Berry-Jean Murray wrote a letter to Bob Vila in 1995. A fan of the television personality since his This Old House days, Murray explained why her house — in the Elmwood section of Providence — would be a great candidate for restoration on Bob Vila’s Home Again. “When we bought the house we bought into the neighborhood and wanted to make sure it was here years later,” Murray said.
Her house, the Charles E. Hancock House, is 108 years old. It is one of the 11 selected in Providence to be restored on Vila’s program. Bob Vila’s Home Again, which is nationally syndicated and aired in Rhode Island on WPRI Channel 12, is taping 13 episodes this summer in the Elmwood community to air in December.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
In the years since receiving Murray’s letter, Vila and his crew have taped shows in South Carolina, Virginia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Florida. But by late 1999 it was time that they came home again, said Sarah Beasley Monzón, producer of the Cambridge-based BV TV (Bob Vila Television). She said Vila had wanted to do something in either Providence or Newport for quite some time.
Monzón got in touch with Eric Olin of the Providence Film Commission, who in February posted a bulletin on the Film Commission’s Web site, at providenceri.com/film and on the Commission’s hotline phone number.
“We often put that sort of thing on our hotline and site to alert people in the community about it,” said Olin.
Someone in the Elmwood community received the alert.
“The homeowners got together and said, ‘if we choose some of the best houses, and put in an application package, we might be able to lure his interest in the community,” Murray said.
With some of the homeowners having less than 24 hours to put together their applications, the neighbors sent in five packages by the deadline.
Then came the good news.
“It just seemed like a dream come true,” said Murray, “on the answering machine was a scout who wanted to look at the house.”
For years, residents said, the Elmwood community has been fighting the perception that it is dirty, dark, deserted and dangerous. Vila’s interest and the publicity would be a perfect vehicle to dispel this notion.
“We’re honored to have him helping us in one of the great neighborhoods,” said Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci, Jr.
FULL VIEW of Berry-Jean Murray’s home.
Then came a message that Vila himself wanted to come look at the house.
“He arrived in April, on a rainy day,” said Murray. “We were told we each had ten to 15 minutes to show him the best and worst of our homes. When he came he was the only one who wasn’t in business attire. He was so blown away by what he saw that he asked to see other homes.”
“We showed him 12 houses in three hours,” said Olin.
Vila had decided that they would do 11 of the houses. The series usually spends as much time on single projects, entirely renovating houses throughout the course of several episodes. This time the plan is for each episode to feature a start-to-finish job on one of the 11 homes, with an introduction episode and a summary episode as bookends.
“All of these projects are small,” said Monzón, “more conducive to the do-it-yourselfers.”
Varying from porch restoration to kitchen remodeling, she said, each project would cost between $10,000 and $30,000. When a home is featured on Home Again, the cost is always cheaper than going about renovation the regular way, because companies often donate their products in exchange for the publicity that comes with having a worker use that product on the air.
“We contribute in-kind to donations,” said Monzón. “It’s a great way to get material advertised.”
The crew comes to Providence once or twice a week. Monzón said that sometimes they have to tell the workers to slow down so they can get a good shot. She tells them to do what they need to do, ” but save us the last piece.”
To help ensure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen too often, Monzón enlisted the aid of The Preservation Cooperative, Ltd. Mary Turkel, vice president and co-owner of the Cooperative said; “We got involved because we thought the homeowners would want people to organize it.”
Besides organizing scheduling with the filmmakers, the Cooperative also scheduled and coordinated the Historic District Commission reviews, and went through the Rhode Island Builders Association to find contractors and sub-contractors for the jobs.
“As far as sub-contractors go, there’s like a gazillion,” said Monzón.
The homeowners have been involved throughout the whole process too.
“One of the reasons that I’m psyched about Elmwood,” said Monzón, “is that the homeowners are more responsive. They get back to me every day.”
“We’re very home-centric,” said Murray, who will excitedly tell you that H.K. Hilton designed her house, the same architect who designed the Roger Williams Casino. “We all have the histories of our homes.”
