THE RESTORATION

Front of House

The picture below on the left is what the house looked like on the day that we went "into contract". Pretty sad shape. The front stairs were so wobbley that we went up them one at a time.
The picture in the middle is how the house looks only six months after we moved in (March 2003).

And below you can see how the new paint job shows off the house's terrific shingle detail.

More details appear with the proper paint treatment to highlight them. There was a terrible roof "addition" that was added between the porch and the parlor bay window (seen in picture on the left) which we removed and now the parlor bay window juts out proudly once again (seen on right).

Here's what the front porch area of the house looks like today. We still have to completely restore porch (and add back in all the spandrels , balaustrades,ect), as well as rip out those horrible stairs and replace them with the original stairs that "fanned out" into a beautiful arch at the base. This project that is slated for 2004.

Some of the original ornamentation was found in the carriage house, so we were able to restore and mount three of the original decorative elements. One is the "sunbeam" burst above the front porch's arch (on right), another is the sun "wheels" above the front door (done in real 24 carat Italian Gold leaf- on left) and the other is the "fan" adornment mounted in the top alcove of the parlor (bay window on the right that juts out at 45 degrees—which can be seen in the top picture at the far right).

Golden sun wheels above the front door

Sunbeam burst above the front porch

Architectural Details—Front of house. There are supposed to be lovely carved flowers in the "boxes" down the middle of the red stripes at the side of each window. We have located almost exact flower carvings and are in the process of painting and remounting them in their rightful places.

Side of House

View of side porch on south side of house. We have to restore the base of the side porch as well as build a copy of the original railing and ballustrades.

Before

After (March, 2003)

Before

After (March, 2003)

Below left; a better picture of that crappy fiberglass "roof."

Before

In Progress (March, 2003)

South side of House—Living room bay window.

Before

After (March, 2003)

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