Hi from Western KY!

[parkavenue79]

Hey all,

I'm Rob from a small town in western Kentucky. I bought an old house about a year ago, but am just now getting around to finding someone to help me work on it. It was left empty for 5 years, after the previous owners could no longer care for it and moved to a smaller place. Since then, roof leaks, lack of maintenance, and time in general has taken its toll. Before I purchased it, some juveniles broke into the house and stole the majority of the door hardware and even one of the mantels. . I was hoping some here might be able to give me some suggestions on a few questions. I'm going to attach some pictures...hopefully they aren't too large!

What style of house do you think it falls into?

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Any idea on the roof tiles? The back of them says "National Roofing Tile Company, Lima, O, USA, Pat Nov 26, 1901 - Jun 2, 08." Unfortunately, something happened that caused the previous owners to remove the tiles off the back of the house and re-roof with metal.

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Any estimates on the date range in which it might have been built? The first deed was dated in 1895 and then the property didn't switch hands until the 1940s when the original owner died and willed it to his son. So, the house was built between those dates. We did find a small growth chart on the wall with the date of 1918, so that narrows it down more. Then, you have the dated roof tiles, but I don't know if that necessarily means anything since the tiles could have been obtained after the patent date. I just haven't been able to find anything else to narrow it down further.

Thanks for any help or guidance,

Rob M

[Gothichome]

Rob, welcome to the District. You have what I believe to be an early A&C home built first decade 1900’s. Nice to see a lot of the original detail still intact. Your half timber revival second floor had me thinking maybe build originality as a single story but believe it’s part of the original build.
You just might be able to save that linoleum, that would be nice if not, I bet there is a nice hardwood floor. Your colour scheme on the exterior would probably have been dark earth tones, possibly three colours.
Too bad it got painted but that can be repainted, removal of the paint on the brick can be problematic.
Once again welcome, look forward to more pictures and a descriptions of your efforts. We have lots of folks here who have done almost every thing home restoration related, so don’t be shy about asking questions.
Ron

[Willa]

Hi Rob.

It looks like your house has plenty of original details left. That's a great start !

Don't despair about the missing mantelpiece. I've had good luck finding house parts on Craigslist, at the ReStore, etc., sometimes for very cheap, and well, sometimes not. Ebay can be hit or miss, depending on your budget and patience. That's a nice original light fixture and I love the built-in.

I know everyone would love to see more house photos. What shape is the kitchen and bathroom in ?

Many members here have houses with good rooms, bad rooms, and at least one room of shame (ie ugly, badly renovated, missing plaster and worse.) Don't be shy.

I second Ron's opinion. Your house looks like a Craftsman, or Arts and Crafts style. Jane Powell wrote several coffee table type books about Arts and Crafts style houses, including "Bungalow Kitchens" and "Bungalow Bathrooms" (Bungalow = early 20th c. single story or 1 1/2 story house). Your library might have these or you could pick up used copies on Amazon, etc. for a reasonable price. They are invaluable reference for period details and sympathetic repair and restoration.

[parkavenue79]

Thank you both for the welcome.

I, too, believed the house to be A&C, but it having a tile roof was throwing me off. I do plan on trying to save and preserve the linoleum. Both the stairhall downstairs and the hallway upstairs have it, as do some of the closets. I have already started some demo...partly due to the roof leaks causing so much damage, and some to remove an enclosure on the back/side porch that was poorly built to make a laundry room. It has a full basement with a couple of the rooms having a tin ceiling. The rest of the basement has plastered ceilings.

I would love to try to get the paint off the bricks, if possible, but if not I'm going to try to come up with a suitable and appropriate color scheme.

I know everyone loves pictures, so I'll attach some more of the house (right after I bought it) and some of the progress thus far. I actually don't have any good pics of the kitchen or bathrooms, but I'll get some. The upstairs bathroom has already been (poorly) redone by a previous owner, so it'll have to be totally gutted and restored.


This ugly room on the 2nd floor I'm not so sure about. It has almost a flat roof and no eaves, so I don't think/know that it was intended to be enclosed. Thus, the plan for it, is to take the roof off, cut the walls down low, put up a nice railing and turn it into a porch/balcony.

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One of 3 fireplaces

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Picture of the butler's pantry...it's small, so it's difficult to get a good picture

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Several rooms have 1 or 2 sconces

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I have 3 sets of these doors

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But only 1 set of pocket doors

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Rob M

[parkavenue79]

More pics!

Tin ceiling in a couple of rooms in the basment

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Basement was FULL of stuff that had to be emptied

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[parkavenue79]

Some work that's been done

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Ugly bump-out on porch for enclosed laundry room

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Ugly concrete planter that has to go!

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Under the planter....hidden stairs and lots of rot

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Hidden stairs contain...um...hidden stairs

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[parkavenue79]

**Disclaimer** Not that the rotten wood was supporting much, but bracing has been added until new concrete footers and support walls can be poured. I just don't have any pictures of it right now.


Ugly, rotten laundry room gone!

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Looking out the door from the house onto the porch as was originally intended.

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[Willa]

I only seem to be able to load about half your pics but wow - there's a lot to work with there.

And holy cow - you have a RARE mint green washboard sink ! Take good care of that.

[GinaC]

I am seriously drooling over your original details! You have quite a lot to work with!

I believe that second floor room is a Sleeping Porch. I think they were usually enclosed?

[parkavenue79]

I only seem to be able to load about half your pics but wow - there's a lot to work with there.

And holy cow - you have a RARE mint green washboard sink ! Take good care of that.

Yeah, only about half load for me, too. But then I refresh the page and they all load...and they all show during the Preview when I'm constructing the post.

I love the sink!! It is in the basement as I believe the kitchen was once down there. The house originally came with a servant who had his own one-room building to live in out behind the house. (Unfortunately that building collapsed before I bought the house during one of our bad winters.) So, I'm assuming he cooked down there...the room also has a chimney that a cookstove could have been connected to. But back to the sink...the plumbing between the sink and wall that hooks to the faucet leaks pretty bad. Once I get bigger projects completed, fixing all of that so I can have a working sink is definitely on the to-do list!