I just came across this video for the upcoming Historic House Tour happening ins Spring City Utah and I had to share. I'm nowhere near there, but the video is wonderful, and if you can make the drive, it would be a wonderful opportunity to see some beautiful historic homes.
https://www.kued.org/video/contact-the-community-spring-citys-heritage-day-celebration
Showing posts with label Homes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homes. Show all posts
Friday, May 25, 2018
Thursday, February 02, 2017
Cornwall Homes
In this installment of Cornwall Homes, I have mainly 2 homes to discuss. The first is Hart House. This is a large historic house near downtown. I don't know the build date, but I would guess around 1870-1880. It has been converted to commercial use, and I believe it is currently in use by lawyers' offices. To the back and right of the building is a large addition that is very much in the style of the 1930s or 40s.
Recently (over the past 2 years or so), the building has been undergoing many renovations and upgrades. Some good, some not so good. Overall I'm happy that the building is being well maintained, but some of the changes have drastically altered some of the historic details and charm of the building. The first major change was the replacing of all the original wooden windows.
I noticed this when there was only ONE original window left in place. I don't really have any additional photos of the building before the changes. I might, but it would mean hours of searching through old files on my other computer or on CD backups.
You can see that the large bottom windows had a rather unique design which was not at all copied in the replacements. By far the most annoying change for me is the loss of the curved tops. Seeing squared tops in arched openings is always a sad sight. They did keep the original wooden panels in the bottom windows.
At the same time, the cornices and mouldings were freshly painted in white (which was badly needed). You can tell in the bricks that there might have been a porch on this side long ago.
This was taken a bit later. Note the painted panels on the left windows.
This is the addition. It has a really beautiful little porch (unfortunately with a brand new door slapped in there).
More recently however, this happened, and I'm really NOT happy about it. While the old porch was not in the best shape, and it may not have been original to the house either (you can see outlines of a two-storey porch in the brickwork), I hate the look of this porch. Too square, too bulky, and what are those awful angled corner beams. This looks like it belongs on a log house. There is absolutely nothing elegant about this porch.
Next is a large duplex down the street from me on Cumberland. This place is a bit interesting because it was bought by someone I kind of know. For years it was a florist, and I can't remember what it was before that. The person who had bought it a few years ago is a lady who knows my boss, and her husband. The husband is a doctor (physiotherapist I think) and they wanted to fix up the place to live above, and have his practice and office on the main floor. When she said she was hoping to have the place ready in about 2-3 months I knew that was not going to work out.
They started working on it, and eventually it needed too many renovations and they sold it. Grant Marion (a local construction firm) bought it and flipped it. They did a fairly good job as far as I could see from the exterior, and it now has new owners.
Here was the house after the florist business closed down and the place went for sale. The random shutters and cement porch replacement were by far the most offensive changes to the building.
This was months lather after the lady and her husband had worked on it for a while. The cement landing was removed, and several of the old and previously replaced windows were changed.
This was after Marion took over the project.
Most of the windows (not all of them) were upgraded to this 6 over 1 pattern. I don't think it's historic, but I actually prefer these. They help to add a bit of detail to an otherwise plain brick building. Note the rear window.
Lastly, here's the finished house with new owners. You can see that they shortened that back window (presumably for the kitchen), they rebuilt a plain new porch following close to the original outlines in the brick, and they installed a large black metal deck at the rear, which I should photograph at some point. Overall a pretty nice job. I think the only thing I'd like to see changed is to brick-up that air conditioner hole that was turned into a small window.
The last little bonus I wanted to post is to show the new apartment building that replaced the Rosemirlea apartments that burned down a few years ago. I consider this building to be a complete eye sore. I can't understand why they chose to have the parking lot right at the front like this.
You can read about the tragic Rosemirlea fire here: http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.ca/2013/06/tragic-fire-at-rosemirlea-apartments.html
Recently (over the past 2 years or so), the building has been undergoing many renovations and upgrades. Some good, some not so good. Overall I'm happy that the building is being well maintained, but some of the changes have drastically altered some of the historic details and charm of the building. The first major change was the replacing of all the original wooden windows.
I noticed this when there was only ONE original window left in place. I don't really have any additional photos of the building before the changes. I might, but it would mean hours of searching through old files on my other computer or on CD backups.
You can see that the large bottom windows had a rather unique design which was not at all copied in the replacements. By far the most annoying change for me is the loss of the curved tops. Seeing squared tops in arched openings is always a sad sight. They did keep the original wooden panels in the bottom windows.
At the same time, the cornices and mouldings were freshly painted in white (which was badly needed). You can tell in the bricks that there might have been a porch on this side long ago.
This was taken a bit later. Note the painted panels on the left windows.
This is the addition. It has a really beautiful little porch (unfortunately with a brand new door slapped in there).
More recently however, this happened, and I'm really NOT happy about it. While the old porch was not in the best shape, and it may not have been original to the house either (you can see outlines of a two-storey porch in the brickwork), I hate the look of this porch. Too square, too bulky, and what are those awful angled corner beams. This looks like it belongs on a log house. There is absolutely nothing elegant about this porch.
Next is a large duplex down the street from me on Cumberland. This place is a bit interesting because it was bought by someone I kind of know. For years it was a florist, and I can't remember what it was before that. The person who had bought it a few years ago is a lady who knows my boss, and her husband. The husband is a doctor (physiotherapist I think) and they wanted to fix up the place to live above, and have his practice and office on the main floor. When she said she was hoping to have the place ready in about 2-3 months I knew that was not going to work out.
They started working on it, and eventually it needed too many renovations and they sold it. Grant Marion (a local construction firm) bought it and flipped it. They did a fairly good job as far as I could see from the exterior, and it now has new owners.
Here was the house after the florist business closed down and the place went for sale. The random shutters and cement porch replacement were by far the most offensive changes to the building.
This was months lather after the lady and her husband had worked on it for a while. The cement landing was removed, and several of the old and previously replaced windows were changed.
This was after Marion took over the project.
Most of the windows (not all of them) were upgraded to this 6 over 1 pattern. I don't think it's historic, but I actually prefer these. They help to add a bit of detail to an otherwise plain brick building. Note the rear window.
Lastly, here's the finished house with new owners. You can see that they shortened that back window (presumably for the kitchen), they rebuilt a plain new porch following close to the original outlines in the brick, and they installed a large black metal deck at the rear, which I should photograph at some point. Overall a pretty nice job. I think the only thing I'd like to see changed is to brick-up that air conditioner hole that was turned into a small window.
The last little bonus I wanted to post is to show the new apartment building that replaced the Rosemirlea apartments that burned down a few years ago. I consider this building to be a complete eye sore. I can't understand why they chose to have the parking lot right at the front like this.
You can read about the tragic Rosemirlea fire here: http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.ca/2013/06/tragic-fire-at-rosemirlea-apartments.html
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Cornwall Homes - Devastating Neighbourhood House Fires
Just before bed last night (early this morning) I tossed something in the garbage in my garage, and I noticed the smell of smoke. It almost smelled like matches. I thought this was very odd, so I went to the front of the house and looked around. Immediately to the south-west was a huge plume of smoke, with the entire neighbourhood filled with a fog of smoke.
I'll note that this was at 3:50am, just when I was going to be headed to bed (very late). I decided to throw on my coat and go have a look. The weather was very mild, and I didn't need to be up early. This is a rather dark photo showing the view from my bedroom window (through the tree):
The house fire was just 2 blocks away, and a block north of my mother's place.
The fire was on the corner of Gulf and Fourth, and this is a large corner building that has been converted into apartments. I think the bottom used to be a corner store at one point. The building is at least a 3 or 4 unit apartment building.
I had to go all the way around the block to see the other side.
Sadly the building next to it (at least a duplex) also burned.
This is so sad. I can't even imagine losing everything just 2 days before Christmas. I don't know if anyone was injured, or how many people lost their homes.
Here are a few news articles:
http://www.cornwallnewswatch.com/2016/12/24/christmas-eve-fire-at-gulf-and-fourth/
http://www.standard-freeholder.com/2016/12/24/firefighters-battle-two-blazes-2
Apparently there was also a big apartment fire at 331 Clark, just a few houses away from my close friends. That building was severely damaged and is a six-plex. I didn't know about that fire until a few hours ago. I'll see if I can take photos tomorrow. While researching news about local fires, I also discovered that just 2 houses away from my workplace also had a fire (another house converted to an apartment building) on Dec 12th.
I'll note that this was at 3:50am, just when I was going to be headed to bed (very late). I decided to throw on my coat and go have a look. The weather was very mild, and I didn't need to be up early. This is a rather dark photo showing the view from my bedroom window (through the tree):
The house fire was just 2 blocks away, and a block north of my mother's place.
The fire was on the corner of Gulf and Fourth, and this is a large corner building that has been converted into apartments. I think the bottom used to be a corner store at one point. The building is at least a 3 or 4 unit apartment building.
I had to go all the way around the block to see the other side.
Sadly the building next to it (at least a duplex) also burned.
This is so sad. I can't even imagine losing everything just 2 days before Christmas. I don't know if anyone was injured, or how many people lost their homes.
Here are a few news articles:
http://www.cornwallnewswatch.com/2016/12/24/christmas-eve-fire-at-gulf-and-fourth/
http://www.standard-freeholder.com/2016/12/24/firefighters-battle-two-blazes-2
Apparently there was also a big apartment fire at 331 Clark, just a few houses away from my close friends. That building was severely damaged and is a six-plex. I didn't know about that fire until a few hours ago. I'll see if I can take photos tomorrow. While researching news about local fires, I also discovered that just 2 houses away from my workplace also had a fire (another house converted to an apartment building) on Dec 12th.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Cornwall Homes - Updates From the Neighbourhood (Part 1)
I currently have about a dozen folders of photos to write about on the blog and I've been falling behind on the majority of them because they are either a jumble of mixed-up photos, or the renovations are only partially done on the homes in question. Some of the houses are well under way, while others have been dragging, or the owners ran out of money or patience on their projects (which I know is the case for one of these homes).
I thought I would start with updates on a very grand home that is just a few blocks away. This is the Rectory for St. Columban's Church.
I was walking by the house on my way home from the bank, and I noticed a recent "renovation" that had been done on the house. Apparently sometime not too long ago, they went and replaced all the lattice work on the wrap-around veranda. It looked OK at first glance, but something was nagging me about it and I knew that they went and changed something about it, and that it didn't "look right".
Here's the current (replaced) lattice work (which hasn't been painted yet):
The house is an extremely ornate Gothic building (and I'll bet that it once had a slate roof as well). This huge plain expanse of lattice just doesn't look good. When I got home and dug up some old photos, I immediately saw what was missing:
The lattice used to have large Tudor style strap "beams" running in a pattern across it. While this is a fairly small and simple detail, it made the lattice appear more "anchored" and it had the appearance of being load bearing. It's possible they might add this detail back in before painting, but I doubt it. :(
Unfortunately the sad news doesn't end there. The second bit of this post is regarding the loss of 3 mature trees at the other end of the block.
During the reconstruction of the sewers, water lines, road, and sidewalks on my street, I noticed several trees marked with an "X".
One of these (the farthest down) wasn't too large, but the other two were massive maples.
Unfortunately I never got better shots than the ones above. The trees were chopped down and gone before I knew it. I have NO IDEA why they were removed, since they did not appear to be in the way of the sidewalks or sewer lines.
This entire corner of the street now looks incredibly bare. The red/white house had the smaller tree while the two large ones stood on the property with the large Victorian (which is hacked-up into 4 or 5 apartments).
More soon!
I thought I would start with updates on a very grand home that is just a few blocks away. This is the Rectory for St. Columban's Church.
I was walking by the house on my way home from the bank, and I noticed a recent "renovation" that had been done on the house. Apparently sometime not too long ago, they went and replaced all the lattice work on the wrap-around veranda. It looked OK at first glance, but something was nagging me about it and I knew that they went and changed something about it, and that it didn't "look right".
Here's the current (replaced) lattice work (which hasn't been painted yet):
The house is an extremely ornate Gothic building (and I'll bet that it once had a slate roof as well). This huge plain expanse of lattice just doesn't look good. When I got home and dug up some old photos, I immediately saw what was missing:
The lattice used to have large Tudor style strap "beams" running in a pattern across it. While this is a fairly small and simple detail, it made the lattice appear more "anchored" and it had the appearance of being load bearing. It's possible they might add this detail back in before painting, but I doubt it. :(
Unfortunately the sad news doesn't end there. The second bit of this post is regarding the loss of 3 mature trees at the other end of the block.
During the reconstruction of the sewers, water lines, road, and sidewalks on my street, I noticed several trees marked with an "X".
One of these (the farthest down) wasn't too large, but the other two were massive maples.
Unfortunately I never got better shots than the ones above. The trees were chopped down and gone before I knew it. I have NO IDEA why they were removed, since they did not appear to be in the way of the sidewalks or sewer lines.
This entire corner of the street now looks incredibly bare. The red/white house had the smaller tree while the two large ones stood on the property with the large Victorian (which is hacked-up into 4 or 5 apartments).
More soon!
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