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So with a recessed dormer such as this one would a canvas awning help?
I have a cut in dormer. They are usually lined w/ metal. You can check if it is water tight....just pour a bucket of water out the window...if it leaks, make them fix it. There will be a drain in the flooring of the cutout....w/ a pipe coming out of the roof shingles just above your gutters....climb out the windows and check it all out. The house is a Sears Craftsman....Here is a thread I ran across months ago...very interesting and very educational for old house lovers, lots of pictures... Enjoy!!...from the Montana forum... https://www.city-data.com/forum/monta...-help-old.html
A Craftman ID Guide website http://www.ragtime.org/arch/rs/index.html
Last edited by JanND; 08-26-2012 at 08:03 PM..
Reason: spelling
Inside is deinfitely craftsman. The long skinny panes in the sidelights along side the doors aand the glass paned doors themselves are a giveaway. I see no quartersawn oak at all, so 1940s is pretty likely. The base molding is smallish and plain - again 1940s. Door and window casings are plain. There is no wainscotting. The doors are wood panel doors, but vvery simple and plain - 1940s or newer. Maybe it was updated in the 1940s with new moldings and door casings and doors. All the woodwork appears to be oak, not yellow pine. Could mean 1940s, could mean the owners were unusually rich if the house is older. None of these things are definite, but they are clues.
The 6/1 double hung windows could be form any time period. We have them in the original part of our house and we have them in the additions from 1850 and 1868 as well as in the part we added in 2006. I ahve seen simlar windows in homes form the 1930s 1940s and 1950s.
THe fireplace is puzzling, the brickwork, shape and size looks newish (like 1970s). However the mantle looks 1940s. The hearth is at floor level and the fireplace is shallow (not deep like newer ones)- this is a fireplace meant to heat the home, not a decoration.
What is under the carpeting? If hardwood, what kind and size? That can give you a clue. If only subfloor, then the house was probably meant for carepeting from the get go, which means 1940s, or newer. If it is hardwood, you cna pull out the carpeting - refinish and have really nice floors.
On the interior, I would guess it is from the 1940s and was built with a "retro" look (Craftsman while matinaining "modern" elements.
Outside, it a mish mash of a few different styles. My guess is it was substnatially remodeled at some time and the outside syle was "updated." This was fairly commmon. Our house began life in 1836 as a Greek Revival house 1 room wide. In 1850, the front was doubled in width and dormer windows added upstainrs and it adopted a new look (sometimes called "Windsor house" style). On the other hand, many houses were built with mixed styles.
The big arched opening at the porch is very typical of late 1930s - early 1940s.
Those inverted dormers are unusual. You do not see that every day. In fact, I can only rememeber two other houses like that. both were from the mid 1940s or newer.
If your commuity has a history room in the libraray or a local historical society. See if they ahve Sandborne maps and how recent they got. I do not know when they stopped keeping sandborne maps. look for old telephone books and see when your address first appears. Look at recorded title records for the property.
That is a nice looking house inside and out. The outside could be spiffed up a bit with some new paint using accent colors on trim. What is the siding made of?
Last edited by Coldjensens; 08-27-2012 at 11:18 AM..
The siding is original wood. Clapboard on the bottom and shake on the top. The bathrooms have been updated - in an OK way pedestal sinks etc so they give no clue. The Kitchen is 50s early 60s.
I attempted to lift the carpet up to see the floor in a corner in the living room, but I couldn't do it. Hope it's not glued down.
Upstairs, the bedrooms are all hardwood as is the hall way.
What exterior colors would be appropriate for this home? I can post more pictures of the upstairs if that would provide more clues.
Can you tell whether the garage is original? Is the siding the same or different from the siding on the house? Look at the roof connection, especially in the attic. An attached garage woudl be unusual even for the 40s, but almost unheard of earlier.
Earlier than the 30s you would have had either a model A type garage or a carriage house. Always detached.
Can you tell whether the garage is original? Is the siding the same or different from the siding on the house? Look at the roof connection, especially in the attic. An attached garage woudl be unusual even for the 40s, but almost unheard of earlier.
Earlier than the 30s you would have had either a model A type garage or a carriage house. Always detached.
My pretty educated guess is that it's not. It seems like a late sixties addition. It's off the mud room/ laundry room. The other addition is a den/ family room off the kitchen.
We think it's a Craftsman, specifically a shingle style. We have been told it was built in 1940.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheena12
Can anyone provide us with some insight about this home?
It's a very unusual house! To me it looks older than 1940's, especially the interior details which appear VERY craftsman-like in style. It's not impossible that somebody was just behind the times when they built it, but not very likely... it would be like someone building a new house today with barn boards, smooth white 12" tile floors with black grout, golden oak and other killer 1980's trends... which is pretty damn weird behavior!
More than likely it's a roughly teens era bungalow that someone decided to "cape cod-ify" on the outside 20-30 years after it was built. Then again, it could be the reverse... somebody who jumped on the "bungalow-mania" bandwagon about 10 years ago but didn't get around to doing the outside! It's just too hard to tell without actually being there.
Here's a couple of observations though... the placement of the windows (asymmetrical and in groups) is a bungalow trait, but the windows themselves are "colonial" in style so they are almost certainly replacements.
The "reverse dormer" could have been a bungalow-type dormer that was removed... or maybe just lazy remodeling if the P.O. (previous owner) finished the attic (which were often left unfinished and uninhabited when bungalows were first built) a couple decades later.
The built-in linen cabinet is craftsman style but it doesn't look original to me, at least in the picture. It may be a newer addition.
The fireplace would fit nicely in a craftsman bungalow with a different mantle, so the brick may be original but the mantle probably isn't.
The garage is definitely a much later addition.
Again it's hard to tell from the pics, but the grain on many of the moldings appears wider and "looser" than original quartersawn oak moldings on old bungalows, an indication that it's a later addition out of the period.
If I was gonna bet money on the history of the house I'd say it started life as a stylin' crafstman bungalow in the teens, was a victim of the "cape cod" trends of the 40's and was partially brought back to craftsman style inside fairly recently in it's history.
It's a very unusual house! To me it looks older than 1940's, especially the interior details which appear VERY craftsman-like in style. It's not impossible that somebody was just behind the times when they built it, but not very likely... it would be like someone building a new house today with barn boards, smooth white 12" tile floors with black grout, golden oak and other killer 1980's trends... which is pretty damn weird behavior!
More than likely it's a roughly teens era bungalow that someone decided to "cape cod-ify" on the outside 20-30 years after it was built. Then again, it could be the reverse... somebody who jumped on the "bungalow-mania" bandwagon about 10 years ago but didn't get around to doing the outside! It's just too hard to tell without actually being there.
Here's a couple of observations though... the placement of the windows (asymmetrical and in groups) is a bungalow trait, but the windows themselves are "colonial" in style so they are almost certainly replacements.
The "reverse dormer" could have been a bungalow-type dormer that was removed... or maybe just lazy remodeling if the P.O. (previous owner) finished the attic (which were often left unfinished and uninhabited when bungalows were first built) a couple decades later.
The built-in linen cabinet is craftsman style but it doesn't look original to me, at least in the picture. It may be a newer addition.
The fireplace would fit nicely in a craftsman bungalow with a different mantle, so the brick may be original but the mantle probably isn't.
So with all this, we still like the house very much. What would you recommend we do with it? All suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This will be our first attempt at restoration. The most important question, "is it an ugly house"? What colors would you recommend for the exterior? We would like to maximize the craftsman and minimize the cape code. Would you change the inverted dormer- or add an awning as my wife thought?
So with all this, we still like the house very much. What would you recommend we do with it? All suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This will be our first attempt at restoration. The most important question, "is it an ugly house"? What colors would you recommend for the exterior? We would like to maximize the craftsman and minimize the cape code. Would you change the inverted dormer- or add an awning as my wife thought?
Honestly, I see a beautiful house under a whole boat-load of work. If I had enough time and money (and there were no other structural issues) I would go for it!
I can give you some vague advice on what to change but I can't tell enough from the pictures (I can't see what it looks like from the curb)...
is the 4th pic on the first post (the one that shows the "inverted dormer") what you see from the street?
Honestly, I see a beautiful house under a whole boat-load of work. If I had enough time and money (and there were no other structural issues) I would go for it!
I can give you some vague advice on what to change but I can't tell enough from the pictures (I can't see what it looks like from the curb)...
is the 4th pic on the first post (the one that shows the "inverted dormer") what you see from the street?
The forth photo is what you see from the curb. A little overgrown I would say. Warren
I have no idea and I showed a few people who may have..
I like it, it is a bit unusual as one poster said.
Gives it the charm...
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