The Historic District

I love this piece. It's in a "vintage" store ran by a cousin of mine.
It's always interesting to hear peoples guesses as to what it is.

Not many get it right... but you are an astute bunch of history lovers here who I am sure will
have no problem guessing!



The piece is of historical value to our small town as it was recovered from a 1890's Queen Anne cottage with a troubling history which can be read about here: http://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_news/glimpse-of-the-past-blue-earth-s-ghost-house-built/article_5679773e-885c-5f0d-a35c-c54312670794.html:

I'm likely wrong, but I get the impression that it's a fireplace surround with an insert for when its not in use.

Fold down murphy bed ?

The history of the house is pretty sad. Many a servant girl or young female in care of the household were sexually assaulted and worse. Even the ones in "respectable" homes.

Nice work Willa! It is a murphy bed.

The house has one of the most amazing floors that I've seen. Beautiful inlay patterns composed of several species of wood. I have always associated Queen Anne with grand large homes. It's neat to see the style in cottage form!

There are no secrets on the internet !

What does the house exterior look like now ? It has a lot of 1880's fancy this and that going on.

Any pics of the floor ?

Old House Dreams occasionally has a listing for similar one or one and 1/2 story houses. Often they look surprisingly spacious and grand inside, like they are low and long.

Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of the floor.

The outside is still wooden clapboards and much of the "gingerbread" is still in tact.

Best I can do tonight is a google streetview screenshot.

The house sat on a double corner lot when built with the side shown in the old picture facing the street.
It has since been moved to the interior lot and turned 90 degrees so the side that faced the street now faces the alley.
Two other houses were built on the remainder of the lot and a garage was added (seen in photo below)

Moving the house seems like a major undertaking, but in context of the double lot in a good location this was probably a shrewd move.

The cross shaped plan of the house is interesting. Is this way of building common in your area ? From the Streetview pics it is hard to see the details. The backside that now faces the street with the garage is unremarkable, and I would never associate the 1890's house photo with that house ?

Willa wrote: The backside that now faces the street with the garage is unremarkable, and I would never associate the 1890's house photo with that house ?

It just occurred to me, from this thread, that nearly no one, on LI, has a front porch but they almost all have a rear deck and it's rare to have a house forward of the attached garage. It's almost as if, like what happened to the above house, houses are situated to express an anti-social, anti-neighbourly attitude...of turning one's back on their neighbours.

It seems like a mid-70's design concept. Like the suburban homes of the 1950's had a driveway, but the living room was still at the front of the house, with a side drive and a door that opened adjacent to the kitchen. By the 70's the front of the house had a garage and homes had living rooms that faced the backyard.

It does seem to make a neighbourhood less neighbourly. If all the social things are happening in the backyard, then there is little opportunity for neighbours to communicate with each other. This is exacerbated by the design of the suburbs where everyone drives everywhere v.s. walking to the local market.

The last apartment I lived in was in Toronto. This was the older Italian area. Most of the homes were built in the early 20th c. Walking around at night there was a stark contrast. The people who had grown up and lived in this area for most of their adult lives had porches on the front of the house that had people sitting on them in the evening, who would talk with each other and passers by. The gentrified homes had some obvious design upgrades, and potlight like lighting on the porch to illuminate the trendy high end porch furniture, planters and landscaping. Except there were NEVER people sitting on these porches. The porches were lit up like empty theatrical stages, though.