Hooked on Houses

Hey, everybody! I’m back after spending eight days in the Washington, D.C. area. It was a great trip but, as my daughter Lily said, “It’s good to be home again.”

We took a trolley tour through Georgetown this week because I had to see all the old townhouses there. And of course I elbowed my way into a window seat and snapped pictures as fast as I could. I knew you’d want to see them, too.

Our trolley tour guide called himself “Super Dave” (not to be confused with my Super Dave). He was full of interesting stories and information about the neighborhood. He said the area attracts lots of high-ranking government officials and news-anchor types. I kept hoping to see someone famous walking down the street, but never did. This house, according to Super Dave, was once the home of Henry Kissinger.

Now, keep in mind that I was on a bumpy, narrow street in a trolley as I took these pictures, and the traffic was crazy (cars and buses kept getting in my shots). But I think I got some good ones anyway. Take a look:

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You know how sometimes you’re surfing through the listings of houses for sale and suddenly come across a real diamond in the rough? Someplace that just screams, “Save me! Please! I have so much potential!” And you wish so badly you had the money, time, skills, and resources to buy that house and love it back to life?

That happens to me all the time. So instead of just sitting here, fantasizing about what I would do to this house if it were mine, I thought I’d show it to you and see what you think.

It’s a Victorian that was built in 1870 and has been owned by the same family for three generations. It is now on the market, selling “as is” by the estate for $275,000. It has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 5 fireplaces (3 of which are original Rookwoods!). The home has three stories and sits on a double lot in downtown Milford, Ohio.

Take a look around and see if you think this old place is worth saving:

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Lane’s End Farm has been a familiar sight around here with its purple-painted Victorian farmhouse since the 1860s. People come from miles around to buy dried flowers and floral arrangements from the Browne family on their “flower farm” outside Loveland, Ohio.

Now this house, gardens, barn, and carriage house that sit on 4 1/2 acres are on the market for $425,000. Let’s take a look around!

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Hmmm. Something’s just not right with this kitchen. Do you see it? If you want to get a look at it from another angle, click “more” below.

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Okay, you’re going to have to indulge me a little bit today. I realize you might not be as excited about this as I am, but this charming bungalow was on the street I grew up on in Clifton, Ohio. I’m thrilled that I get to take a peek inside and see how it looks today.

The neighborhood is filled with beautiful older homes, each one unique. Grand old homes sit next to bungalows like this one. I have vivid memories of playing in homes filled with dark woodwork, stained glass windows, multiple fireplaces, back staircases, high ceilings, and wide front porches. I grew up thinking everyone lived in houses like that.

I check the MLS obsessively frequently to see if anything from my old neighborhood is on the market. No one ever seems to move off this street, which is maddening. Don’t they know I want to see interior photos of them? It’s been a long time since one of our old neighbors’ homes has been for sale, so I could hardly believe my good fortune when this popped up.

According to the MLS listing, the home has 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths and is on the market for $364,000. Wait until you see what the exterior looked like just two years ago when the current owners bought it. It looks like they had their work cut out for them. Literally!

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As promised, today we’re taking a tour of this charming yellow-painted Victorian home in Columbia Tusculum, which was the first neighborhood founded in the Cincinnati area (then known as Losantiville) in the late 1700s. (To read more about it, check out yesterday’s post.)

It was on the market earlier this year and I found interior photos on the MLS site (it sold in February ‘08 for $205,000). According to the Hamilton County Auditor, it was built in 1890 and has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths.

Let’s take the tour!

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I recently discovered Amber’s blog Snapshots of Life, which featured some amazing photos of Columbia Tusculum and its famous “Victorian Painted Ladies.” I was excited because these houses are beautiful, of course, but also because they’re not far from where I live here in Cincinnati. Somehow it had never occurred to me to show them to you. I asked Amber if I could show you some of her pictures, and she graciously agreed.

Remember that home show tour I showed you pictures from last week? Afterwards, we drove over to Columbia Tusculum and took some photos of it, too. Dave patiently drove up and down the steep hills of the historic neighborhood at about 10 m.p.h. so I could snap as many photographs as possible (let’s just say we got honked at a couple of times for blocking the narrow streets as I tried to decide which houses to focus on), so I’ve got some of mine to show you, too.

Columbia Tusculum is the oldest neighborhood in Cincinnati, founded in 1788 at the junction of the Little Miami and Ohio Rivers. This was shortly before Cincinnati–originally named Losantiville–was settled. Columbia Tusculum opened the first school in the Cincinnati area in 1790. For years it was known as a steamboat-building town and was very prosperous. The oldest home still standing was built in 1804.

Okay, ready to gawk?

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We’re at our final stop on the Cincinnati Preservation Association’s house tour in the North Avondale neighborhood. And I think I saved the best for last.

The Mack House, a 7,000 square-foot Tudor Revival-style mansion, was built by Jacob Mack in 1931, and featured a round half-tower that you can see here. It looks like Rapunzel should be peeking out from those leaded-glass windows on the third floor of the tower, but the original owner’s mother-in-law actually lived there, and as far as I know, she was free to come and go as she pleased.

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This Tudor Revival-style home was built in 1915 by Stephen Gerrard, who was known as “the Cantaloupe King.” He was a truck farmer who built an empire by shipping cantaloupes from Colorado to the Midwest in refrigerated railroad cars. He went on to invent the refrigerated truck and popularize iceberg lettuce in the U.S.

Sadly, when the Great Depression hit, Gerrard’s empire collapsed and the house sank into disrepair. It was abandoned for 13 years in the 1970s and ’80s, but rescued in 1989 by the current owners. The grand old house was riddled with termites when they found it, and they estimate there were at least 100 cats living there. Their renovation efforts earned them a merit award from Better Homes and Gardens.

The Gerrard House sits on the highest point of the North Avondale Ridge. It has 15 rooms and 7,000 square feet. The walls are rock-faced limestone, and gargoyles, gables, and elaborate chimneys evoke the Tudor Revival style. Iron gates guard the entrance.

Take a look!

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The Belvedere, one of the first luxury apartment buildings in Cincinnati, reeks of Jazz Age glamor. The high rise was constructed in North Avondale in 1925 and was one of the stops on the home tour we went on last weekend.

The apartment units originally featured up to 6 bedrooms, as well as separate servants’ quarters. Most residents had maids and drivers. The Belvedere apartments were converted into condominiums in the 1980s and many were divided into 2 and 3-bedroom units to make them more affordable and practical.

There were lots of fun details in this building, such as the cursive “B” burnished into every single doorknob, the brass elevator indicators that point at the floor levels they’re on as they move up and down, the mail chutes, the wrought-iron chandeliers, and the hand-painted ceilings. Take a look!

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It’s time to show you the actual houses that were on the North Avondale Home Tour last weekend. This 1937 Normandy Manor, known as The Levine House, will be our first stop.

But first, to set the scene, I’m going to tell you how I embarrassed myself a little that day. I don’t know why, since it would be easier to let you think I’m always stylish, unwrinkled, and pulled together when I’m out in the world, but I sort of feel like you’re all my friends now, and friends will love me even when I’m a total dork, right? (Please say yes.)

I’m not putting the story here on the front page, though. Click “more” if you want to know what a mess I can be.

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This was one of the houses we walked by on the house tour through North Avondale. This three-story home was built in 1908 and has 6 bedrooms and 4.5 baths, with a total of 6,500 square feet. It’s currently on the market for $860,000, so I looked up the interior photos to show you (see the MLS listing here).

It’s a lovely old home, but as I looked through the rooms, one of them stuck out like a sore thumb. It made me think of that game we played with the Telford Mansion recently:

“One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn’t belong.”

Take a look and see if you agree that this particular remodel left one room looking like it was grafted on from another house altogether.

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Let’s continue our walking tour of North Avondale now and see what other interesting houses we can find– like this pink one with yellow trim, which looked like something out of a fairy tale.

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As I mentioned yesterday, Dave and I went on a tour of historic mansions in North Avondale over the weekend, and now I have lots of fun photos to share with you.

Avondale was one of the earliest, and toniest, suburbs of Cincinnati. In 1886 Willard Glazier wrote about it in his book Peculiarities of American Cities, calling it a beautiful enclave where “the homes of Cincinnati’s merchant princes and millionaires are found…in elegant cottages, tasteful villas and substantial mansions.”

Avondale itself was modeled on an English town concept with large lots, winding streets, sidewalks, underground utilities, and gaslights that still flicker. The leading local architects of the Victorian era were hired to design fashionable homes for many wealthy German-Jewish families, who had been excluded from Cincinnati’s social circles and moved to Avondale to establish their own community there.

Racial unrest in Cincinnati in the 1960s caused many residents to leave the suburb. Some of these mansions sat empty for years or were turned into apartment buildings. But there have since been successful efforts with the North Avondale Neighborhood Association to promote better community relations within this racially integrated community and to restore the homes to their former glory.

The Cincinnati Preservation Association organized the home tour in the Rose Hill area of North Avondale. It was 70 degrees and sunny on Saturday, which was perfect weather for strolling up and down the streets of this lovely neighborhood, taking pictures as we went. Take a walk and gawk with us now.

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I spent my childhood in Clifton, Ohio, near the University of Cincinnati where my dad worked at the time. (You can see the photo of my first love house on the About page.) The area is well known for ginormous old mansions like the one shown here (note: we did not live in one of them!).

Unfortunately, the neighborhood has changed since they were built, and now a lot of the old beauties have been turned into frat houses or apartment buildings. In this case, they have apartment buildings as neighbors, as you can see in the background.

I frequently check the MLS listings for Clifton to scope out the fabulous older homes on the market. Today I ran across this new listing on Telford Avenue that is pretty marvelous inside. However, as I was scrolling through the photos, I suddenly hit one room that stopped me in my tracks. Whoa. Where did that come from? It didn’t look like it belonged in the same house.

There’s a game they play on “Sesame Street,” where they show four photos to a child and then sing:

“One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn’t belong! Can you tell which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?”

Just for fun, why don’t you take a look for yourself and see if you can tell which of these rooms is not like the other. Which of these rooms just doesn’t belong….

To look inside, click “more” below:

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