HPC is trumped by the building department and the current building codes. If you are working on your porch, get the real facts before you make those plans based on what some may tell you. It will save you time and money.
An interesting fact about many of the houses you see in Springfield with half columns. Many had full columns to the wood deck when built. The first time the porch needed major work, those rusticated block or brick piers got built and the old columns became half columns once the rot was cut off. The owners even back then liked to update their homes. The new porches often look very original and so it is only through older pictures that you can tell.
Dancy is, with these first 9 mothballed structures, on it's way to being preserved for the future. Still, the ultimate saving of them will require some original thinking. A use, an affordable use, must be found for them or we continue to risk losing a few and so in effect, losing the entire court.

