The White-Haired
Harbinger of Gratitude
Tim Hare
Copyright HARE 2010
All Rights Reserved
"Shining the Rainbow Light of Gratitude
from the historic West Ward neighborhood
of Easton, Pennsylvania"
"P" for PerspectiveOnPrejudice
Please click on YouTube.com link below to see this week's video:
Posts
6 comments:
Tim
I want to thank you for your Perspective on your lovely home. I too remember when you purchased it and have watched the progress over the years. A wonderful restoration project which is now the entry to that block.
I do remember the grocery store/house that was on the vacant lot that is now your garden. But thanks to your restoration and the addition of the beautiful balcony it foesn't look like a missing tooth but rather good urban planning.
The city is getting more and more involved in housing rehabilitation through the NSP grant and the green rehabilitation program for the West Ward. Hopefully, as we start to reclaim these beautiful homes, the neighborhood itself will also change for the better.
We must do coffee soon so I can pick your brain for these housing programs.
A lot of pictures of Earl working...I take it the architect of the couple was directing?
Yours is definitely one of my very favorite old houses in the West Ward. Maurice Luker's on 14th & Washington is also quite beautiful--we should get everyone to do video journals like this one when their renovations/restorations are finished. There are a lot of on-going rehab projects going on in our neighborhood that would make great 'before & after' stories like this.
interesting.
It brings to mind what should be done with many of these large, Victorian structures in our community and the west ward.
It seems that you have customized a building to your needs. Almost a life work.
What is realistic for these older buildings. Your approach works but may not be doable on a large scale of many buildings.
It is also interesting to see your large, open layout for the top floor. That seems to be a preference in modern homes. That may be the direction to save many Easton homes. Victorian houses are very inefficient. They seemed to add rooms just to add rooms. They dont necessarily work in our modern energy efficient world.
Anon 10:11,
why do you say Victorians are 'inefficient?' they are actually very efficient in their use of space. mine is 3 story 3600sqft on a lot size of only 21'x127'. we have plenty of room. the brick walls are 1' thick, and the floor joists are 3"x10".
as for the design, these homes were built in a time when a 'bedroom' was just that- a place to sleep. so they are small, just room for a bed and dresser. many don't have power or lights because they were built before that.
they have large windows to allow fresh air to run through the home in the summer and allow plenty of natural light to get in.
an old wood home can be insulated and be as, or more efficient than a new home (old homes are generally built better). the problem is, many old homes have become rentals, and the landlords are too cheap to fix them properly. and many homeowners are ignorant of 'best practices' for restoring and living in old homes.
restore the windows, install storm windows, install a fuel efficient new boiler, insulate the walls and you can have a modern new old home that will last another 100 years.
Actually Victorians were built in an area when we were careless with resources, energy was cheap and labor was equally cheap. (The Irish worked for 10 cents a day)
I did what you said and live in an over insulated home with the most modern heating equipment. But my costs for a 3000+ sq ft home do not approach that of a friend living in Easton in new construction. His costs for heat for his 3000+ sq ft home are three hundred dollars. My costs range from 750 to 1000 with electric costs of $45 per month. To get it to the best level, I would need to gut the entire insides and begin from scratch.
Victorians built a lot of useless rooms. They made hallways into rooms. I remember a home on College Hill with first floor hallways that consume over one third of the space. Add to that waste useless attic space and basement space victorian properties are inefficient users of space. Heating and cooling all that wasted area while maintaining it and cleaning it fit into an era of cheap resources and labor. That is not 21st century america.
Victorian homes lack bedrooms with closets and bathrooms. They have useless rooms-libraries, pantries and formal parlors that are never used. One can understand why these buildings are cut up into apartments because of their inefficient use of space. Victorian homeowners did build their homes to enjoy the outdoors because Victorian homeowners lived outside. The interesting perspective of this home is the garden and the outdoor space which makes the home attractive. When I think of a Victorian home I think of a large veranda and an outside garden. Sleeping on the porch in the summer time. The problem in our present day world is the insecurity of sleeping on your porch. Although my home contains a second floor porch for that purpose.
Thanks everyone for your comments! Sal, we gotta have that cuppa coffee sometime soon! Regarding Victorians, ours was very adaptable, fortunately. As space-deprived former New Yorkers, there was no such thing as too much space when we were young! We became Space Queens! As we age, an RV seems to be the most likely future abode LOL.
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