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How old is your house?

Flicka

One Too Many
Messages
1,165
Location
Sweden
1969. I'd love to live in an older place (I want a fireplace) but that would probably double the price and I'm a practical gal first and foremost (except that I paid a lot to get a waterfront flat, ahem).
 

Hepville

One of the Regulars
Messages
246
Location
Germany
Build in 1798. A typical northern German farmhouse with thatched roof.
Our sleeping room was the pigsty somewhen... but that don´t means that it looks or smells like one now ;)
 

Atticus Finch

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,718
Location
Coastal North Carolina, USA
My house in Beaufort (NC) was built in 1934. But Beaufort became a town in 1706 and many of the town’s original houses are still standing. So by Beaufort's standards, my house is brand new. It won't even be eligible for a historical association placard until 2034.

The house I live in was built in 1986. Too old to be a new house and too young to ever be an old house…at least in my lifetime.

AF
 

SHOWSOMECLASS

A-List Customer
Messages
440
Location
Des Moines, Iowa
Built in 1903. I refinished the pine woodwork , router carved corner blocks, pocket doors, wood floors, 4 ft. windows, and eastlake hardware.
It was painted purple, brown, white, white,white and shellac.
I stripped, cleaned, sealed, all wood and hardware.
I Love my three story, two bedroom, 2 1/2 bathroom house.
 
Last edited:

Doc Smith

Familiar Face
My wife and I bought our 1915 bungalow in 2001, and have spent the last decade (and a significant amount of money) restoring and renovating it. It was never very fancy, but it was well-made by modern standards. Most of the original plaster and woodwork is still in place, and the multiple layers of wall-to-wall carpeting proved to be readily peeled off from the original red oak flooring downstairs. We had to tear off and rebuild the front porch, as it had been originally built without a proper foundation; the new one rests on concrete slabs poured below the frost line, and would probably remain standing if a tornado took down the rest of the structure.

This whole section of Ypsilanti is of a similar vintage. We're on Sheridan Street, which runs parallel with Sherman Street and Grant Street, so the neighborhood was probably laid out not that long after the Civil War. There are lots of mature maples, oaks, and black walnuts around, giving lots of shade in the summer and lots of gutter-blocking leaves year-round.
 
Messages
12,734
Location
Northern California
Only 72 years old, but with a lot of charm. Lathe and plaster, chair rail, crown molding through out, cove ceiling, hardwood floors, and more. Oh yeah, a wonderful finished two-car garage with two additional rooms and an attic. Got really lucky with this one!
 
Messages
13,458
Location
Orange County, CA
The building next to me says "1908" on the cornice, so I would venture to guess my place went up right around the same time, as most of the buildings downtown appear to have went up right around the same time.

Go to zillow.com and do a search for your address and it will tell you how much it's worth and when it was built.
 
Messages
15,276
Location
Somewhere south of crazy
Our house is 150 years old, built in 1861 the beginning of the Civil War. It was built by a pioneer Swiss farm family and was lived in until 2000 by a relative of the original family. He was a dairy farmer and raised Belgian horses, died at the age of 100. The family sold the surrounding farm lands to a developer and we bought off 4 acres with 2 barns. Needless to say there is a lot of character in the old place.
 

Rathdown

Practically Family
Messages
572
Location
Virginia
The town in which I live was established in 1748, and my house appears on a map of the town dated 8 years later; It is still there in 1827, although by now it has been enlarged and large columns fitted to both the front and back of the house. It survives the Federal invasion of Staunton in 1865, but not the subsidence of the ground in 1921. To prevent the destruction of the house it was carefully dismantled, brick by brick, in 1929/30 and moved to its present location one mile from its original site on what became Main Street. When rebuilt both the kitchen and toilets were brought indoors-- prior to 1929 the all brick kitchen was in a separate building to the rear of the house, as was the octagonal brick privy. Both, by this time, were plumbed to the city sewers, and both were wired for electricity (as was the house).

The oldest surviving part of the house dates to its expansion in the 1790s, while the newest feature -- ice water taps in several bedrooms-- date from the 1930 rebuild. So, how old is the house? We date Edge Hill from 1827 when, in its more or less present form, the house and lawns covered nearly a city block. I guess that would make the house 185 year old, or ten years older than Holybrooke Hall, our home in Ireland.
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
Good idea! Zillow says she was built in 1880. There was even photos from before we owned/renovated it. It looks pretty much the same from the outside, minus the ice cream cone (I still have it) and the window units (I gave away (regretting right now)). We also took the awning down.


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Go to zillow.com and do a search for your address and it will tell you how much it's worth and when it was built.
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
I'm always curious about that, especially on the inside. The storefront downstairs is more intact, with hardwood floors, c. 1930's light fixtures, etc. The upstairs has been completely remodeled, leaving only a few hints to its past remaining, such as the doors and their fixtures.


You could pretty much imagine what it looked like in the 1880s, 1890s. It was probably a lot more ornate.
 

plain old dave

A-List Customer
Messages
474
Location
East TN
Late 1942/early 1943. My house, like so many here in Oak Ridge, dates back to the Clinton Engineer Works (aka Manhattan Project). You had to be pretty important to rate a house to yourself and pay Roane-Anderson $38 a month. It is humbling, really. I don't have to go anywhere to see History. It happened *right here*.
 

vitanola

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,254
Location
Gopher Prairie, MI
Our place was built in the early 'Fifties by the owner of the local flouring mill, and was re-modeled and doubled in size by him just after the War of the Rebellion. He lost the house and the mill u the early stages of the 1873 panic, at which time the hosue was taken over by a local physician and used as a hospital.

Another place that I'm currently restoring was built in the "Modern English" style in 1908.
 

Espee

Practically Family
Messages
548
Location
southern California
A question for those in the U.S.: how many of you fly a flag with fewer than 50 stars?
(BTW I'm taking my first look at this thread-- maybe flags were mentioned previously.)
 

lolly_loisides

One Too Many
Messages
1,845
Location
The Blue Mountains, Australia
My home was built in 1949. Post war restrictions were still in force so it's a small 2 bedroom house. The best thing about my home is who built it - my great uncle George. I had no idea when I bought it. I knew he lived in the area during the 40's, but when I did a search of council records and saw the builders name, well I was certainly surprised, but then I understood why I felt at home the very first time I walked through the door.
 

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