Historic House Blog

I stumbled upon an interesting website today — http://www.historicalbricks.com .  It is the website of Gavin Historical Bricks – “The Nation’s Largest Supplier of Antique Brick & Stone.”   This company supplies large amounts of bricks for both historic restoration projects and new constuction projects (where the builder is trying to achieve historic look & feel).   [...]

The two houses above do not appear to have much in common upon first glance.  After all, one house is a stately brick mansion, while the other is a light yellow, vinyl-sided Colonial.   The Italianate house on the left was built during the late 1800s (or perhaps even the beginning of the 20th century if [...]

The earliest type of doors constructed in colonial America were almost always “batten” doors, which were quite basic. They were built with vertical wood planks, and were reinforced on the backside with a few horizontal boards that held everything together. These batten-style doors are sometimes also called “plank” doors, for obvious reason, or “frontier doors,” [...]

Last week, we posted a discussion on the differences between the different kinds of historic districts, and about some of the benefits of owning a property in a historic district. Having a property listed on the National Register lends a certain air of dignity and importance to a house that can be very useful in marketing. There [...]

Are you a real estate agent that specializes in historic properties?  Or wants to?  Or perhaps you’re an old house enthusiast that would like to really know your architecture, and brag to all your friends as you identify the age & style of the houses in your area? The essential source for hobbyists, real estate agents, [...]

Like the Bungalow and Craftsman styles, the Foursquare was built to be simple and practical in comparison to delicate Victorian and Queen Anne houses. Offering a sturdy, simple home that was popular with the American middle class from as early as the 1890s until the 1930s, the Foursquare often featured elements of Craftsman architecture and/or [...]

A Home for All – A New, Cheap, Convenient & Superior Mode of Building – That’s the way Orson Squire Fowler described his architectural invention in 1848. Fowler had designed the octagon house- an eight sided home that he claimed used space more efficiently by eliminating the need for hallways. The octagon minimized surface area which helped prevent [...]

When I was growing up, I don’t know how many times I accidentally left the front door open on a cold fall day & heard the age-old scolding, “Close the door!  Were you born in a barn?”  Well, if you were born in this barn (left), that would probably be something to brag about. (Don’t believe me? –see more photos here).   Offered [...]

I think I actually chuckled aloud when I first stumbled upon the illustration on the right.  I was searching online for good photos to illustrate this post, and I came across this image on the website for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.  It pretty much boils a fanlight down to its most basic representation, simply & clearly, doesn’t it?  And it perfectly [...]

Seven towers, 40 rooms, 54000 square feet, 14 bedrooms, 36 fireplaces- Everything about the Searles-Hopkins Castle is monumentally impressive. Set on 90 acres in Great Barrington, Massachusetts and featuring 1000′ of water frontage on the Housatonic, the castle has long been a treasured Berkshire landmark. Designed by McKim, Mead & White, and thought to be [...]