JERRY WOLKOWITZ Ira Matthews Jr. (l) and his son, Ira III, help to preserve bits of history in their Farmingdale workshop by restoring and reproducing historic landmarks in the area. A recent project was the restoration of a gatekeeper’s house, which was returned to the spot at the Red Bank Train Station where it stood more than a century ago.
Somewhat incongruously, a small, round template hung on a wall above the lengths of white cedar stacked in Ira Matthews’ workshop. Like the cedar, which would replicate the original siding on a historic house, the wood cutout has a unique role in the restoration of historic structures.
"That’s a cutout for an outhouse seat," Matthews explained with a twinkle in his eye. "I still have occasion to use that."
Matthews and his son, Ira III, are craftsmen who specialize in historic restoration. Together, they have restored portions of many of the area’s historically significant structures, including a residence dating to the late 1600s.
They recently completed the restoration of a rare gatekeeper’s house that has been put back in place at the Red Bank Train Station close to the spot where it stood more than 100 years ago.
Parts of the steeple and exterior shingles on the historic Christ Church Episcopal in Shrewsbury were restored by the Matthewses, who also carried out the complete restoration of the steeple at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Freehold.
In their Farmingdale workshop, milled white cedar, the same wood colonists took from the new land’s virgin forests to build their homes, is being painted and will be restored on the exterior of a historic residence for the Barnegat Historical Society.
"We’re known for historic restoration. There are not too many people who do it," acknowledged Matthews, 61. "It’s not a lucrative business because of the work involved. It’s usually dirty work, heavy work, so it’s not profitable."
A lifelong Farmingdale resident, the elder Matthews lives and works in his grandfather’s house, just a quarter of a mile down the road from the house he was born in.
After graduating from high school in 1959, he joined his father’s contracting business. The two worked together for 12 years, mostly on residential projects, and when his father died, Matthews added "Jr." to the business’ name and kept it going.
Along with residential work, he did some repairs and alterations on churches and historic structures, and in 1973, he got the opportunity to bid on a historic restoration.
"I’ve always been interested in historic buildings," explained Matthews, a longtime member of the Freehold Historical Society. "I got to bid on a job for the Village Inn in Englishtown. It’s a very significant historic building dating to 1726. Gen. George Washington court-martialed Gen. Charles Lee there after the Battle of Monmouth."
The project sparked his passion for the painstaking work of restoring historic structures.
"At that point, I just fell in love with the restoration work," Matthews recounted. "From there, I went to Old Tennent Church in Manalapan. They had heard about me. I bid it and worked with a historical architect. There was a lot of structural work, requiring extensive millwork."
Along with carpentry, his work required finding sources of authentic materials, such as white cedar siding, which is now produced by only one mill in the state, he noted.
In addition, Matthews had to re-create details such as the patterns of moldings and cornices that were often the signature of a particular craftsman.
"During this time, I learned to make all my own moldings and millwork," he explained of his deepening interest in restorations.
"When you carry out a complete restoration, you take it back to the original condition, and you must use the same methods, matching the design of moldings and trim," he added.
"In historic buildings, all the moldings were made by hand, so the profiles no longer exist," he continued. "Every building had a different profile. When you repair molding, you have to match it exactly."
Matthews used vintage tools — some that are 200 years old — and made his own tools to create knives to make trim and moldings.
According to Matthews, the primary aim of the restorer’s work is to preserve anything of historic value.
"We save any existing materials we can and reuse them," he explained. "Any restoration should save as much of the original materials as can possibly be saved."
But doing so is also the greatest challenge.
"The single most important thing to learn is to recognize a historically significant profile or portion of a building and not destroy it; you just can’t go in there ripping and tearing," the senior Matthews noted.
"Sometimes when you begin, the things that look the worst are the things you want to save," he continued. "With experience, you learn to recognize the things that indicate something of historic significance, like the type of saw used, the type of mortar, the length of the shingle and the type of nail. These tell you the age of the structure."
"The biggest challenge is that everything has to be thought out, planned out," added Ira Matthews III, who began working with his father during high school. "Every piece you make is custom. It doesn’t get boring, and it’s not done fast; it’s doing it the right way.
"About a quarter of the work is research," he added. "As we take a project apart, we photograph everything and label it. If we have to make a new piece, we use the old one as a pattern.
"Most of the time, we look at the area where the building is," the 35-year-old added. "The same carpenters worked in the area and used the same moldings. Each carpenter had a style that shows in the little details and in the way he did things."
"Normally we can find portions of the original," his father said. "One hundred percent of the time, there’ll be one little piece left. Or we try to find a similar building. It’s also knowing what was generally used for the period, and sometimes we use old photographs."
Only about 50 percent of the original gatekeeper’s booth remained intact when the Matthewses carted it from Red Bank to their workshop.
They removed three layers of siding, replicated the tin roof and made new sashes, cornice work and brackets, discovering the original paint colors in the process.
The two consider the large St. Peter’s steeple their most challenging project. Reconstructing the historic steeple meant taking exact measurements, dismantling it, making numerous templates, rebuilding it in the back yard, having a crane lift it back into place and having it fit exactly.
"He’s probably into restoration at least as much as I am, maybe more," said Matthews Jr., who admits he resisted having his son follow his craft, insisting instead that he pursue a degree in architecture.
"I earned the credits for a degree and worked for a year for an architect, but I decided I liked doing hands-on work. I love woodworking and restoration," ," said Matthews III, adding that he plans to concentrate on restoration and reproduction of vintage millwork in the future.
"I like taking something that’s been here for a few hundred years and preserving it for a few hundred more years," he noted. "We’re the keepers for it."
For Matthews Jr., restoration work is as much about honoring the work of the craftsmen who came before him as it is about the historic structures his work conserves.
"You have to love the building," he commented. "You have to have a reverence for the people who built it. You soon realize that the old craftsmen forgot more than we have ever learned.
"I’m still repairing buildings that have lasted for 200 years. I’ll open up a wall and find shavings from 200 years ago or a mud wattle and find a handprint. Sometimes the tradesman carved his name or wrote it in pencil," he continued.
"It’s important to save these buildings because a structure is the same as any history book. If it weren’t for the written word, we would not learn about history", he observed. "With a structure, we have the chance to walk through it, look at it and, in the right frame of mind, feel it."