National Heritage Board farmhouse restoration grants winners announced
The recipients of the the National Heritage Board 2020 farmhouse architecture grants have been announced. 17 private owners of farmhouses built prior to 1940 will receive support amounting to €200,000.
In the application round for farmhouse architecture grants, the goal of which was to help preserve traditional rural Estonian architecture and related landscapes unique to rural areas, most subsidies were awarded for restoring thatched roofs.
Four out of the 17 buildings that received support are under state protection as built monuments, one building is located in a national park. Most grants were awarded to buildings in Saaremaa.
"The thoroughly considered applications brought forth the homeowners' wish to restore farmhouses true to local building traditions," Peeter Nork, head of the Heritage Board supervisory department and head of the evaluation committee, said.
"It is encouraging to see the owners' readiness to contribute to the quality of work financially - the average rate of owners' own contribution was even higher than that required."
According to Elo Lutsepp, the head of Estonian Open Air Museum's Center of Rural Architecture, evaluating projects proved to be bittersweet for the committee. "There were some real pearls that obtained the funding but at the same time many equivalent applications were rejected due to lack of resources," she said.
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Editor: Anders Nõmm