It was the most interesting house that I've ever visited. I'm really glad we went to see it, though will admit it is highly unlikely that we'll ever buy something like that. See photos here. The house has a low-maintenance exterior with plastic siding and metal cladding on most of the wood. The inside is still almost 100% original and it looks great! The main floor has a small entry for coats and weather, then into a greeting area where you can go into the parlor, dining room, or up the stairs into the 2nd floor bedrooms through a wide staircase. Animal heads peer down from the walls in the greeting area. The dining room is large and would need a long table to look right. The parlor is also of a decent size. The owners have mostly antique furniture so it was a great-looking house. It has a little library nook off the back of the dining room. The kitchen is in a corner but very modern. The house was built in 1901 when the owners of a house like this would have been expected to have a servant. The kitchen and that whole corner of the house basement-to-3rd-floor are the servant's areas. The owners wouldn't go into the kitchen or up or down narrow stairs. They'd go up the wide stairs to only the 2nd floor. Three large bedrooms on the 2nd floor, one full bath that has been remodeled but looks very nice and original. All bedrooms, even the 3rd floor bedrooms, have sinks in them. One tiny bedroom in the corner above the kitchen was the maid's quarters. Really narrow and very steep stairs lead from the maid's hallway to the third floor where there are two real bedrooms and one long narrow room where the present owner's son has his bed and TV and games. It has a hook in the ceiling over a trap door in the floor where you'd have to pull up furniture from the 2nd floor because almost nothing could be brought up the narrow, steep and curved stairs. Caroline wanted the room with the little 7' circle that is in the curved spire of the house as seen in the photos. Those bedrooms are also large. So - 5 large bedrooms and one small bedroom in this house. It has a few stained glass windows that were a nice touch. All the main flooring is nice oak patterned wood. The 2nd floor is mostly wood. The stairs are carpeted. The third floor is all wood.
The house is the only house that I've ever thought that I could afford that has an elevator! It has a very nice looking old working elevator that goes between kitchen, basement, and 2nd floor. It was probably installed in the 20's. They think there was a narrow circular stairway in that location when the house was built in 1901. It was another way for the maid to get up/down through the house without bothering the owners. The owners only used it for laundry because they said it was really slow. It was easier to go up the stairs. The house has three coal fireplaces on the first floor that the maid would have been expected to keep stoked. The coal would be brought into the basement from the backyard. The owners installed a nice wood sauna in the basement that looks good down there. Helen liked it. I'd never use it.
All the windows are original. A modern hot water boiler has been plumbed into the original steam heat system so all the original boilers are still there and work. The electric system was reworked at some point but not by the present owners. The foundation looks solid. If I owned it I'd like to use the coal fireplaces (using coal) but the old chimneys may no longer handle the heat. The house has plenty of danger areas like that.
It is on a major street in town and is close walking distance to everything. How much is a servant these days? That house needs a servant.
DWH
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Haile Blog
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