This Old House: Season 19
The Milton House; The San Francisco House
Season 19 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of This Old House Season 18.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Season overview
The Milton House; The San Francisco House
Episode Guide
Season 19 Progress Shield
The Milton House - 1
Sep 27, 1997
The show opens in the historic town of Milton, Massachusetts, founded in 1662 and the site of the c. 1725 Colonial home the show purchased for renovation and eventual sale. The Thi
The Milton House - 2
Oct 4, 1997
Our host arrives to find excavator Herb Brockert preparing to knock down the rotting ell off the barn. The crew salvage a few valuable bits before it goes, including the cupola and
The Milton House - 3
Oct 11, 1997
The show opens with a visit to the top of Great Blue Hill and its historic weather observatory (built in 1885) to view the sights: the town of Milton, downtown Boston (8 miles nort
The Milton House - 4
Oct 18, 1997
Our master carpenter lays out lines for subslab ductwork in his workshop, and the crew strips off the barn's old shingles. They will use a shingle panel system when they replace th
The Milton House - 5
Oct 25, 1997
Our master carpenter's workshop continues to take shape, as Richard Trethewey lays out radiant floor heating tubes over a layer of rigid insulation. We meet audio/visual systems co
The Milton House - 6
Nov 1, 1997
A big day on the site: the structural insulated panels for the new workshop are hoisted into place - they, along with a massive ridge beam of engineered lumber, form the entire wor
The Milton House - 7
Nov 8, 1997
The house's new spaces are framed and sheated, giving us a chance to tour the new kitchen and media room. The front facade is now completely stripped of its burden of 200 years' of
The Milton House - 8
Nov 15, 1997
Victory Garden chef Marian Morash and kitchen designer Phil Mossgraber work to refine a plan for the new kitchen, with special attention to window and appliance placement. Out in t
The Milton House - 9
Nov 22, 1997
Our host arrives to find our master carpenter unpacking the new stationary woodworking tools for the workshop; they admire the newly shingled barn, whose panelized shingle system t
The Milton House - 10
Nov 29, 1997
Richard Trethewey is on site to see the new gas line being laid and the old oil tanks removed, courtesy of a gas company program. Coppersmith Larry Stearns shows off the fabulous c
The Milton House - 11
Dec 6, 1997
Our master carpenter inspects the new garage doors, made of redwood to look like old-fashioned outswing carriage doors but operated like modern overheads. The construction crew thi
The Milton House - 12
Dec 13, 1997
A busy day at the site, as several weather-sensitive jobs are brought to completion. The crew puts in the final touches on the cedar clapboarding and window trim, explaining to us
The Milton House - 13
Dec 20, 1997
Our host arrives to find the site thick with trucks delivering drywall, cement board, and interior wooden doors. In a rapidly filling barn, he meets electrician Allen Gallant insta
The Milton House - 14
Dec 27, 1997
The show opens at the Milton gravesite of Captain John Crehore (born 1694), the builder of the Milton house. At the house, our host checks out a new clogfree gutter system, a prefa
The Milton House - 15
Jan 3, 1998
The finishes have begun at the Milton project. We see the shellac and wax work painter John Dee is applying to the stripped old-growth white pine in the front wall - it now matches
The Milton House - 16
Jan 10, 1998
The show opens to find landscaper Roger Cook and crew putting in a granite block curb around the driveway island to protect it from wayward vehicles. Inside, Charlie Abate shows us
The Milton House - 17
Jan 17, 1998
Interior designers begin their work as the construction crew scurries to finish up the job. Painter John Dee uses a wood fillerto repair the deteriorating front door, while kitchen
The Milton House - 18
Jan 24, 1998
The show opens to find Roger Cook and crew laying down a sod lawn and we recieve a one-button key-fob controller demo from security expert Steve Yusko. Inside the house, we see the
The Milton House - 19
Jan 31, 1998
The grand finale in Milton, with the house completed furnished with the work of 10 separate decorating teams. We tour the house, the barn and the grounds. The wrap party begins and
The San Francisco House - 1
Feb 7, 1998
This Old House's team goes to San Francisco to take on a unique project: the conversion of a 1906 church (lately a synagogue) into a home for Mark Dvorak, a store designer, and his
The San Francisco House - 2
Feb 14, 1998
The crew start the workday at the Powell Street cable car turntable, where cars are spun around by hand for the return trip over the Fisherman's Wharf. On site, general contractor
The San Francisco House - 3
Feb 21, 1998
The show opens at a spectacular spot: the top of the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, 48 stories above the Bay. At the site, Richard Trethewey shows the recycling Dumpster -
The San Francisco House - 4
Feb 28, 1998
The show opens with a walk through the magnificent Muir Woods, home of the coast redwood, the world's tallest tree. At the house, where general contractor Dan Plummer is dealing wi
The San Francisco House - 5
Mar 7, 1998
The crew visits Coloma, California, where the Gold Rush began in 1848, to see Sutter's Mill and try their hands at panning for pay dirt. At the house, a break in the rainy weather
The San Francisco House - 6
Mar 14, 1998
Our host visits Alcatraz before heading off to the jobsite, where our master carpenter is hard at work installing the new front doors. First step: trimming them to fit the out-of-p
The San Francisco House - 7
Mar 21, 1998
The final episode on the San Francisco project begins with a visit to the Marin County Civic Center, Frank Lloyd Wright's only government building. At the site, Richard joins our m