Cooper wrote:

....
... IMHO vinyl doesn't belong on a restoration project
like a century home. My understanding is a home can not be listed as
historic with modern building materials such as vinyl. But, now we're
talking a whole different ballgame than what this thread started out as.

Correct on both counts...when we restored the old railroad hotel here in
town, the state historic preservation committee required that the
addition be modified from the original in trim details, etc., so it
couldn't possibly be mistaken as part of the original (as if modern
construction techniques could possibly have been confused w/ ca
1900!) The result is the addition looks tacky as hell in
comparison...one of the most egregious visual impact problems is they
wouldn't let us match the original windows.

The last project I actually did physical work on, was a project out of
State. Down in WV. It was a $25m home with 30k sq. ft. Husband & wife
were the only ones that lived in the house, but talk about deep pockets!

Damn, that reaches past the ankles!!! Don't think we'll go quite
that far on the house!