Thanks for the warm welcome! The turret on the center is definitely a little strange, and there is second squared one on the back of the house. We have heard from the selling realtor that there is a copy of the original architectural blueprint either on file with the city or the historical society, so we hope to learn more from that.
The porch curving around to the back used to connect to a pair of balconies on the first and second floor that the current owner demolished, with some famifications for drainage. We think that she repeatedly received bad advice from contractors. It is a shame.
There is only the single fireplace apparent, but we hope to find traces of others, though. However, we may not, since it actually had a centrally fired coal furnace in the basement, clearly state of art when the house was built. It is still there, in part, and currently full of coal ash and old tires. Lovely.
The forced air was put in within the last decade, and while much of that install was good, some of it isn't ideal. The third floor had a weird master suite\sex dungeon until the current owner ripped it out, which included an 8-person jacuzzi in the tower. We kinda wish she had left it, but we are also just as glad not to have to worry about it. E were told that they removed the entire tower down to the top of the first floor and reinforced it with I beams to hold the weight. Then they put the second and third story back on and lifted the jacuzzi in with a crane before rrinstalling the roof. To remove it, the current owner had it chopped into pieces and thrown off the upstairs balcony into a dumpster. She also ripped out a bunch of sinks two toilets, a tub, and a shower. Sigh. We are just as glad that they ripped out the massive built-in waterbed underneath the round turret.
The first thing we will need to do is deal with the windows. The original sashes are on the first two floors, but we don't have the original storms. There are some ugly-ass aluminum storms that will help us get through this winter, in conjunction with that plastic shrink wrap. And I'm going to learn to sew curtains. There are something like 42 windows in the house, and there is no way we can accord to actually buy all of those curtains.
High on our wish list is to restore the main staircase (pictured below). At some point, someone decided to convert basement staircase into a full bathroom, and move the basement entrance to the entrance parlor, which really spoils the effect of entering the house. we won't rip out the bathroom at the former basement access, since it is one of only two remaining in the entire house. There is a closet right next to it that might be able to be repurposed for basement access. Fingers crossed.
There are also two pairs of French doors leading into the room that will, in time, be the library, but more immediately will be the twin's playroom (19 months). I strongly suspect there were originally pocket doors there. The first thing I will do after closing is open up a blank former electrical plate in one of those walls and see if the doors are sealed up inside. One can hope!
Nice thing about this house is that it was completely rewired and replumbed. We hope to take advantage of the tax credit that expires this year to put in an on-demand system. I have fantasies about setting up a water-distribution manifold and snaking PEX throughout. It also has a new roof, and there is some sordid tale involving at least three contractors. You can see underneath the bay/oriel window in the original post a pile of stuff....well folks, that is a pile of finials from the roof. Don't know how we are going to get them back up to their homes, but by god, we shall!
The interior details have generally been lost through the ages. We hope to restore them. I just discovered thejoyofmolding.com, and it has prove to be a rich source of inspiration. Our soon-to-be house was student housing for a while for Lafayette College, but the college has generally been selling off or demolishing the wooden houses they own, while buying up all the stone. Our next door neighbor lives in a house that used to belong to the college, and was a former residence of Susan B Anthony. It was slated for demolition, but ended up being sold off and moved to its current location instead.
Hmmm....ah yes, the bay/oriel window with the iron supports. That structure appears to be in good shape. We don't know if the supports are original or not, but we see no evidence of sagging or settling. We will probably just make sure they don't rust and not worry about it.
Ah, one last thing. We will be painting the house come spring. The paint isn't in quite as good shape as it may appear in the pictures, but the wood is mostly sound. We are thinking a richer shade of green with some deep purple accents, set off by cream and white.
So that's it...more pictures to come once we move in, and I look forward to being an active member of the community!
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That home is stunning. I hope you enjoy many happy years there.
