A faithful reader Calvin asked for an update on my earlier post about a home in the historic district of our little town that was undergoing a renovation.
This is what the home looked like before:
This is what it looked like during the renovation, once the rotten 1st floor was removed:
And while the interior may/many not be complete, the exterior looks like its just about done:
You can kind of see on the left side that they added a large addition onto the back of the home as well as rebuilding the main level of the original home. This project has been going on since the early spring.
'Tales of the Sissy' is a play on words related to Armistead Maupin's novel 'Tales of the City' which chronicles the daily lives of several seemingly unrelated people. Since my blog chronicles my daily life and I am gay (hence the stereotype 'sissy'), I decided to call my blog 'Tales of the Sissy'.
Showing posts with label historic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historic. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Monday, April 04, 2016
High hopes
The other day as I was walking the dogs I noticed a startling transformation in one of the homes we always pass. It used to look like this:
This small, 900 square foot colonial dates back to 1820, but looks more recent on the outside since it was covered at some point in vinyl siding which is no longer allowed in our city's historic district.
The owners of the home decided to renovate it, and after meeting with an architect and builder discovered the old foundation was crumbling beyond repair and the home's wood support structure was completely rotted from years of moisture penetration. In most cases the home would simply be demolished and a new home built in its place.
Except, this is a historic home in the historic district. It can not be demolished. Its the law. So what were the owners to do, with a crumbling foundation and rotten framing?
This:
That's right, ladies and gentlemen. The Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) required the original house remain where it is, so the salvagable portion (the 2nd story) was lifted so the foundation and unsalvagable 1st floor could be rebuilt in exactly the same spot.
Notice now that the siding is removed you can see that there once were 3 windows on the front of the 2nd story.
I'm sure the renovation plan includes an addition onto the back of the home since nobody wants a 900 square foot house anymore. It will be very interesting to watch this project progress. I'll be sure to reference this post later once the renovation is complete.
This small, 900 square foot colonial dates back to 1820, but looks more recent on the outside since it was covered at some point in vinyl siding which is no longer allowed in our city's historic district.
The owners of the home decided to renovate it, and after meeting with an architect and builder discovered the old foundation was crumbling beyond repair and the home's wood support structure was completely rotted from years of moisture penetration. In most cases the home would simply be demolished and a new home built in its place.
Except, this is a historic home in the historic district. It can not be demolished. Its the law. So what were the owners to do, with a crumbling foundation and rotten framing?
This:
That's right, ladies and gentlemen. The Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) required the original house remain where it is, so the salvagable portion (the 2nd story) was lifted so the foundation and unsalvagable 1st floor could be rebuilt in exactly the same spot.
Notice now that the siding is removed you can see that there once were 3 windows on the front of the 2nd story.
I'm sure the renovation plan includes an addition onto the back of the home since nobody wants a 900 square foot house anymore. It will be very interesting to watch this project progress. I'll be sure to reference this post later once the renovation is complete.
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