 1960s. Nothing about it, from the sidewalk to the doors to the stalls, met the ADA standards, but now they will.