'We're looking for a crazy historian'

[Wackyshack]

There is a duplex in Whitman Mass. the roof is 2 different colors. It is eye catching in the wrong sort of way. At least they agree on the main body house color.

The roof looks more blue to the right than what shows in the photo.

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[Lily left the valley]

{snip}None of these houses appear to have any repeating features. They follow the general rules of house design for the era.

That was an interesting dig.

That was a really neat read. Thank you for looking into it further and sharing.

I don't know why, but it made me recall a cut stone duplex with offices on the first floor (unused while we lived there). Oh, the stories I could tell about that place... (The link says "62 Main" in the upper left, but the building you see there is 53/55 Main St. We were on the 55 side.)

I have no issues with the home as presented, seams to be an honest attempt to keep the feel of the original, while updates to a modern standard. Being a buplex with high end details, I would think this may have been the city home of some one with means to have a second home some were else, or an upper middle class home.

I hadn't thought of that, the second or city home notion. I was thinking more of family owned, with different generations on each side. Your idea makes more sense, though.

a funeral home might make for quiet neighbors but there probably arent' too many who want to buy into the possible issues with it being half a duplex if that it is. I remember viewing one where I guess the neighbors had a bit of a war going on and one chose to paint his half a different color. I'm sure he reduced the price that way, perhaps to buy it for himself?

I've lived next to a funeral parlor three times. (One of them is above, actually!) Aside from the occasional bagpipers, they are more quiet than others, but more foot and vehicular traffic during typical viewing and funeral times. Speaking of traffic, you did not want to be trying to get out our side street when the car procession was pulling out when we lived next to the one in Newton, NJ (not the one above). Even with the police or one of the directors moving traffic, it was still tricky there.

[Wackyshack]

Lilly, you have lived I think one of the more interesting lives from just about anyone on this forum.

[Lily left the valley]

Lilly, you have lived I think one of the more interesting lives from just about anyone on this forum.

I'm sure lots of folks have interesting lives, they just haven't had related cause to mention them yet.

When you move a lot, you wind up by default having more housing and thus moving related stories, I think. Each place and the trip getting there is unique in their own ways, both good and bad. Yet you also miss out on some of the great benefits of having a more lasting relationship with/in any given area.

If Phil hadn't mentioned the quiet neighbors bit, I might have never mentioned our experiences with such. I actually had forgotten about two of the three. One I recalled when I street viewed it, and spouse had to remind me there was one across the street from us in Burbank, CA. Newton was the easiest to recall because it was the last place we lived before here.

Oddball trivia about funeral parlors: many states require at least a caretaker apartment on site to help prevent theft or pranks related to those being prepared for the final rest.

Oh, and did I mention yet that one house I lived in when I worked at a summer stock theatre in Chautauqua, NY used to be either the local morgue or a former funeral parlor? I can't remember exactly which it was. The basement still had some of the larger pieces like the slabs, but only folks from the theatre crew lived there at the time. (No, I never saw a ghost while living there.)

[Texas_Ranger]

Nothing unusual with halves of a duplex being painted different coulours here - in fact you sometimes see halves that have been modified so much you can hardly tell they once belonged together anymore. Like chopping off ornaments, adding dormers, enclosed porches and whatnot.

[Lily left the valley]

Nothing unusual with halves of a duplex being painted different coulours here - in fact you sometimes see halves that have been modified so much you can hardly tell they once belonged together anymore. Like chopping off ornaments, adding dormers, enclosed porches and whatnot.

Yep, I've seen quite a few of those over the years. One in PA was pretty extreme. The one side had gone stark modern--even the roofline. They changed windows to the one pane floor to ceiling types, front door, et al--compared to all the bits and lovelies on the other half. Since most of the duplexes on that street still looked at least similar, that one half really stood out. I wonder if anyone later ever got their hands on it and brought it back into the overall feel of the street.

[Texas_Ranger]

I think one of the most extreme examples in Vienna is a 1920s or 1930s cottage-style development on the southern fringes of the city. I think it consists of some ten houses along a winding road and not two of them look the same anymore. Replacement windows, exterior insulation, enlarged dormers etc. etc. I pass them on the bus when I go swimming in summer and it really freaked me when I realised: "Wait, these were once identical???"