Great New Old House Pics

I just got back from a visit with a granddaughter of the woman in this pic who grew up in my house, which was built by her aunt and uncle. She inherited some wonderful photos and I had her copy them for me in high res. This is a pic of the house that was on the corner of Sibley and Gold, which is now my yard and garden. When we blew it up to look at the details I was looking at my front porch! I had thought that this house was torn down before my house was built so there would be room to work, but this proves me wrong. 

What is great about this is this is the first time I have seen exactly what my porch railing looked like--also the brick and sandstone piers on either side of the front steps. Now I actually have something to show a carpenter to reproduce for me. 

Note the new cement sidewalks with the wooden boards leading to the streets. There are no curbs, so the streets are unpaved as yet. They were first done in brick and asphaulted over now.

Here is the original picture. Notice the street signs on the corner of the house reading "Gold" and "Sibley".

Here is a blowup of my front porch (the brick one) and the house next door's front porch which doesn't look like that anymore--it was redone in brick and cement and later vinylized.

So check out that corner post. When blown up you can see four round ornaments in a row on all four sides--they are catching the sun. I had an AHA moment when I saw those. Back when we excavated the Egyptian tomb that was the cement steps leading up to the entrance to the second floor apartment, which went up the front stairwell, I found this wooden ornament.

So, what do you think? That's a CD case its sitting on to show the size. Too big? Perfect? There can be no other place in the house this thing would go as there is no ornamentation at all anywhere but on the two mantels--and this is not oak.

Here is a pic of the back of the house on the corner taken in front of the carriage-house-that-is-no-more, built for my house. I can't tell if my house has been built yet or not, so am not sure of the date of this pic. You can see the church across the street and the other houses in the neighborhood that are all still standing, although vinylized, as is the church. They even covered over the bell! You can also see a pole and wires here. I do not know if these are telephone or electric wires, but my house was built for gas only and converted in the 'teens to electricity.


Just before my house was built there were 6 people living in this house--possibly 7. Augusta Schmitt, son Crescencz and his two children (and possibly his 2nd wife), and daughter Rosa and her husband Charles Hauser.