Welcome to 1956, time warp home~

[ohairas]

Hi folks, my apologies if this has been mentioned here somewhere already!

This article was in our paper this week... a home from 1956~ totally "preserved"...
The family lived in the basement as they always wanted the home to look nice for company. Geesh. And evidently it was quite common! I feel for the kids having to grow up in a dark, dreary, unfinished basement when they had an entire home to grow in. As you'll see in the quote below, the boys didn't seem to mind. But as a mother I cringe thinking about letting an infant crawl around in the basement when you had nice carpet for them upstairs. It's different when you don't have the luxury... but when you do, come on!

The first realtor was telling the owners to update everything, ackkk!
I'm so annoyed at realtors who are SO clueless! Every realtor should know exactly what style and year their listings come from and if there is a market for them. When looking for our home, it seemed that any home that was around 100 years old but didn't look distinctly victorian was listed as colonial.:eusa_doh:

Anyhoo, without futher adieu here is the link!
http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyle
and
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/stories.nsf/homedecor/story/0A1933E4172E504E8625756F00052BF7?OpenDocument
OOoo, just found more pics here!
http://www.arthillmarketing.com/2204_Stephan_Ct/index.html

And I assume this is what one of the sons had to say,

I justed wanted to say that Aisha wrote a great article about our house and Eli took great pics of the house. Interesting reading everyone's views about how my parents lived and how we had to live within those guidelines. The tough times that my parents had to endure in Europe and than coming over to America without even knowing the language would scare most people out of their pants. So, yes they went to the extreme of not living in the upstairs area of the house, but they appreciated and took care of everything that they ever had. Most folks in our society today have no clue what so ever on what the rough times are. If some of these folks would talk to some old timers and listen to some of their stories, you would just shake your head. It is wierd how we were brought up, but all of us understand that and live very productive lives that are not as nearly messed up as other people who were brought up in a what they deem a 'normal' childhood.

 

[Lincsong]

I knew several Portuguese people where I grew up in California who lived the same way. Except, out here we don't have basements so they lived in the garage and only rarely used the kitchen and living room and family room areas.

 

[ohairas]

Holy cow! The garage... eh?
This whole concept baffles me.
I can see having a parlor or some such front room that is used for entertaining, and has collectables in it and such that kids shouldn't touch. But to not use the entire house is amazing.

On another note I can see them doing it for seasonal reasons, as the basement would stay a more constant temp, or the garage would be open all summer to watch the kids play.

 

[Emer]

I'd go crazy living in only one room! I guess if you're used to small spaces, suddenly having hundreds of square feet to live in could seem a bit overwhelming.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

If you cannot live in your own home what is the sense?[huh] [huh]

 

[Foofoogal]

I believe there was a thread about this home last month but cannot find it. Still awesome.

 

[Lincsong]

One family I knew who lived in their garage, the pregnant wife crawled under the house and dug out a wine cellar. She'd be on her belly filling up a bucket and the husband would pull the bucket of dirt out.

 

[ohairas]

One family I knew who lived in their garage, the pregnant wife crawled under the house and dug out a wine cellar. She'd be on her belly filling up a bucket and the husband would pull the bucket of dirt out.

 

[Lincsong]

That is a true story.