Recent Work

Sutherland Conservation & Consulting (SCC) is a specialized team of architectural historians and preservation consultants providing services for commercial, non-profit and governmental clients, as well as historic homeowners. Our cross disciplinary expertise includes architectural history and preservation consulting, architectural design, federal, state and local preservation regulations, preservation trades and architectural conservation. We are committed to efficiently serving our clients through quality historic research and documentation, and facilitation of goals through effective communication and creative problem solving.

AWARD-WINNING PROJECT

The historic Twitchell-Champlin Company building on Merrill’s Wharf was built in stages between 1884 and 1924. The spice mill, candy factory, and cannery was converted to a cold storage warehouse in 1962. In 2011, the building was rehabilitated using state and federal historic tax credits. The brick exterior walls were in extreme disrepair and cutting edge technology was utilized to stabilize them. The building had lost all its windows and the openings were filled with concrete block in 1962. This project replaced all the missing windows with double-glazed new windows that match the original historic configuration. A new entrance was designed to be compatible with the industrial character of the building.

Before the rehabilitation, the building was largely unfinished industrial space. Contemporary office spaces were created in the upper stories, with new marine-use spaces at ground level. Sutherland Conservation & Consulting worked as part of the design team and wrote the historic tax credit applications for the project. In addition, SCC wrote the nomination to expand the boundaries of the Portland Waterfront National Register Historic District to include Merrill’s Wharf, making the project eligible for the historic tax credits.