The value assigned to time-worn objects and buildings seems crucial to a conservator’s theoretical beliefs. The notion of antiquity is almost imprinted in the structure of the building itself, as well as in the concept of the time that has lapsed since the erection of the building. The head of the restoration project of the 1908 art nouveau Villa Duelfer, in Barlinek, which gradually fell into ruin after the war, presents how, in practice, this idea of antiquity was respected in that project. On the hundredth anniversary of the construction of the villa, the building, commonly referred to as the ‘Pałacyk Cebulowy‘, has lived to see its revival by sustaining its primary residential function, its architectural form and its historic values, in an urban context.