There was no magic to finding it. It found us. We had been house hunting for months finding nothing even remotely interesting, all bungalows or poorly designed ranch houses with no personality. I first saw the house on a realtor web site, this one lonely photo of an unusual cube-shaped house in poor light. I saw it and shrugged to myself, huh, must be a foreclosure since there is only one photo. Interesting looking but not in the area we want. When I finally mentioned it to Richard he said he’d seen it as well, and also thought it looked interesting…but knew I’d protest because of the location. But it can’t hurt to look, right?
My first impression at the showing: Nice shaded lot, the house looked sad and droopy (later realizing the sagging cantilevered beams were the cause), but WOW the view of the water, the open shallow stairwell moving us through all four levels, the peaceful and intimate living spaces. And the quirky unexpected things – an odd little door under the stairs, a safe, a speaker the size of a closet. I left the place chuckling. Richard left the place with the wheels spinning in his head. One of us brought it up later that day and my response was NO WAY. Too much space. Too much house. Too much work. Wrong location. But Richard was smart and bided his time.
This is the first post; those below are the most recent.
Read in order: next
Original lots here were generally sold for at least $4,000 in the mid 50′s. Mr. Durkee wrote a letter to the bank advising that one proposed buyer should not have been approved for a mortgage because he seemed to lack sufficient income – the mortgage was for $19,500 and the buyer only made $6,600 per year as a bank clerk. A number of local architects and builders were involved in designing and building the homes, and almost all were designed as one level homes with an understated appearance. A few original owners are still in the neighborhood, as well as many descendants of the original families. Tracking the homes by the year built, I saw that many lots sat for a while before homes were built. I could imagine watching the houses pop up initially in the mid 50′s, then a smattering in the late 60′s and early 70′s, with a few stragglers in the 80′s. No trees clear cut or widespread construction, just organic growth over the years.
As to our news: We have wood flooring on our top floor! We have wood flooring in our dining room and kitchen! We have tile in the second bathroom! We have a refrigerator and oven and dishwasher and induction cooktop…to install! We have kitchen cabinets…to assemble! Must be time to return to the present.
