1895 Eclectic Revival Style Historical Home
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We had such high hopes for a 1924 Craftsman Bungalow, as featured in the post last weekend about our
quixotic quest for a sustainable home for our retirement years. But another buyer got in ahead of us and, anyhow, our inspectors eventually concluded that water damage and other serious problems made a rehabilitation impractical. However, the contacts we made pursuing that house have born fruit, hopefully the sweet kind.
Yesterday, we made an offer, sight unseen, on the 119 yo historical home, pictured above, to begin a project that will help stabilize a recovering neighborhood while improving the sustainability of the home to a level far, far better than the average new American home. For an update on this saga, along with more details about the house and the marvelous features we may be able to preserve, continue out into the tall grass.
This picture shows the East side of the house and its Northeast corner. Note the details in the brickwork on the front elevation. The dormer on the North side of the large 3rd floor room is visible top right.
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More details of the craftsmanship of the brick masons who built this solid brick home are visible in this detail of the West side of the front elevation.
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The entry opens into a large foyer.
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The foyer contains a grand staircase that I take to be Victorian in style, though possibly more reflecting German influences of the time, given the home's origins.
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The stairs continue up to a landing.
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Accents on the landing include both an exterior stained glass window facing West
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and interior decorative glass on a door (currently of unknown provenance) possibly once opening to a closet.
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Other surviving accents include a remarkable hearth, mantle and beveled mirror.
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Every room has one of these fabulous old radiators.
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The neighborhood is recovering nicely and rapidly during the Obama Boom.
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I've been doing a bit of surfing and it looks like those radiators can be paired up with a high efficiency boiler with integrated controls to produce a very efficient home heating system that doesn't dry out the interior air in the Winter. Combined with ground loop geothermal, that could give us a very high efficiency system.
The neighborhood is very walkable, with the park that gives the district its name just half a block away. Going either direction on the sidewalk fronting the home, leads to a neighborhood bar and restaurant on the next corner, in one direction a comfort food joint, in the other, a darling restored storefront serving North African influenced cuisine. The neighborhood is diverse and mixes single family with multifamily units.
We have been told to expect an acceptance, rejection or counter offer by sundown tomorrow. All fingers remain crossed. If the contract is accepted, I guess I'll have to go look at the house.
We must be nuts.