15 Old House Features that we were wrong to abandon...

[LizzieMaine]

A/C in our school was "open the windows." Which didn't work real well once they bricked them up.

 

[bond_323]

Claw foot tubs and handles for the taps that read "HOT" and "COLD" in porcelain. My search for the right ones goes on...

 

[TimeWarpWife]

A/C in our school was "open the windows." Which didn't work real well once they bricked them up.

The schools I went to until 9th grade also called A/C "open the windows." Trust me, even if the windows weren't bricked up, it was still hot, sticky, and miserable on days that were hot, humid, and windless. Even if you were lucky enough to have a fan in your classroom, all it did was move hot air around. I was so glad to get to high school because ours was one of 3 new ones built in our county that finally had A/C.

 

[MikeKardec]

This joint, right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerson_Middle_School_(Los_Angeles)

A casual observer might guess this place was built in the 1960s, or late-'50s at the earliest. In actuality, it went up in 1937-'38. Truly "Golden Era," eh?

That's it! My Mom actually knew him ... much earlier than when I was in Junior High though. I have always loved the look of his designs but on close examination a great many of the houses seemed to have used such light construction (not the school!) that they seemed fragile or cheap. It seems like they took a lot of maintenance.

I just read the Wiki page and I must admit that we never discovered the "roof top terraces" ... that's unlike me. I was the kid who found a way into the ROTC rifle range at my high school and the bomb shelter at my elementary school. I knew where the wire was loose and you could slip from Emerson into St. Paul's Catholic middle school next door ... okay, I might have made the wire loose. The statute of limitations is long past.

 

[Edm1]

We opened the windows for ac when I was in elementary school. And that was in the 80's in Mississippi.it was warm.

I never had heat or a/c in school until I was in the 10th grade. We had windows in the back of the class and a giant draw fan in the front.

 

[HudsonHawk]

We opened the windows for ac when I was in elementary school. And that was in the 80's in Mississippi.it was warm.

Yeah, I grew up in Florida. Never had a/c at home or at school.

 

[sheeplady]

another feature that I have noticed in new homes that is making a come back is, formal staircases! After hiding the stairs in walls since the 50s, it is nice to see stairs with a landing and railings again.

Well, minus everything else modern in those homes (including the lack of woodwork), I agree with the staircases.

 

[Stearmen]

No AC at any of the schools I went to. Including Arizonan and California! I do remember electric heaters bolted to the wall. One year, our grade school teacher showed us how hot air balloons work. He had us empty our lunch paper bags, and turned them upside down over the heater, lots of fun on a rainy day! Not sure if most kids would be as captivated as us these days.

 

[Stearmen]

Claw foot tubs and handles for the taps that read "HOT" and "COLD" in porcelain. My search for the right ones goes on...

There are lots of companies making both of those. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, so open the wallet! Here is one maker, cast iron, acrylic, even copper if you've got the dough! http://www.vintagetub.com/asp/clawfoot_tubs.asp

 

[Shangas]

another feature that I have noticed in new homes that is making a come back is, formal staircases! After hiding the stairs in walls since the 50s, it is nice to see stairs with a landing and railings again.

"Rhett! What'll I do!? Where'll I go!?"
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!"

---

OK, nostalgia aside.

When I was in school, we didn't have air-conditioning of any kind. Even in the new buildings not yet 10 years old, we never had air-conditioning. Our school campus was built in the early 1920s. Back then, and even today, the old classrooms have no air-conditioning.

On hot days here in an Australian summer, we kids used to go to the windows and throw them all the way up (they were these huge, Georgian-style double-hung antiques with the ropes and counterweights and everything else). I don't know if any kids ever fell out the windows, but that was considered our air-conditioning.

 

[Edm1]

We have a house built in 1956 that has the porcelain handles labeled hot and cold.I really like them.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, minus everything else modern in those homes (including the lack of woodwork), I agree with the staircases.

Cathedral ceilings belong in cathedrals. I have nightmares thinking about trying to clean a place like that.

 

[HudsonHawk]

On hot days here in an Australian summer, we kids used to go to the windows and throw them all the way up (they were these huge, Georgian-style double-hung antiques with the ropes and counterweights and everything else). I don't know if any kids ever fell out the windows, but that was considered our air-conditioning.

We had those big jalousie, hand crank windows, so you opened them like blinds with each pane being parallel to each other. Which was great because you could open windows in the rain and no water came in. However, if you hit a baseball through the top one, it just keeps dropping, breaking each window along the way. And it happens in slow motion, with you watching, just knowing your dad is going to go ballistic because he told you not to hit the ball towards the house...

 

[Shangas]

This is a photograph of one of the main buildings on my school campus. This whole thing was built back in about 1920-1924. You can see those huge old double-hung windows. Those are the ones I'm talking about. We used to have to wrestle with those things every summer. No air-conditioning. Not even any fans. Just windows.

 

[LizzieMaine]

They sell notched wooden sticks at the Prison Outlet Store here for propping open windows where the sash ropes have broken and dropped the weights into the wall. Every window in my house has one.

 

[Fading Fast]

This is a photograph of one of the main buildings on my school campus. This whole thing was built back in about 1920-1924. You can see those huge old double-hung windows. Those are the ones I'm talking about. We used to have to wrestle with those things every summer. No air-conditioning. Not even any fans. Just windows.

That is an absolutely beautiful building.

 

[Fading Fast]

They sell notched wooden sticks at the Prison Outlet Store here for propping open windows where the sash ropes have broken and dropped the weights into the wall. Every window in my house has one.

I've believe I've mentioned this before, we just bought an apartment in a 1927 apartment building and, while our apartment has a lot of the original details (and an untouched floor plan and one completely original bathroom) - which is a big part of why we bought it - the previous owners replaced the huge, wooden double hung windows with modern ones (in an old style - mullions, etc.), but they don't have the feel of those old wooden ones (which, I've been told it would have been cheaper to restore than replace - breaks my heart to think about it).

 

[Edward]

I've lived in a number of houses that that had built in ironing boards. Another item was the swing door between a kitchen and dining room. It swung in either direction and was great when your hands were full.

Those always remind me of Rope. Mind you, I'd love to have an apartment that was a complete replica of the one in Rope.

I personally dislike open floor plans. Many new homes have open floor plans. I also like aluminum awnings, which aren't very common either.

Not a big fan of open plan either. I do like my flat's middle ground: my kitchen and lounge are open to the hallway, yet still separate rooms, while the bathrooms and bedrooms are closed off. Ideal compromise. Open plan is fine for a holiday hom, but I couldn't live with it full time.

Where do "open floor plan" people hide all their crap and clutter when company's coming?

They're all either minimalists, or they don't notice / don't mind mess.

 

[Stearmen]

Cathedral ceilings belong in cathedrals. I have nightmares thinking about trying to clean a place like that.

Not a big fan either! Those rooms are boiling hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter.

 

[Stearmen]

They sell notched wooden sticks at the Prison Outlet Store here for propping open windows where the sash ropes have broken and dropped the weights into the wall. Every window in my house has one.

I have all the led weights from when the previous owner replaced the windows. She used them as boarders on the gardens!