The big red house in Pittsfield is 261 years old—and looks like it. Peeling paint is the least of it. More urgent, at the moment, is the large section of rotted clapboards on one side of the front door. That decay was clear evidence that water had been penetrating the wall for several years at least. "I don't want to push too much or it will literally fall apart," said Owen Blease, as he showed some of the worst damage.