DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH

Earlier in the month I wrote about 28 South Street in Hamilton's popular southwest Kirkendall neighbourhood. It first came on the market at $469,900 and is now down to $429,900. If I wasn't so obsessed with my current home I would totally make a move on this FRESH PIECE OF BRICK. You on the other hand should totally go for  it. Trust me, I've seen a lot and if you were able to negotiate $380,000-$399,000 you could be confident in your investment. Turn-key houses are being snatched up in this area without hesitation in the low to mid fives (some in the low sixes). This south of Aberdeen locale is quiet, family friendly, and close to schools, parks, trails and the uber popular Locke Street.

Diamond in the Rough

I recently checked out the open house and I was acquainted with why this 1847 beauty isn't flying off the shelf. It all comes down to bling and flow and this place has neither. But someone with imagination could easily change all that.

CLICK TO LEARN MORE!

Imagine a period-style gate and fence at the front of this lot (see inset), framing the propety set well back from the street. Layer on some landscaping and surface care to the exterior to reveal the original limestone facade.



Next comes the major work on the inside. Connect the living room and kitchen areas to the right and left sides by opening up and re purposing the current full piece bath and utility space that runs perpendicular to the two. Rework it all to be open and airy and find a way to work in a powder room for guests. The upstairs has the bedrooms and another bath. Redo the bath so it is fresh and bright but consider vintage finishes like a claw foot tub, and a basket-weave or herringbone tile floor. Add more space by building off the back of the house which is not subject to heritage designation. Perhaps even a sun room or expanded master suite with ensuite. Keep the backyard as an urban space with interlocking stone, a hot tub and a dining area. The front can become the grassy play area as the street is quite. Additional privacy can be created out front by planting cedars and/or hedges along the edges of the iron gate (a la secret garden).

Remodel with Vintage Touches

Landscape to create an Urban Oasis

RAICH HOUSE CIRCA 1845

Courtesy of TheSpec.com
by Kathy Renwald

Revival of a classic 1845 Hamilton home

One of the oldest houses in Hamilton is getting a new shake at life. It’s on Mary Street and it’s been there since 1845, before Hamilton became a city. The wooden house looks pioneer plain, until you look closely at the front entrance. The unadorned front door is framed by two columns of exquisite beauty, topped by capitals with hand turned scrolls and acanthus leaves. Classic Ionic architecture buried in Hamilton’s North End. The columns hide shyly, set back from the strips of clapboard that were run through the planes of Thomas and Peter Fitzpatrick. They built the house 168 years ago. We know because their tools, engraved with their names, are still in the house, in the attic, in a dusty chest.

Yes, that’s the kind of story this is, one of fortunate coincidence and miracles.
“My family is helping me to fix the house,” Dolores Hastings says in her simple living room.
She grew up there. Her grandfather bought the house in 1942, from the last descendent of the Raich family. The Raiches were wagon makers in Hamilton, they bought the one-and-a-half storey Mary Street house, likely from the Fitzpatricks, around 1865.

“I’m sorry it’s so noisy, “Hastings says amid the thud of hammers. It’s a happy noise, though. Doug Vickers, owner of Vickers Restoration in Ancaster, is set up outside. With strips of clear white pine, his modern tools and his assistant Johnny Overbeeke, he is fixing what needs fixing on Mary Street.
“It’s a miracle this house survived,” Vickers says as he cuts new lengths of clapboard to replace ones too rotted to save “especially with a cook basement.” The basement had a fireplace used for cooking, where it’s possible the cooking was done by servants. “This was an upper-middle-class house,” Vickers says. He’s worked on many fine homes in Ontario and across the United States, including the restoration of the Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., but it’s always gratifying to save a house in your own city, he says.

Dolores and her husband Ken Hastings bought the house from her mother in 1966. Her husband insisted. He grew up in an 1860s wooden beauty on Ferrie Street West, overlooking Hamilton Harbour. Together on Mary Street they raised three kids, and Ken worked on restoring the house when he had the time and the money. Walls were replastered and wood plank floors restored. He insisted the house be designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, where it is described as a “rare surviving example of pre-Confederation frame construction in Hamilton and the Classic Revival style.” In the book Victorian Architecture in Hamilton, The Raich House as it is called after its long association with the Raich family, was celebrated for its refined, gracious and restrained style.
Though they did what they could, over the years the exterior of the house started to deteriorate. Paint flaked off the clapboard, eaves sagged, and a chimney fire damaged the north side of the house. “I was ashamed of it,” Dolores says. Husband Ken died in 2005, and the kids finally decided to help their mother finish the restoration. “They want me to be proud of it,” she says.
It took a long time to find the right carpenter to start the work. Some people thought Dolores should just cover the place in aluminum siding. “No, no, no,” she says. Vickers was the right man, with experience and a love for old houses. He is fastidious to the point he is reshaping square nails he bought for the clapboard, to replicate the 1845 originals. He’s also agreed to work on the house in phases, as the budget permits. The wood siding on the south side needs attention, and the original six-over-six windows, with their delicate glass, will be repaired. “The sills are still level,” Vickers says with admiration.

As work continues on the exterior, passersby stop to admire the restoration and give encouragement. Architecture students have visited many times over the years to ask the Hastings about the history of the house.

In April the clapboard on the front of the house will be finished, a new coat of paint applied, and the gorgeous front entrance will glow.

Dolores Hastings is reviving a classic piece of Hamilton history. Some people would not be up to the task of caring for the old wood, the fragile windows, and the stone foundation. She is, mainly for her late husband.

“I never considered moving after Ken died,” Dolores says, “Ken loved this house.”

kathyrenwald.com

CLICK TO LEARN MORE!

MORE LOOKS I LOVE

Simple like my first "Looks I Love" post. Here are some pictures in my digital scrapbook that inspire me...

CLICK TO LEARN MORE!

PARIS AUCTION

PARIS,ON, OLD TOWN HALL

Sat Apr 6 2013 at 10:30 AM in Paris. Art, Furniture, Ceramics, Glass, Jewellery, Misc.

CHECK OUT THE LOOT HERE

If you've never been to an auction this looks like a good one. A fun day - even if you don't come home with anything. Here are a few things I wouldn't mind bringing home with me!

Tapestry

Vase

Want the gothic chair & fireplace screen

Wool rug

CLICK TO LEARN MORE!

GRIMSBY GEM CIRCA 1832

FOR SALE 159 Main Street West Grimsby, ON

Circa 1832 Historically Designated "THE WHITE HOUSE" is located on Niagara's  scenic wine route backing onto the escarpment.This prestigious home was built between 1832-1835. Georgian style home features Doric columns, wood plank floors, 12 over 12 foot windows, 2ft thick stone walls & 9ft ceilings.

Offered on realtor.ca for $649,900

CLICK TO LEARN MORE!

SLOW START TO SPRING

Sorry for the lack of activity here lately - its been a slow start to spring and there's not a lot out there in the Hamilton and surrounding area that "floats my brick". 

Thought this would be a good opportunity to share a fun site with you - HistoricProperties.com




Here you can find all kinds of historic properties for sale - and only historic properties for sale. You can filter by price, by condition (move-in ready), and by architectural style (Queen Anne, Victorian, etc). Great place to day dream. Actually...not too far from reality as there are some great properties here for under 100,000. Guess the US is still in a recession!

Here are my FRESH BRICK picks on the site grouped by price range:




UNDER $100,000

The Moore-Lewis House c. 1850, Sparta, Georgia The Moore-Lewis House is a 5 bedroom, 2 ½ bath fine Italianate and antebellum house located in downtown Sparta.

William Smith Ingham House c. 1837, Medidian, New York
1837 Vernacular Greek Revival mansion in Meridian, New York built by entrepreneur, businessman and abolitionist William Smith Ingham. The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the New York State Register. In the 1920s, it became Meridian Hospital under the direction of Dr. Herbert Gifford. After that, it was known for a time as The White Inn.

1114 Washington Street, Marion, Alabama
Circa 1850 Lowry-England-Wheeler, charming Greek Revival cottage has 12-foot ceilings, beautiful heart pine floors and mantels in the original house.

$200,000 - $300,000

Myrtle Hill, circa 1840, Marion, Alabama
Myrtle Hill, built by John Huntington, son of Roswell Huntington, silversmiths from North Carolina. This 2-story Greek Revival style home has 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, original kitchen building and carriage house, and acres of gardens beautiful in every season!

Dawson, Georgia

This Greek Revival with southern charm is located in Georgia's deep south. It sits on a double lot in Dawson's historic district.

Champaign, Illinois

1867 brick Italianate, 3740+ sq. ft., two-story home plus full stone/brick basement and usable attic.

$300,000-$500,000

Thornley House, Smyrna, Delaware
A Colonial Revival home located in Smyrna's historical district, was built in 1920 and has been continuously resided in by descendants of the original owner. An appraiser commented, "This is one of the best built and solid structures seen by this appraiser in the area. It was obviously the premier
house built in this small town."

The Julia Hagood Home c. 1880, Waynesboro, Georgia

Rare all brick grand Victorian mansion. This exquisite house with much that resembles a castle inside is the masterpiece of Charles E. Choate, a noted Georgian architect of the 19th century. The home was built for Major William Archibald Wilkins, the first mayor of Waynesboro, a historic Southern town located an easy drive from Augusta and Statesboro, Georgia. The house was used to entertain President William Howard Taft while visiting in the area in 1910.

   


 

 

Russell, Pennsylvania

Built by the renowned lumberman Guy C. Irvine in 1835, The Locusts is on the National Register of Historic Places. Georgian red brick and two-story style with strikingly unusual large bridged chimneys on each of its sides.  Interior crown moldings, baseboards and wide windows in a Greek Revival style. Warren County's premier property.

Over $500,000

LaVue, circa 1818 on 60 Acres, Fredericksburg, Virginia
Surviving the test of time, LaVue, sitting proudly on perhaps the highest point in Spotsylvania County, remains almost as she was when she was built in 1818. The original "L" shaped Flemish bond and coursed masonry residence, consisted of 9 rooms with a center hall on three levels. An 1834 addition to the structure added three additional living areas to the current 5000 square foot residence. Hand stenciling, still intact, found in the main entry, formal living and dining rooms, and upper level hall, is believed to have been completed at the same time.

          

The Barracks (William S. Battle House), Tarboro, North Carolina
The Barracks is without question one of the state’s premiere antebellum plantation houses. Its design, size and family association place this house on a level not typically associated with North Carolina, and make it much more comparable to the great plantation houses of Virginia, Charleston and the Deep South. Its scale, exceptional detailing throughout, the large front portico with its huge Corinthian columns and its interior central rotunda place this house in a unique category unto itself.

Circa 1884, Lexington, Virginia

The owners, along with historic restoration craftsman, Peter Sils, have given this gorgeous Victorian (circa 1884) new life. High ceilings, huge windows, beautiful built-ins, new and old.

Victorian Mansion, Saratoga Springs New York

CLICK TO LEARN MORE!