Charissa Durst loves breathing new life into old buildings. As president and principal architect of Hardlines Design Company, she and her team enjoy the challenge finding creative solutions designed to make historic buildings function in the modern world.

The Columbus architectural firm, which specializes in historic preservation, has worked on numerous historic buildings throughout the state, including Stewart Elementary School in German Village and the Lincoln Theatre in the King-Lincoln District. Durst and her team are finishing up an $18 million renovation of the Woodward Opera House in Mount Vernon — a project that lasted nearly 20 years. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

Q: Why did you gravitate to this work?

A: I grew up in Massachusetts and starting in junior high, I lived in a town (Newton) that was basically one big historic district. It actually had very few designated historic buildings, but everyone treated their houses as if they were historic. I grew up thinking everyone spent the summer getting their houses scraped and painted. I don’t think I saw that much vinyl or aluminum siding until I came to Ohio.

I debated about majoring in history or architecture in college since I loved to write and draw. When my family planned to move from Massachusetts to Maryland, I made a last-minute decision to graduate from high school as a junior. The University of Maryland had a late enough application date, their School of Architecture accepted me, so I ended up majoring in architecture. I still took a lot of history classes, and now I have a job where I get to do both history and architecture.

Q: What are the major challenges you face in the historic preservation field?

A: Recently, it’s been the pressure from developers for more density. It seems like every developer is proposing a building that is much taller and more massive than the existing buildings in the neighborhood. They often argue that the proposed development is way better than the run-down buildings that were there before.

This leads to the other challenge — educating people that the common buildings are important, too. Everyone agrees that the historic landmark buildings should be preserved, but the landmark buildings don’t sit there all by themselves. They are surrounded by other historic buildings that housed the workers, offices, garages and shops — the everyday stuff. Those buildings are contributing elements to a historic district and should be preserved as well. I recently sat through a new development presentation by a major public institution that stated the old buildings were crappy architecture that were being replaced by better architecture.

Q: What are the most challenging types of historic preservation projects?

A: The ones that have been vacant for decades and have no documentation whatsoever. You have no idea what you’ll find once construction starts and the plaster starts coming off. We try to convince clients to have an early demolition phase before working on the overall design, but they often can’t afford the extra cost or the extra time it takes.

Q: What trends are you seeing in the historic preservation field?

A: The improvement of new materials. Traditionally, we always see wood replacement windows used in historic districts, but modern wood tends to be new growth wood, not the old growth wood, so they just don’t last as long. This is why Columbus’ historic districts have started approving the use of clad and aluminum windows. Faux slate and faux wood shake roofing have also improved in appearance, as has cement siding. I was also at a recent conference where I saw quarter-inch insulated glass panes with an edge designed to fit in an existing wood or steel window.

Q: How are you feeling about your industry and area specialization moving into 2019?

A: Optimistic. There have been so many successful for-profit historic building renovations by private developers in the past few years that it’s almost becoming the norm. I really hope that people in Columbus eventually think preserving what we have is just what we should do, just like that town in Massachusetts where I used to live.