Historic preservation means different things to different people.

Just because something – a building, landmark or view – is old or has some connection with a historic person or event, I don’t feel it automatically qualifies for extraordinary preservation efforts. I want to see that piece of history linked up with some practical purpose in the present before I can see the benefit in saving it.

That’s why I was delighted to walk through the former Holman Day house in Auburn. Its present owner, Dr. Thomas Johnson, agreed to show me what he has done in recent years to bring that wonderful example of Victorian architecture back to its century-old grandeur.

My last column recalled Day, a prolific writer and successful filmmaker of the early 1900s who lived in the house at the corner of Court and Goff streets. Johnson calls that house “a jewel of Auburn,” and rightly so.

Although the connection with the Maine poet and novelist is significant, this building has its own particular relevance in my criteria for preservation. It still serves a practical daily role.

Day’s work as a writer took place there. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Dr. Harold Garcelon practiced medicine and raised two children there. The property was in his family for 55 years.

Though not an owner, Dr. Robert A. Frost also practiced medicine there. Johnson acquired the house in the mid-1970s and it’s used for consulting, counseling and psychological services.

The house was built in 1895 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Frank A. Beard and Betty A. Smith, authors of “Maine’s Historic Places,” said the house is “one of the finest Queen Anne-style (a type of Victorian architecture) wooden residences in the state.”

It received Maine Preservation’s 2005 “Excellence in Residential Stewardship” award.

As Johnson showed me and my wife Judy through the house, it was obvious that retaining early details of architecture and finish work has been important to him. He pointed out the curved glass in the front tower windows with replica lace curtains, the ornate woodwork on the stairs and in several rooms, the brass light fixtures of the early 1920s – combination gas and electric – that he found in storage and restored to use; also, the marble-topped wash basins in former bedrooms and the patch of floral mural on a ceiling that had long been covered by white paint.

The corner tower rises from a circular brick wine cellar through a full four-story height.

What I like most about the building’s practical use is Johnson’s conversion of a hay loft into a large modern library. He said the Auburn School Department has used it for retreats.

We all benefit when an individual owner recognizes a property’s historic value and makes a personal effort to preserve and restore it while making use of it. A lot of good private preservation also has taken place in Lewiston and along Main Street in Auburn.

Too often we insist that government or preservation organizations must save all these pieces of history for us.

Public tours of the Holman Day house are occasionally offered, and sometimes arranged by request. Johnson is thinking about the future. As retirement approaches, he is looking for appropriate continuation of the Holman Day house’s legacy.

He’s dead set against seeing it carved up into apartment units. He’s hoping a future owner will take up his work, or a preservation group may need to pitch in to keep this grand example of architecture on the Auburn street corner.

Preservation is an expensive proposition, and those who undertake it on any scale deserve our gratitude.

Dave Sargent is a freelance writer and an Auburn native. You can write to him at [email protected].