Show us your vintage home!

[thunderw21]

We live in a victorian house that was built in 1876 by a wealthy civil war veteran. It was used as a private estate until the 1960s when it was converted into a nursing/poor house. Patients were stuffed into rooms, creating dangerous and unsanitary conditions.
My parents bought the house in the early 1980s after the poor house closed down. Before the restoration the walls were stained in urine and the hardwood floors covered in linoleum. It was a disaster.

Here it is today with a newly built wrap-around porch like the original one that was torn down long ago:

And the interior.
A bad view of the living room with two large bookcases built into the walls, one on each side of the room:

Another view of the living room:

In this shot you can see the original sliding doors that lead to the parlor:

The parlor:

The dining room:

Part of the kitchen. The rest of it is just as covered in stuff:

My 'man room':

Bedroom:

 

[J. M. Stovall]

All I can say is wow!

 

[thunderw21]

All I can say is wow!

Thanks.
Forgot to add, here's where I'm living at the moment:

But that'll change in a month.

 

[Murph351]

Awesome house.
Interesting history!

 

[GwenLake]

You have my last name in your living room.

 

[thunderw21]

You have my last name in your living room.

Petersen?

 

[GwenLake]

Petersen?

How did you ever guess?

 

[thunderw21]

How did you ever guess?

You can thank my amazing psychic ability.

Tis a good name. My ancestor who came to the U.S. from Germany at the age of 16 carried that name. It was his haberdashery from where the sign came.
Cheers from another of the Petersen bloodline!

 

[cowboy76]

On a totally un-related note - my husband's father was a boilermaker in the Philadelphia and Southern NJ area. You're probably in the same union he was in and work on some of the same jobs he did.



I have a copy of the Metropolitan Cookbook as well!



I am jeaous of your chandelier! I've been looking for something similar for our dining room for ages. The people who owned our 100 yr-old house before us took out all the light fixtures and put in the most awful cheap light fixtures. The current dining room light looks like something you would find in a prison interrogation room.

You have a lovely house!

Thank you so much for all of your kind words,....
So your husband's dad was a boilermaker?...very cool. Yep, its one amazingly hard job!!

Yeah I've come across soo many of those old chandeliers,...too bad I didnt know you I could have hooked you up with something years ago,....what style are you looking for,..PM me, maybe I an help ya out!!??

 

[dhermann1]

My (sob!) former home

This is the place I rented for 10 years in the Windsor Terrace area of Brooklyn. It's a beautiful 1906 limestone. A developer built 50 identical (but different) homes on one block. It had great oak trim throughout the first floor, and cherry on the second floor. Pocket doors, the works. The Edwardian equivalent of the McMansion.
Here's the front:

The living room:

This is from the Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party I threw for my girlfriend, Daniele, in 2004. You can see in the background the elaborate "fire-place", with columns and leaded glass cabinet doors.

My lady sold it for $1.25 mil 2 years ago. Who could blame her? I'm told the new owners ripped out a lot of the original trim and "modernized" the place. May they reside in a very warm subterranean place for a very long time.

 

[RAF Man]

What a fabulous house Thunderw21, truly amazing!

 

[Lensmaster]

Used the repro push buttons on all the switches in our house as well.
Used the ones with the dimmer built into the bottom push button for the dinning room and living room chandeliers.
Neat way to hide a dimmer.
Guests always get a kick out of using the push button switches.

Where can I find repro push button light switches?

 

[cowboy76]

Where can I find repro push button light switches?

Rejuvinators.com

 

[Ryan]

push button light switch

for those push button light switches you should check out

http://www.ohmegasalvage.com/Showroom Pages/electrical/light_switches.htm

 

[Antje]

Wow,
I was watching and reading some of the old posts
but what a beautifull homes,

 

[John K Stetson]

Push Buttons and other...

...I recall those pushbutton switches from my grandparents house...and
I lived there for a few years after graduating from college.

For those in the Philadelphia area, there's a place in Port Richmond that might be worth checking out:
Restore

They get things from people in the area that are remodeling, and/or salvage
items. I haven't been there in quite some time, but last time I was there,
there were the pushbutton switches, glass (interior) door knobs, various pieces of furniture, gates, railings, etc.

Most of the inventory is not online.

 

[Joie DeVive]

It's been a long time coming, but the Mister and I bought our first home. It is a 1963 ranch. It needs some work (what house doesn't...) but I am thrilled to pieces over this little gem:

 

[Big Man]

It's been a long time coming, but the Mister and I bought our first home ...

Congratulations on buying your first home!

 

[MaryDeluxe]

It's been a long time coming, but the Mister and I bought our first home. It is a 1963 ranch. It needs some work (what house doesn't...) but I am thrilled to pieces over this little gem:

Congrats!! :eusa_clap
What a cute little place!

 

[Joie DeVive]

Thank you Bigman and MaryDeluxe! I'm so excited! We spent nearly six months touring houses and looking for one in our price range, and really landed a sweet deal.

It's not quite as vintage as some, but it's a pretty basic 1950 style ranch. I'm happy to say that it still has it's original hardwood floors. It looks like they have been refinished at least once, but they are in really nice condition. The bathroom also has the original peach tub (though someone later added glass shower doors. It's on a big corner lot with a crab apple tree in the back. I've spent the last month scrubbing the place within an inch of it's life and repainting the interior. Once I have the boxes unpacked and the place put together I will try to share some pictures.