1925, upstate NY. It can be a real pain, but I've got to live somewhere, and I can't beat the location. Plus I've learned some wisdom - every house has imperfections, and I like coming home to *my* imperfections.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Old Houses - Whatcha Got
- Thread starter Pocket Dave
- Start date
We lived in an 1867 house for eighteen years until last year, when we modernized into a house just across town... that was built in 1925.
It's very interesting to me to see what the 60 years in between those two houses meant in terms of house construction methods, design, and quality. We went from a fieldstone foundation to concrete blocks, from wide-pine flooring (no subfloor) to oak, and from a little kitchen with a walk-in pantry designed in an age before running water to a much more modern layout designed for houses running on electricity.
Both have built-in hutches, though. There's more of them in the 1925 house, along with MANY more windows. I think glass must have become more plentiful during those 60 years.
Folks moving from a 1970 house to a 1925 house might bemoan the inconveniences, but when you move the other way? This place seems like a breath of fresh air.
It's very interesting to me to see what the 60 years in between those two houses meant in terms of house construction methods, design, and quality. We went from a fieldstone foundation to concrete blocks, from wide-pine flooring (no subfloor) to oak, and from a little kitchen with a walk-in pantry designed in an age before running water to a much more modern layout designed for houses running on electricity.
Both have built-in hutches, though. There's more of them in the 1925 house, along with MANY more windows. I think glass must have become more plentiful during those 60 years.
Folks moving from a 1970 house to a 1925 house might bemoan the inconveniences, but when you move the other way? This place seems like a breath of fresh air.
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,222
- 45,013
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
Almost all the houses up here in the woods were originally cabins, and got added on to, here and there, bit by bit. This one was started in, I think, 1934. As a friend said when he came to visit "great house, but not a plumb line in the place". Still some knob and tube wiring..
We love living here.
We've still got some knob and tube in exterior walls which I'd rather leave than mess with the asbestos insulation.
This is our last house that we moved from back in 2021. It dates from 1485!!
Me with bass in the roof space
What K-n-T we still have that's active is on the second floor; most everything else has been replaced over the years.
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,222
- 45,013
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
My house was part of the post-WW2 boom. I've been here since '80, several remodels/upgrades over all those years.
More pics -- the back yard of our 1940 Bungalow in the Oakhurst neighborhood of Fort Worth.
1922 vintage here. Original yellow birch hardwood floors (creaky as hell) and no insulation behind the original plaster lath walls! Most of the house renovated to more modern standards over the years.
No ghost stories but when I pulled up the tiled foyer floor about 20 years ago, there was a big dark splotch that looked like a dried pool of blood! After refinishing the hardwood floors I underneath, you can barely tell that someone was stabbed there!
The property was owned by either Italian or Portuguese concrete or tile tradesman at some point in the past. We have an old wine cellar and I’ve pulled out a ton of extraneous concrete out of the house and from the yard over the last couple of decades. There was tile everywhere, including up and down walls before I did a bunch of renos. And there were red and green sparkles embedded in textured ceiling (that I’ve since removed).
No ghost stories but when I pulled up the tiled foyer floor about 20 years ago, there was a big dark splotch that looked like a dried pool of blood! After refinishing the hardwood floors I underneath, you can barely tell that someone was stabbed there!
The property was owned by either Italian or Portuguese concrete or tile tradesman at some point in the past. We have an old wine cellar and I’ve pulled out a ton of extraneous concrete out of the house and from the yard over the last couple of decades. There was tile everywhere, including up and down walls before I did a bunch of renos. And there were red and green sparkles embedded in textured ceiling (that I’ve since removed).
Last edited:
1898 stone built in Northumberland. Not sure why I took a picture of a TV dinner but I'm sure it made sense at the time.
Last edited:
In 1960 my parents bought a four unit Spanish style building in the Fairfax District (now Beverly Grove) of Los Angeles. It was built in 1932. In 1967 they also bought a house nearby, built in 1934, a storybook whimsical Tudor style. My twin brother and I were 17, and walking down the block from school, we noticed a big moving van near our apartmeent building. As we got there, we realized it was us moving. Our parents never told us anything about buying another place and moving to it. We recently inherited those buildings.
Last edited:
Vaguely reminds me of a place we visited a couple weeks ago, Fonthill Castle.
1925 colonial right in the heart of Brooklyn.
Creaky, un-level floors, sagging roof, doors that don’t quite latch, worn-out door saddles, electrical… mysteries, double-hung windows that don’t work all that well, casement windows that don’t work at all, old termite damage, steam heat that clanks like a percussion ensemble…. I think they refer to all of this as “charm.”
On the plus side, it’s only had minimal bad renovation work done by previous owners, the first floor has beautiful oak floors, there’s space in the basement for my small workshop and the fireplace works. Also, we have both a front and back yard within city limits! And a driveway!
Creaky, un-level floors, sagging roof, doors that don’t quite latch, worn-out door saddles, electrical… mysteries, double-hung windows that don’t work all that well, casement windows that don’t work at all, old termite damage, steam heat that clanks like a percussion ensemble…. I think they refer to all of this as “charm.”
On the plus side, it’s only had minimal bad renovation work done by previous owners, the first floor has beautiful oak floors, there’s space in the basement for my small workshop and the fireplace works. Also, we have both a front and back yard within city limits! And a driveway!
That’s just a block over from me. Some of the Wedgewood houses look the same too.
Ours doesn't draw for s*** - Probably the oak trees that have grown too large. We're converting it into a dog-bed padded "safe room" for our Belgian Malinois for when it storms or during forth of July fireworks.
The Dutch Shepherd has already claimed a closet in my son's room. The Rottie is not bothered by such things.
That was a cool neighborhood when I was a kid. Alas, we were only there 3 years. I HATED having to move to the treeless, flat cotton fields of N. Dallas in '66.
