So what do we have here? By Ron and Mary Fichthorn

Illustration by Ron Fichthorn

I recall the first time vividly when my wife , me and the current owners arranged for a tour of the house. We walked into the original veranda area that had been enclosed in the 50's and were assaulted by cold and damp air. It as if we had opened a tomb from long ago as the stale air pushed past us. The owner told us to be prepare for it's rough condition, and he was speaking the truth. It was completely gutted and damp from the removal of the original slate roof. No walls, no ceilings, everything was gone and very, very wet. All the original lath and trim work was removed and debris of remaining materials were pushed into piles in each room. It was a discouraging first impression.

As we walked the floors and made mental notes of what was what. The first impression faded quickly and we started to see a lot of potential for this home. Sure it had been abused over the years and many strange things were done, but all things consider, the stone foundation was sound and the structure itself was in remarkable condition. Sure there was rot here and there but there wasn't anything that scared us off. In fact, part of the attraction is we would have a clean infrastructure to run our electrical and plumbing without issue.

The house is three floors, and was converted into six apartments long ago. On the landing of the second floor, there is a third set of stairs that go up into the room next to the tower. At first, I was perplexed why they were there but soon concluded that the people who converted this house into apartments installed a the third floor steps to get to the two rooms and tower. It looks ugly and is one of the first things on or task list to remove. The floor plan is a little bit different from the original prints we found. The people who had the house built change the floor plan around and I like it better then the original print. We calculate roughly that we have 3400 square foot of living space.

The original design was published on paper in 1891. The architect was George Barber who was a prominent architect at the time. It also is an example of a house that you selected out of a catalog. Yes, a catalog. Just like you would pick a home today. The style is Queen Anne of the Victorian period. very few exist in our area anymore. We haven't found the original courthouse records of who had this house built, but we think it is close to 1895. We found a name behind the remnants of a fireplace mantel written cursive in pencil "John Clary, 404 7th, December 16th 1897". We research the name with outstanding help from our library and discover that he didn't build the house, but was the painter. We haven't found anything else.