Return of the trades

Although some experts worry that not enough people are going into the trades to meet growing labor demands, they also note the increasing number of training and educational options now available for individuals who want to learn these specialized skills.

Long-time programs include the 110-year-old North Bennet Street School in Boston, which offers courses in historic preservation and preservation carpentry taught by masters. The International Masonry Institute, the education arm of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craft Workers, has been offering courses since 1970, including classes in terrazzo and stone masonry. Both institutions say interest in their courses is up - including interest from people who have grown disillusioned with other careers, such as those in computers or high tech.

"We've had a lot of career changers," says Susan McChesney, director of external relations at North Bennet Street. "People have been wanting to find a balance in their lives, and that often comes down to working with their hands."

New programs are also springing up, including the School of Building Arts in Charleston, S.C., which teaches window restoration and architechtural ironwork; the Dry Stone Conservancy in Lexington, Ky., a nonprofit organization that offers free courses in dry stone-wall building to anyone who's interested; and the Brooklyn High School of the Arts, a specialized public school that opened last fall and centers its entire curriculum around the preservation arts and trades.

As public interest has increased, trades workers have also begun to organize themselves to promote greater awareness of their work and of the skills involved. The Preservation Trades Network, which has sponsored annual hands-on trades demonstrations for the public since 1997, was formed, says cofounder Bryan Blundell, in part because "there was a certain level of assuming that people [in trades] are not smart."

It's an image the group works to counter through its website and through such activities as its annual event. "Some of these people should have Ph.D.s in their fields," says Mr. Blundell, a preservation contractor. "There's just no way to recognize them in an academic format.

"There are masons who can look at a wall and tell whether the guy who did the work was right- or left-handed just by looking at the tool marks, or who can look at a stone in a building and tell you when and where it was quarried," he says. "These are things that you can't put on an academic test."

You can, however, put them on display - as the venerable Smithsonian Institution did last summer when it featured a program called "Masters of the Building Arts" as part of its annual Folklife Festival on the Washington Mall. Master tradesmen from all over the country, including stone mason Billy Cleland, gave talks and hands-on demonstrations for some of the 1 million people who attended the festival over 10 days.

"Our hope was to increase public understanding and appreciation of the skill and knowledge and passion that skilled tradespeople bring to their craft, and their critical role in the architectural process," says Smithsonian folklorist and program curator Marjorie Hunt, who has been interested in the skilled trades since the late 1970s, when she first began studying the stone carvers at the National Cathedral.

"I really think these people are living treasures," she says. "And I wanted the world to know about it."

A handful of online resources can help those interested in tracking developments in the building trades:

www.ptn.org - The website of the preservation trades network, it works as a networking tool for tradespersons and organizes workshops.

www.imiweb.org - The website of the International Masonry Institute helps users locate workers in the "trowel trades."

www.drystoneusa.org - Website of the nonprofit Dry-stone Conservancy offers information about training and on-site consultation.

www.period-homes.com - Magazine website offers tips about preservation and information about traditional building styles.

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