Jacob Beaty House (1874 Folk Victorian)

[Eperot]

Well hello, all. I've been away for a while but have returned with a bevy of news and joyous completed work! You might recall we last left off in November 2020 with the completion of the west side of the house. This spring I turned to the north (Front) and East sides. Same work, just different sides. All siding removed, trim removed, eaves stripped of their many layers of paint, tyvek applied, furring strips applied, and new wood siding. Then paint.
Here was the starting point in late May: But don't she look pretty


In my estimation, the vestibule was too wide and ill proportioned so I dismantled the walls and brought each side in by ten inches. The results are more pleasing and balanced to my eye. But do keep in mind I left the portico roof alone for now as it will be coming off in a couple years for a real front porch.


Here I am turning to the east side while waiting for assistance with getting my pump jacks up on the front.



Pump jacks installed, I could continue with the siding on the front.


After my least favorite of jobs....scraping the eaves....I could start making them pretty with color!


Once painted, I could attend to some finishing details like double sconces, and an antique mail box. No more crappy overhead 1970's light fixture! Yay!


And the front all done, pump jacks moved to the east side, even the TV cable moved to the west side:


At the moment this is where I stand with the east side: First floor basically done and painted. I'm going to use whatever good weather I get between now and Dec. 1st to take it as far as I can go. Hopefully finished! Oh, and excuse the just planted Japanese maple in the foreground...it was a present of sorts because.....


I got married!


We decided to have a nice, super low key private ceremony in Massachusetts in September. It was a wonderful day to say "I Do" to your best friend barefoot on the beach. I know in years past I said I'd likely never get married again, but then I never knew a person like Heather existed.


So the Japanese Maple was a wedding present to ourselves which will look great when the front yard gets the royal treatment. While on our vacation we also picked up these great urns which you can see in front of the house now.


And lastly but far from least, we also welcomed a new friend into the home. Bing, a homeless dog from Texas. He's a mixed breed but mainly a French sheep dog called a Berger Picard. He's the sweetest.


So as you can see, it has been a momentous year here at the old Jacob Beaty house. Many reasons to be happy, celebrate, and smile!

[Gothichome]

Well congratulations on your nuptuals I certainly hope she doesn’t mind scraping paint.
Once again Eperot, I have no new words to compliment your efforts on restoring the Jacob Beaty home other than well done. You surely must be the envy of many in your neighbourhood.
I noticed you buried the electrical service, that really cleaned up the front elevation, I think it made a world of difference.

[T. J. Albrecht]

Congrats on finding someone to share your old house with, and beautiful job on the siding!

[mjt]

Love the look of the narrower vestibule and the color scheme you've chosen.

[Neighmond]

Congratulations to the happy couple! Give your puppy dog a snoooooooot petting from Iowa!

[Eperot]

Hello all,
For whatever reason these days (probably just too busy) I only end up posting once a job is complete...and the siding work continues even into November here. So I'll have a whole update in the next two weeks thereabouts. However, an amazing thing happened to me yesterday. Now for anyone who has read this thread completely, you know I have been looking since purchase for a good picture of the house in early days when there was still evidence of a porch (rather than the portico roof which I hate...) with no results. Local Historical society, county seat, the college archives across the street....NADA.

But then yesterday, i step out to gather the mail. There's an envelope from Florida. I thought maybe it was an ebay order or something I had forgotten about. So I opened it.

A MIRACLE! inside, a nice letter from a woman who spent some of her childhood growing up in this house in the late 1970's. Her folks had passed on, and while sorting through old family photos, she came across a picture given to her parents by the people who sold the house to them....of the house back in 1907! It was in rough shape, and the sender worried I may not even want it, but she thought she'd send it out anyway.
Little did she know, there's a crazy man who owns the house now who has spent the last 13 years lovingly restoring and tending to every need of the hosue, and who is just about to start building a porch off the kitchen with no idea what the columns and other details should look like. Now, I know. The picture also shows such a great wealth of details. As I suspected, there were yankee gutters and you can see the downspouts come out from the roofline just above the eave returns, and meet into one main pipe. You can see all the beautiful original shutters. you can see that the house had not 2, but THREE chimneys, including one in the back kitchen wing that I never knew about. Plus, another set of owners, the Harpers, who purchased the house on October 2, 1907. This was probably the picture they took as proud new homeowners.

I can't say for sure that this is the porch I will replicate, as while this porch footprint does show up on the 1909 Sanborn Fire Insurance map, 1902 and earlier maps show the original porch as having a central protrusion with receding wings on either side, which follows the bumpout that is the vestibule. I believe that is what I will end up doing. But I will certainly duplicate these porch posts and other decorative woodwork.

I am gobsmacked. I am happy. Finally, I can put my search to rest.
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[Gothichome]

Eric, good to hear from you, getting a picture is a bit of amazing good fortune. The home must have been on the mind of the sender. I wonder if it’s a member of HD Or a drive by reminiscing while on a trip to the area? Either way it’s a great picture and resource. Replacing your portico is a bold initiative considering all the work involved. But a reference for a pack porch is great. It’s a very Victorian style of porch with the corner details and such. I noticed it does not seem to have a slight pitch down to the front, I wonder if the flatness caused rot against the home proper or otherwise contributed to its demise?
Also Eric, I think the picture is older than 1907. The dress and general attire suggest third quarter of Victoria’s rein so circa 1870.
For a picture taken in 1907 I think the woman’s dress would be more fitting and slender with a bustle rather than a crinoline.
Ron