Do you handle Cambridge Historical Commission work?

Yes. We have replaced and restored roofs on properties under Cambridge Historical Commission jurisdiction, using period-accurate slate, copper, and detailing. We work to local preservation standards and handle the permitting Cambridge requires before the work starts.

Can you match the original slate on a Cambridge home?

Almost always. We source slate to match color, size, thickness, and weathering, so a replacement section reads as original rather than as a patch. On Cambridge's Federal and Victorian homes, that matching is most of the craft — the goal is a roof that looks like it was never touched.

Should I replace or restore my historic Cambridge roof?

Usually restore. A sound slate roof with localized failures almost always makes more sense to repair than to tear off. Full replacement makes sense when the slate is widely delaminating, the flashing has failed across the whole roof, or the deck below has rotted. We walk the roof and tell you honestly which one your home actually needs.

Which Cambridge neighborhoods do you do historic work in?

All of them. Federal-period homes around Harvard Square and Old Cambridge, Victorians in Cambridgeport, Mid-Cambridge, and Avon Hill, architect-designed houses near Brattle Street and Norton's Woods, and Mansards across the city. Our shop is on Raymond St in North Cambridge.

Historic Roof Replacement Cambridge

Historic Roof Replacement · Cambridge, MA

Cambridge has one of the most varied stocks of historic roofs in Greater Boston: Federal-period homes in Old Cambridge, Victorians in Cambridgeport and on Avon Hill, architect-designed houses on Brattle Street, and Mansards scattered across the city. Replacing a roof on a home like that is not a tear-off and a re-cover. It is matching slate, copper, and detail so the new roof reads as original. That is the work we have done in Cambridge since 2005.

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The work we do

A historic roof is a matching problem, not a tear-off.

On a Cambridge home that was built for slate, the question is rarely whether to replace with slate. It is how to replace it so the roof disappears back into the architecture. We source slate to match the color, size, thickness, and weathering of the original. We replace flashing with sweat-soldered copper where steel had rusted. We keep the ridge, valley, and dormer detailing period-correct, because on a Federal or Victorian home those details are what the eye actually reads.

The work follows the neighborhood. Around Harvard Square and Old Cambridge the homes skew Federal, where restraint and exact matching keep the period intact. On Brattle Street, copper suits the historic houses. In Cambridgeport, Mid-Cambridge, and up on Avon Hill, the Victorian and Mansard stock calls for the kind of period-correct work that meets Cambridge Historical Commission standards. We have done full replacements and selective restorations under that jurisdiction, and we handle the permitting the city requires.

Most of all, we do not push asphalt onto a house that was built for slate. If the right answer is restoration rather than a full replacement, we say so on the first walk.

Art Slate crew on a historic roof restoration in Cambridge

Our Process

How a historic Cambridge replacement runs.

Owner-walked, slate matched to the home, copper sweat-soldered. The same in-house crew on every roof.

01 / ASSESS

On-Site Assessment

The owner walks the roof and measures on-site, then diagnoses what is failing — slate, flashing, fasteners, deck, or drainage — before quoting anything.

02 / SOURCE

Matched Sourcing

Slate matched to the original color, size, thickness, and weathering. Copper for the flashing, so the replacement ages at the same rate as the roof around it.

03 / INSTALL

Period-Correct Install

Hand-laid slate, copper-flashed at the valleys, chimneys, and dormers. Detailing kept faithful to the period, to local preservation standards where they apply.

04 / WARRANTY

Documented Warranty

A binder with before-and-after photos, the material spec, the install date, and the warranty in writing. We are here for the inspections across the decades it serves.

What Cambridge owners say

In their own words.

★★★★★

Arturo has replaced gutters on my 1846 Greek Revival house in Cambridge and matched them beautifully to the existing wooden gutters. His work is consistently excellent and the prep and cleanup is always immaculate. We will be using him to repair sections of our slate roof this year and highly recommend him and his crew.

John S. · 1846 Greek Revival, Cambridge

See more of the historic and slate portfolio or read the full Cambridge reviews.

Related work

The rest of what we run in Cambridge.

Historic replacement pulls in every trade we do. Here is where the related work lives.

HISTORIC

Historic Roof Restoration (Greater Boston) →

Period-correct slate and copper restoration across Boston’s historic neighborhoods.

SLATE

Slate & Copper Roofing →

Hand-laid natural and synthetic slate, copper-flashed and built to last a century.

CAMBRIDGE

Roofing in Cambridge →

Every trade we run, neighborhood by neighborhood across Cambridge.

Schedule in Cambridge

The owner walks every Cambridge job himself.

Free, no obligation, no high-pressure follow-up. We will be honest about whether a full replacement is needed now, in five years, or whether a restoration is the smarter call. Because we are based in North Cambridge, we can usually be out within days.

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or call 617-913-1130 — available 24/7 for emergencies

Historic Roof Replacement in Cambridge, MA. Period-correct slate & copper.