Public Speaking

Gordon Bock travels around the country to groups of all sizes giving illustrated lectures, hands-on workshops, and credit-bearing courses on a variety of subjects related to old houses, historic preservation, and residential architecture. He has been a featured speaker for the National Park Service, Historic Portland, Oregon, and the Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference, and an adjunct lecturer at Drew University in New Jersey since 1997. He is also available for keynote speeches and addresses, as well as professional seminars on editing and writing.

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Gordon Bock Speaking Engagements

Calendar 2010

Come see and meet Gordon at the following events and courses:

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For more information on particular idea or date, contact him at ghbock@comcast.net.

A sampling of popular subjects are listed below.

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Wood Windows Workshop – A highly popular and informative topic for all groups, this presentation is designed to help attendees understand historic sash windows both as important architectural elements and building components that are readily maintained with a little know-how. Typical topics include design and construction, replacing sashes and weights, and practical insights on construction and restoration through demonstrations with actual window parts and tools. The presentation can also be formatted to include a hands-on session of glazing methods and epoxy restoration techniques.

Period Kitchens–The most important room in any house, the kitchen is an even greater subject of attention in old houses where the challenge is to balance modern convenience with a sensitivity to history. This illustrated lecture explores the evolution of the modern kitchen as a way of providing design ideas and options for materials – from flooring to lighting to appliances – that can help anyone create a period-style kitchen in the 21st century.

Historic Mouldings and Woodwork – Mouldings, door and window casings, wainscots, and other indoor woodwork are the building blocks of interior architecture in vintage houses. This presentation looks at the design history of mouldings, from their origins in the ancient world though 200 years of American houses styles, and how they were made and applied in various eras. As a workshop, the presentation also explores hands-on techniques for installing and restoring mouldings.

Historic Floors – This slide lecture examines the history and construction of pre-1940 floors, from the many kinds of wood floors to noteworthy man-made materials like linoleum, rubber, and cork that came on the scene after 1900. As a workshop, the discussion can also include carpentry techniques as well as ideas on refinishing.

Roofing and Siding – The essential components of a house’s protective skin, roofing and siding are also major design components with important historic characteristics. This slide lecture presents an introduction to the history, nature, and architectural effect of the most common roofing and siding materials, including wood shingles and clapboards, slate, ceramic tile, metal, asphalt, and fiber-cement.

What is an Arts & Crafts House? – Though purposely different than the Victorian houses that came before them, the Arts & Crafts houses of the early 20th century are tricky for some people identify today. This slide lecture surveys the basic trends in American residential architecture and illustrates the how the principals of the Arts & Crafts movement produced a new kind of house that, while not a style, embody a variety of recognizable features and forms that characterize it, and speak to us more than ever today.

Historic Preservation Then and Now – Perspectives and thoughts on where old houses and the preservation movement have traveled in the last 40 years, and where they may be headed in the future.

For more information on a particular idea or date, contact ghbock@comcast.net.