2022 Historic Preservation Awards

Some projects are defined by their materials. Others, by the hands behind them.

In 2022, the Fernandina Beach Preservation Board recognized Rob Psulkowski, founder of Built to Last Construction, with the Craftsmanship Award for his work on the Lesesne House at 415 Centre Street. The award recognizes traditional methods of construction, including woodworking, wrought-iron work, framing, and plastering, and the craftsperson who completed the work.

The project began with a practical requirement: new porch railings on the first floor of the historic Lesesne House to bring the structure into code compliance. What followed was a careful, considered process. Rob turned to the Museum of History and its archives to research original railing styles documented in historic photographs of the home. From those images, a decision emerged.

The Union Jack style. A pattern that complemented the existing vertical balusters on the second floor, original from circa 1860 and almost certainly heart pine, milled to less than three-quarters of an inch square and essentially impossible to replicate with today’s materials.

Rob constructed the railings using pressure-treated yellow pine for structural integrity and Western Red Cedar for the infill, joined with stainless steel fasteners and finished with oil-based primer and two coats of latex enamel. Materials chosen for their quality, their appropriateness to the structure, and their ability to endure.

IN ROB’S WORDS

“I built these to last... Pressure-treated yellow pine, giving the railing strength and a connection with its local roots, and the infill (Union Jack) is Western Red Cedar, all joined together with stainless steel fasteners.”

“I am incredibly proud to play a part in the preservation of the Lesesne House. To be able to personally handcraft the parts of this railing, hand-assemble them using the finest materials that I could put together, was a pleasure and an honor.”

Rob began his career in the 1970s handcrafting furniture. He entered the contracting world in 1982 and relocated to Amelia Island in 2013. His career, spanning both fine woodworking and construction, is precisely what preservation work demands. The Lesesne House railing is not a reproduction. It is an extension of the original intent, built by someone who understood both the history and the craft required to honor it.

Preservation is not maintenance. It is the decision to protect what was built with intention, and to do so with equal care. At Built to Last Construction, that commitment is part of every project we take on, whether a new custom home or a century-old structure on Centre Street.