Lakewood resident Andrew Clark’s first job as a laborer for his father’s company, The R.W. Clark Company, was working on the Cleveland Restoration Society’s restoration of The Sarah Benedict House on Prospect Avenue in Cleveland. This type of work gave him an appreciation of historic preservation.

So it is not surprising that when Andrew decided to purchase a house himself, he chose an old farmhouse in Lakewood on Mathews Avenue, built in 1900. The house, which he purchased in 2006, had not had any major work done on it since 1971. Clark restored all of the windows himself, including weather stripping, insulation, and storm windows. He remodeled a bathroom, and did work in the kitchen and dining room. Then he contacted the Cleveland Restoration Society about their Heritage Home Program.

The Heritage Home Program, which is made available to Lakewood residents by the City of Lakewood and Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis, is a 3.5% APR, 10-year loan for home repair and restoration projects. To be eligible for the loan, a house must have been built prior to 1958 and retain character-defining elements such as the original cladding and wood or steel windows. Clark’s original cedar lap siding had been covered with aluminum siding, but he was willing to remove it. When he did, he found the cedar underneath had been preserved and was in good shape. He also rebuilt the window sill ears which had been taken off when the siding was put on the house. Currently, he is painting the house according to a historic color consultation done by the Cleveland Restoration Society’s Kerry Adams, using a color combination that closely matches the earliest layers of paint found after the siding was removed.

Clark further used the Heritage Home Program to put a new roof on the house and build a two car garage with lap siding that matched the house and included a salvaged historic door. Clark calls it a “wonderful program” and has found the Cleveland Restoration Society’s expertise on how to do the project, ability to help with sources of materials and other little things very helpful. That expertise, coupled with the low interest loan, makes the Heritage Home Program a good fit for Lakewood.