1888 Victorian (Shingle style???)

[Munch517]

A couple years ago I bought an old Victorian house that had been converted into two units near a downtown area. The house was built in 1888, is just over 2600 sq ft on two floors and has a few notable features including a tower with cone roof. There's some leaded glass windows and one (very basic) stained glass window. It has five fireplaces, four are wood burning using two chimneys, and the fifth is a gas fireplace (possibly and old addition or converted after removing a chimney). The layout is a bit odd as there's not much for hallways, you sometimes have to go through rooms to access other rooms. It's a quirky house that is somewhere between the simpler working class houses and the more ornate higher end houses.

I got a lot done in the first six months or so then I had to replace the main sewer line and had a couple other distractions so work has been delayed. I'm slowly getting back at it now so I'm here to show off progress, gather thoughts and opinions, and hopefully learn. I'm reasonably competent at a lot of things handyman wise. I've bought woodworking equipment to build my own trim and window sashes, along with whatever else comes up.

I'll be posting a project thread in the appropriate area shortly, here's a few pics of my house from the day I bought it (some exterior pics are after I had trees cut down that the previous owner allowed to grow virtually out of the foundation):

This is as I bought the house:

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These are a few months later after I had some of the trees cut down. Since these pictures I've had the trees around the tower cut down and most of the stumps ground down. I also removed the concrete around the house in preparation for the rebuild of the porch floor and some sort of stone paver replacement.

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[Manalto]

Welcome, Munch, and thanks for posting photos of your house. Those trees up against the foundation were the first thing that jumped out at me in the earliest photo. I think this sort of thing can happen when an elderly person lives in the house and there is no one (or no funds) to maintain the outside. That's what happened at my place, anyway.

The stucco is nice; it's a handsome house with plenty of features and detail to make it interesting. Has much of the detail been preserved on the inside? Will you convert it back to a single living space? What's behind that triangular section of roof that goes from the porch to the tower?

I look forward to seeing posts on your progress.

[Gothichome]

Munch, let me add my welcome as well. I can see the grandure your home once had when it was new. I suspect the the render is cement based and not original to your home. It may have been shingle to the ground or claps. The home has a lot of potential to be brought back, it wouldn’t be that hard or expensive.
I think you have the status of the original owner pretty close, a successful shop owner with a growing family taking a step up the social ladder.
I look forward to more pics and stories about your efforts.
We have lots of old home folks in the District so almost any old home issue has been dealt with by one of us at some point.
Ron

[Munch517]

\Has much of the detail been preserved on the inside? Will you convert it back to a single living space? What's behind that triangular section of roof that goes from the porch to the tower?

In this case it was a slumlord who let my house go after an elderly person had started the process. It appears that the original (or early) trim, windows, doors and some door hardware are in place. Most of the floors can be refinished, there is a large pocket door and 3 out of 4 original mantles are still there and the gas fireplace's mantle itself is pretty old. There are no original or old light/plumbing fixtures left. The kitchen and bathrooms have been poorly modernized and there's been some minor layout changes in the upstairs.

I will convert it back into a single living space in time. I plan on trying to buy several other historic homes in disrepair adjacent to mine that I expect to become available.

I believe that roof is just there to keep water moving away, that space is walled off.

I suspect the the render is cement based and not original to your home. It may have been shingle to the ground or claps.
Ron

There is clapboard underneath the stucco. The stucco is applied over wood lathe so I'd think it would have been a fairly early renovation if the stucco wasn't original. I'm currently trying to decide whether to repair or replace the stucco, I'm not going to get to until at least next summer so I have a little time to figure it out.

Here's the interior pics from when I bought the house:

Front door + details:

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Just inside front door + front staircase

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Simple stained glass window at staircase landing:

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Top of of stairs/second floor of tower

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[Munch517]

...Continued

Front room upstairs, probably the original master bedroom:

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Upstairs bedroom turned kitchen with interesting closet door:

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Top of back stairwell:

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[Munch517]

...Continued:

The back room upstairs:

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A few pictures of the downstairs before the previous owners tenant moved out:

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From the upstairs entrance, the french doors divide the units:

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[Munch517]

...Continued

Pics of fireplaces and details:

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The wood burning fireplace without it's original mantle:

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In a day or two I'll post some of the progress I've made since these pictures.

[Gothichome]

Munch, you have a lot of original details left to work with, that’s great. Looking forward to what you have been up to.

[Lily left the valley]

I'll throw in my welcome as well!

Wow. Despite some remuddling, you have some fantastic details extant. That odd painted wood stairway bottom is curious to me. (In the stairs shot with one of the fireplaces.) I wonder if the lath was failing, and someone cut down a door for an easier fix?

Is that half round window pic the eyebrow window in an earlier exterior post, or above one of the doors?

Looking forward to your progress reports.

[Munch517]

I'll throw in my welcome as well!

Wow. Despite some remuddling, you have some fantastic details extant. That odd painted wood stairway bottom is curious to me. (In the stairs shot with one of the fireplaces.) I wonder if the lath was failing, and someone cut down a door for an easier fix?

Is that half round window pic the eyebrow window in an earlier exterior post, or above one of the doors?

Looking forward to your progress reports.

Almost everyone who's walked into my house notices those stairs an asks if it's a door. I will find that out when I dig into the stairwell.

That half round window is just an exterior window, it looks like something that have been intended to go over a headboard or something.


When I bought the house I immediately got to work on the front upstairs dark blue room with the leaded windows, I finished this room relatively quickly. I'm going to come back to this room later on and remove the drywall and repair the plaster. Onto the pictures...

Here I'm getting through stripping the trim, I wasn't sure I was going to pull the sashes out at this point. I was using CitriStrip to do all my stripping here, it took many, many passes with this method. I've since switched to doing my initial stripping with heat gun and one cleanup pass with CitriStrip and it seems to work very well.

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Here's after pulling the sashes and shellacking the baseboard. I've since learned it's best to not hassle with the plastic coverings, instead just cut some OSB and put it in temporarily.

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The sashes stripped and sanded:

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