Demolition begins

We began demolition on the kitchen and surrounding walls. They have taken out the appliances and most of the cabinetry, exposing the lath and plaster, the knob and tube wiring and some of the the solid brick supporting walls. They removed the beautiful Douglas Fir floor in the old dining room (soon to be family room) so that they could use it to patch the living room floor. We will try to track down some reclaimed wood for the new kitchen and adjacent family room. On Wednesday, we will present our plans to the Boulder Landmarks Board to get our final permits. Since we are in a historic district, we are required to present our plans to this board, especially if we are making changes to the exterior. Fortunately, our changes to the exterior are minimal and we should have little trouble getting their sign off. Our construction is mostly interior stuff, including renovating the kitchen, adding a master bath and renovating the existing bath. We also need to completely rewire the house (none of the bedrooms have a single outlet) and replace the old boiler. The larger question is whether the Landmarks Board will allow us to tear down the dilapidated shed in the rear of our property. We just got a notice from our insurer Allstate that they will cancel our coverage if it is not fixed or torn down. I can't blame them. It doesn't have a roof, it hardly has any walls, and the foundation sits on a pile of river stones. For the last few decades its sole contribution to the neighborhood has been to provide a comfortable home to a large family of raccoons.

Got Stuff?

We have a major editing job at 1109 Pine. There are four generations worth of stuff in the garage and we need to make room for our contractor to store things during construction. Good thing Grant has a knack for organizing. I just look at all the stuff and want to run away.

Week One and Two at 1109 Pine

We took possession of the house at 1109 Pine on March 18th. I don't know where to begin to describe the last couple of weeks. Let's start with the stuff. As part of our negotiation with the seller we received a large amount of the contents of the house: a two car garage full of stuff; a garage loft full of stuff; a basement with three rooms full of stuff; closets in the house full of stuff. The seller walked away from rooms full of things that had not been touched for decades, in some cases since the 1920s. We are going through all the contents that we inherited so that we can put together the history of the house and the people that occupied it. The depth and breath of what we have inherited is quite staggering. Here is a partial list of some of the treasures we have discovered (I won't go into detail about the full size dumpster that we used for the non-treasure items that also came with our deal): boxes of vintage photographs; a tool room full of vintage tools; a pipe collection; several vintage stoves; Colorado vintage license plates from the 30s, 40s and 50s; Life magazines from the 40s and 50s; two vintage refrigerators; antique luggage; a lighting collection from the gas era through the 60s; vintage packaging; victorian furniture; antique car parts. The former owners lived by the creed that nothing should be thrown away. This is an enormous job for us and it comes with an enormous responsibility to be thoughtful stewards of the legacies left behind. A rare challenge and a rare opportunity.

Victorian Architecture: Queen Anne vs. King Edward

An 1876 Queen Anne at 809 Pine

Our 1901 Edwardian house at 1109 Pine.

When I read the flyer for our home at 1109 Pine, it referred to the house as "Edwardian". I had no idea what this meant, beyond some faint recognition that it related to a period in English history and architecture. I did a simple search and found that Edwardian architecture refers to the style popular when King Edward VII was in power. He reigned from 1901 to 1910. His predecessor, Queen Victoria, had a much longer reign (1837-1901) and homes built during her reign, especially during the latter part of her reign, are referred to as Victorian. The British had a custom of naming architectural styles after their monarchs (Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian, etc.).

But what about the "Queen Anne" Victorians? Didn't Queen Anne reign in the early 1700s? More searches found the explanation, which is quite interesting. The Queen Anne style of Victorians did not refer directly to Queen Anne's rule, but marked a "Queen Anne" revival. During her reign in the 1700s, art and science flourished, and it was British architect Richard Norman Shaw and his followers who began to refer to buildings in the Queen Anne style. Of all the Victorian styles, Queen Anne is the most ornate and embellished. You know them when you see them, wrapped in bay windows, vertically punctuated with turrets and towers and sharply pitched roofs, sometimes covered with intricate gingerbread motifs, often decorated with elaborately painted facades. There are many examples of the Queen Anne style in Boulder, and cities throughout the U.S. have rich examples of the Queen Anne style. In contrast, the Edwardian style was a movement towards modernism, towards a more simple, less ornamental style. Edwardian style would pave the way for some of the early 20th century modernist architects.

Weekend in Breckenridge

We went to Breckenridge with three other families last weekend. Our amazing babysitter gave us the use of her parents' house. It is a large 4 bedroom home a couple of miles outside of town. Breckenridge has recorded 362 inches of snow this season. This not only makes for amazing skiing, but also great adventures in the snow. The banks of snow around a house and driveway were astounding. The 9 kids who came with us were shocked, then delighted. When they were not skiing, they were busy tunneling through the 10-foot banks of snow, building their own covered slides in the mountains of snow and making their own X games extreme sledding run. In my childhood, the only time I had an occasion to tunnel through snow was after an historic blizzard in the 70s in New York. Living in Colorado, this will not be the last time they see snow like this, but it was definitely the first. Oh, and about the bear. Hmm....pictures are sometimes better than words.

1109 Pine

We are buying a house in Boulder in a couple of weeks. It's no ordinary house by several measures. First, it's 110 years old. Second, it hasn't been sold in 100 years, passing down several generations and staying within the family until now. Third, the seller will in all likelihood be leaving behind some of the historical contents of the house. It is an unusual situation to buy a house and immediately become a steward of its storied past. And it has a past. This is what we have learned.

In 1901, Montford Whiteley and his wife, Mena, built the house. Whiteley was mayor of Boulder from 1899-1905. Born in Georgia in 1859, Whiteley was a member of the first class to enter the University of Colorado when it opened. In 1911, Whitelely sold the house to Mr. and Mrs. Kirby. The Kirbys had three daughters and when they passed away, the three daughters inherited the home. One of the daughters married and bought the other sisters' shares of the house. They produced one daughter, Elizabeth. Elizabeth married, but did not have any children. She died in 1995 and in the same year, her husband died as well. The sole heir was her husband's son from a previous marriage, James Bonn. In 1995, upon inheriting the house, Mr. Bonn moved from San Diego with his new bride to Boulder. In 2008, she filed for divorce. He was forced to put the house on the market in July, 2009. There were no buyers.

February, 2011. We visit the house. We are charmed by the pristine pine floors, the in tact wood work, the brass hardware throughout the house, the 1880s billiards table in the basement, the eight foot paneled doors. We are underwhelmed by the non-working boiler, the old plumbing and outdated wiring, the unremarkable kitchen, the one full bathroom.

It is always a leap of faith to buy a house. You have to somehow sense that you can live there, sleep there, grow there. You have to use your imagination and create stories of your life there before you get a chance to act your part. We saw many house. Dozens of houses. This one spoke to us. We will plunge in with some renovation before we move in. Stay tuned.