3D Laser Technology Recreates Historic Homes

A fairly new technology aims to make historic preservationist’s lives a little easier, renovations more accurate – and Michael Feldman is potentially willing to do it for free.

Feldman Land Surveyors was established in 1946 and since then the Feldman family has continued to change with the times, implementing new technologies as they became available.

A few years ago they started using a laser scanner, according to President and CEO Michael Feldman, to create 3D models that show the existing conditions of buildings.

Feldman has used this technology on a variety of buildings around Boston, but also on historic homes.

Stephen Wilkes, Director of 3D Services at Feldman Land Surveyors, said that more and more people, especially those in charge of historic homes, want to have these 3D plans before they start renovation work.

“It’s like a big 3D data base,’’ he said. “People are wanting full existing conditions in 3D, especially in historic buildings when things aren’t straight and flat. It’s the best representation of what people are working with, that’s really the drive.’’

Those looking to preserve a historic home could look at the 3D model, which would tell them what materials were used and would provide the data to reconstruct a building exactly how it was built.

“Basically the scanners fire out a laser which reflects off of anything it can see around it within an interior room,’’ Wilkes said. “The scanner will slowly rotate around and we will fire out this laser millions of times a second and we can record distances and angles from that location.’’

How to Get a Free Scan

The Paul Revere House in the North End has already used their 3D model to do renovations on the house, keeping it as authentic as possible.

Through the Feldman Pro Bono Program, the Paul Revere House got their scan for free.

Feldman said scans normally cost somewhere between $5,000 and $7,000, but he gives one to two free scans per year to historic homes.

“It doesn’t cost them anything,’’ Feldman said. “We either take nominations or select two sites each year. We do the field work and we give them images and put together a 3D animation.’’

Thus far, Feldman Surveyors has done the 3D imaging for about a dozen sites around Boston with the Pro-Bono Program.

What’s Happening in 2015?

A Georgian mansion called the Loring-Greenough House in Jamaica Plain, which hosts the Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club and was built in 1760, is set to be the first pro-bono client of 2015.

The JP Tuesday Club was founded in 1896 and was meant to be a space for women to discuss matters of interest in the community. Now open to both men and women, the club is still the center of community events, historic preservation and educational activities.

The chair of the committee for the house, Ed Stanley, heard about the Pro-Bono Program at an event for the Dorchester Historical Society, which had its own scan done.

Gretchen Grozier, Member of the House Committee for the JP Tuesday Club, said there are no immediate renovations needed on the house, but they have a 5-year plan for the “L’’ part of the building, which was built in the 1800s.

“It was used for carriages,’’ she said. “It was a farm so it has a dirt floor, so we need to work on the structure and make it more useful for the 21st century. We will be focusing on this and we can show folks that using this new 3D scan.’’

Grozier said they were really excited to be chosen this year, because it would have been a struggle to pay for it otherwise.

“It is part of the history of the neighborhood,’’ she said. “We don’t have that many Georgia buildings in JP. When you have something that survived that long, it’s important to preserve it, important to try to keep it moving forward in the 21st century, and trying to make it more community focused.’’

Though the Loring-Greenough House is set to stay, sometimes the scans can be done on houses that are set to be demolished or redone.

“In terms of historic buildings it is a wonderful added way to capture very significant and precious and in some cases threatened structures,’’ Wilkes said. “But if it’s a building that can’t be saved you capture a moment in time in the most detail possible.’’

Feldman said that they are potentially still looking for one more Pro-Bono house in 2015.

“Many survey companies are able to do this,’’ Feldman said. “We just seem to be a leader, because we were some of the people to think more about what else can we use this for to give this back to the community. My grandfather started it in 1946. The city has been good to us. We should be good back.’’

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