This blog is about our house and our attempts at restoring it to its original splendor. My family and I live in a tiny little 1920 bungalow in Colorado. The title of the blog does not elude to my wife's occupation but the occupation of the woman who had the house built. As the 19th century was winding down our bustling little commuter town was gearing up for growth and a particularly popular whore house was growing with it. Located a block off of a busy commercial thoroughfare the whore house was on a quiet street but readily accessible by loyal patrons. By 1919, when prohibition sent whistle wetting institutions underground, the madam of the house saw an opportunity she couldn't pass up. She acquired the lot directly across the street from her establishment, built a tiny but comfortable little bungalow for herself, and converted the basement of her business into a speakeasy. The next house over has been in the same family since that time and the current residents have papers signed by their ancestors giving permission for federal agents to use their house to monitor the goings on next door. Our neighbors across the street still have a stack of doors --numbers still affixed --in their basement that used to line the hallway upstairs. As you might surmise with our neighbors across the street living in the old whore house (the largest house on the block), we live in the madam's house (the smallest house on the block).
The house is a clapboarded frame structure built in classic Craftsman style. The comeplete original woodwork in the public area would have been worthy of Jane Powell's finest praise published with Linda Svendsen's fine photography. Homes of such small stature rarely get the level of detail and pure architectural style originally afforded this one.
Aside from some atrocities committed to the interior woodwork, the house was more or less intact when we purchased the house in 2004. The back porch had been closed in and part of the back wall moved in a few feet to create another bedroom/office. However, the porch floor was left intact creating a room bisected by a concrete patch on one side of which 2/3 of the floor space sloped toward the back of the house. This made furniture arrangement a highly creative endeavor. A small room was built onto the other half of the back of the house and the cellar access moved inside. A pantry wall had been removed to enlarge the kitchen with the effect of reducing storage space and increasing the number of steps between work stations without adding any real benefit. At least they meant well. We have undone most of these changes but are leaving the porch enclosed and the extra room on the back. The house is really quite small without it. The enclosed porch, however, is back to its original size and shape and now houses the laundry facilities (formerly in the addition).
The most hideous atrocity committed to the house, however, was the removal of most of the woodwork. The baseboards, door & window trim was left in place and painted along with a ceiling beam visually dividing the great room (the entire south half of the original floor plan) in half. Remarkably, the china cupboard built into the back wall was also left more or less intact even when the wall into which was built was torn down and moved forward to create the room behind it. However, we have found overwhelming evidence (nail holes in the floor and ceiling beam, spliced baseboards, irregularities on the walls, etc) that there were also book cases flanking the brick fireplace with a continuous mantle over all. Cabinetry also extended part way into the room out from the walls under the beam further dividing the room into two distinct spaces: "living" & dining. We also suspect that a small strip of crown moulding and picture rail about a foot below bordered a frieze that surrounded both halves of the room.
The kitchen and (former) pantry had been stripped of all original fixtures, cabinets and otherwise, with the wonderful exception of a cooler cupboard in the corner next to the pantry window. The lower portion of the cupboard is now a vacant abyss but the upper 2/3 still have the original door and slatted shelves for air to pass through. The two wall vents are still in place and patched over with tin and plywood. Fortunately, the vents are in the side wall of the house rather than the back wall, now an interior wall, so the cooler cupboard can be resurrected.
The other rooms are much simpler and the paint was pretty much the only insult given the trim in the rest of the house. The waisncoat trim in the bathroom (dividing the plaster on the lower wall scored to give the appearance of tile from the smooth plaster above) may not be original as it is garishly affixed to the wall with randomly placed common philips screws and lacks the slightly rounded edges of the rest of the trim.
We've already done a great deal of work on the house but have a ways to go before the restoration is complete. In addition to posting about current projects my wife and I will try to play catch-up and detail the projects we've already completed. While we have incorporated some modern features (like grounded Romex wiring and grounded receptacles) our goal is to recreate the look and feel of the original house. To this end, I have used wood lath and plaster on all new walls and repairs and our "new" kitchen sink is an antique cast iron number the same size as shape as the original. The dishwasher (another modern amenity we fudged on) is the only 17.5" full height dishwasher in production and barely fits under the drainboard of the sink with enough room to be hidden behind a period appropriate curtain.
Some people say "we" have done this or that when what they mean is "we" funded it. When I say "we" I mean we. My wife and I have done almost all the work ourselves and have never hired a single person to help. My dad, a former general contractor, taught me how to solder pipe and helped me wire the new service panel. My great friend and neighbor two doors down came to the rescue when I installed the 350lb cast iron kitchen sink and when we moved the mammoth concrete utility sink into the new laundry room. My brother-in-law was my right hand man when running new electrical wire and brought his hammer when it came time to demolish a wall. (Actually, I think we paid him for some of that.)
So this blog is for our friends and family to reflect and marvel at the insanity on which we thrive and for those like minded souls who are in the midst of their own restoration project. Hopefully, by sharing our experiences we can encourage a few who are beginning to have doubts and help to limit the number of trips to the hardware store for others. This blog is also for us to look back and remember how far we've come and the trials and tribulations we've made it through and to remember the sweet taste of just completing a job well done.
