house style identification help

[ashshaman]

Good day,

I purchased a beautiful, old home about two years ago and I have been researching its history and trying to repair neglect slowly as I find the time. I have found contradictory information saying it was built in 1914, 1918, 1928, 1921 and 1920. The documents with the address do not state if there was a house on the property at the time of the sale, and some do not even refer to an address when previous sales do. Though I have researched architecture styles and periods of housing, I am very new to this and I have had no luck finding anything similar. My grandfather restores historical homes and he can normally walk through a home and tell you where things were added, when and the history of every doorknob, though he is usually restoring much older homes than mine. When he was here, he was certain on a few things (1920s building period), but a lot of details contradicted each other (original fixtures in rooms that looked like they were added later than the 20s for example).

I do know that the doorknobs are from the 1920s, there is old, disconnected knob and tube (sp?) wiring in the basement, the original windows remaining are leaded glass, the room in the picture of the office with the orange-pink paint is solid concrete (another thing that threw my grandfather off) and there are two inset balconies; one is off of the master bedroom. There are radiators, a boxed ceiling (I am told) in the living room, plaster ceilings and a stone fireplace. The floors are almost all wood and the solarium has slate.

Since the listing is still up online, with exterior and interior photos, I thought I would put up a link and see if anyone here could help me with dates, style, etc:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2164- ... 3263_zpid/

Thank you in advance for your time and help. I am so in love with this house and would love to know more about it if possible.

[S Melissa]

Great house! Terrific character and intrigue! It doesn't appear to be a specific style to my eye - it may well have had additions added or enclosed here and that which have disguised the original style. But, I'm thinking it may well be one of the "storybook" houses that were built in the 1920's. These were unique and interesting. Google it - you'll see lots of different styles utilizing wood, stone, brick, timbers etc - all with a kind of quirky attitude. That's my best guess!

[Sombreuil_Mongrel]

Rarely the real estate listing gets the style correct. This is one of those rare times. It's a chalet style.
Casey

[onthelake]

Hi

Ah...PA stonework.... do miss it as I grew up with it.

Now I have to disagree with Melissa. No way is this a 'Storybook' house.

FIrst Storybook houses were largely built in CA, Shaker Heights OH, and some in COnneticut. PA really was not an area for them.

Second Storybook has odd jut-outs in the footprint - even circular walls on some - , nooks and crannies in the walls, big thick chimneys, usually very steeply pitched roofs, highly whimsical. Think hobbits and round doors and little windows in odd places with leaded glass...

Here is a link to info about them - you will see the difference right away

http://www.standout-cabin-designs.com/e ... plans.html


http://storybookers.com/

Basically (speaking as a Pennsylvanian) this looks like a 1920s- 1930s sort of 'cabin in the mountains that was a liitle Deutsch & Dutch in the use of the stone foundation and arch, a little 'Swiss ski chalet' with the roof design and the porch/deck areas above the ground, and a little Arts' N 'Crafty (staircase) ..... Taking a guess, I would say this was someone's get away house that kind of grew like Topsy and was a mix of whatever struck the owner/builder's fancy in creating the design. Definitely does not fall in "An Architectural Style" of any particularly school.

The heavy stonework - like the fireplace - was quite fashionable in vacation homes in the early 20th century (like 1900 -1930s.)

Sweet and very cozy. Electic can be a lot more fun. You can play with the interior and not feel like you have to turn it into a perfect reproduction of 'the way it was.'

[ashshaman]

Wow! Thank you for all of your replies. This explains why it stumped my grandfather and why I haven't been able to find anything quite like it when searching. It is great to have some insight into the various styles of the house and its possible histories.

It really is an intriguing house and we are slowly working to repair and bring back some of the older features. When we bought it, we had to do some serious repairs to get the plumbing and wiring working, and my friends and family honestly thought we were crazy for buying it. You can't tell from the photos, but it was falling apart a bit from years of neglect. We are finally getting to the rewarding stage of discovering beautiful floorboards under the modern carpeting and fixing some of the aesthetics (now that we aren't dealing with emergency repairs on a weekly basis!).

Thank you all for your help! I look forward to exploring this forum more so as I continue the research and restoration.

[Alexander]

Great house. It reminds me of my grandparents weekend place in the mountains of Pennsylvania. They had a house in town and a weekend "cottage" that was much like this. It has wide porches and eventually they enclosed the back porch much like this one also. I believe also when something was upgraded in the town house the older piece made it to the cottage. The had great mission furniture around a big stone fireplace and it was a great place as a kid. They were always seeking the coolness of the mountains and a place to get away from it all. I think your house is wonderful and has such potential to be comfortable where more formal houses do not.

Enjoy,
Alexander

[Texas_Ranger]

Basically (speaking as a Pennsylvanian) this looks like a 1920s- 1930s sort of 'cabin in the mountains that was a liitle Deutsch & Dutch in the use of the stone foundation and arch, a little 'Swiss ski chalet' with the roof design and the porch/deck areas above the ground, and a little Arts' N 'Crafty (staircase) .....

You're spot-on, except those styles aren't really separate. The exterior is flat out alpine style which is found in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and perhaps a load of other European countries and to my eyes the whole exterior looks mostly consistent except for the vernacular American touches such as the double hung windows. The interior on the other hand is much more American and doesn't seem to reflect any particular European style to me - chalets in Europe usually make copious use of pine and other light-coloured woods with a clear or reddish finish, IMO dark finishes tend to be limited to the exterior.

[airgrabber]

FIrst Storybook houses were largely built in CA, Shaker Heights OH, and some in COnneticut. PA really was not an area for them.

Second Storybook has odd jut-outs in the footprint - even circular walls on some - , nooks and crannies in the walls, big thick chimneys, usually very steeply pitched roofs, highly whimsical. Think hobbits and round doors and little windows in odd places with leaded glass... '

How about this house? Storybook or not? Hint: it's in NJ....

[James]

I have seen a few houses in Wilson NC with that same curved edge to the roof. Very unusual.

[steponmebbbboom]

I think it's trying to replicate the thatched roofs seen in europe, many of them also have eyebrow dormers like that one does. I think like the OP's house, it's a "Style" not defined in american architecture, but europe's. Stands to reason as there were a lot of new immigrants to the US from europe that really didn't care what americans found fashionable; they wanted to bring "home" across the pond with them.