THE OLD HOUSE AT IPSWICH VILLAGE PART 10

THE 

OLD HOUSE 

AT 

IPSWICH VILLAGE

 

SAVING MOSES JEWETT’S HOUSE

POST ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

1981-1982

PART 10

PRUDENCE PAINE FISH

SALVAGING OLD FURNITURE

While all the work and other details were being tended to at the house and in the office, Nancy was hard at work on the old Waycott furniture. The pieces most interesting were probably left from Mrs. Waycott’s  parents, the Eilenbergers, who had lived there before the Waycotts and the Orcutts.

Most of it was dismal but some of it salable with Nancy’s help.  The best was in the attic and consisted of Larkin chairs and bureaus.  You know, that oak furniture that was earned by saving Larkin soap wrappers?  What was thrown away not too many years ago was now in vogue.  Press backed chairs could be sold and were sold.

Typical of chairs found in the attic.

In the lean-to was the bottom of an old oak sideboard.  It was filthy.  Oil had spilled on it.  Old tools were in the drawers and remnants of linens that had been attacked by mice.  It did seem as though it might have possibilities with work.  Suddenly I remembered something under the eaves in the attic.  It was the etegere top for the sideboard with what-not shelves and beveled mirror soaring for several feet above the sideboard base.  It was a big job to clean and refinish it.   When it was back to its original condition we took it to Bob’s shop and he put it in the show window with a a spotlight on it.  It was gone in a day!  I can’t remember the price but it may have been $800.

Very similar to the oak sideboard found in lean-to and attic.
This was found on eBay.

Another gem was a pine cupboard.  That went equally fast for similar money. There was also a cottage chest or two, part of late 19th century paint decorated bedroom set.

This is a typical Victorian painted cottage bedroom set.  We found chairs and chests of drawers from these sets but
nothing complete...just miscellaneous pieces in poor condition,   These sets are so charming it is too bed we only found
fragments of these sets retired to the attic,  Internet photo.

 The remainder of the things were so unremarkable that today I can’t even recall them but little by little it was all sold.  Actually they were typical of what one might expect to find in an old run-down farmhouse.

Similar to pine cupboard found in house and sold.  This
example is from the Internet.

Two large sterling serving spoons had and “E” on the handle, probably for Eilenberger.  The pattern was Towle Canterbury from the 1890s. I gave these beautiful spoons to the new owners. 

This is a Canterbury serving spoon from Towle Silversmiths.  The pattern dates
to the 1890s and had the monogram "E".  That probably stood for Eilenberger,
the family name of Mrs. Waycott.  These I gave to Hugh and Jerry.  This example
is listed on eBay for $225.00.


 I think I kept a doorstop and give it to Hugh and Jerry later but don’t recall that there was anything else worth keeping or even vaguely memorable.

SUBDIVISION

Distasteful as it was, we had to think about our ace in the hole.  We could subdivide and sell off two lots.  But first we were a little short of the necessary frontage.  Our lawyer confided to us that our neighbors, the Barneys, needed to replace their septic system and it might be just the right time to negotiate the purchase of a few feet from them to make the subdivision work.  We let our lawyer, George Hayes do the negotiating.  The deal was accepted and completed.

Now we could offer the whole package for $180,000 or the house alone for $150,000.  I prayed for a buyer to come along who would want the whole thing.  I didn’t want to be a party to subdividing.  Spring turned to summer and summer to fall.  We were more nervous than you can imagine.  We couldn’t give it back to the bank nor could we continue to struggle under the weight of this construction loan with the highest interest rates ever.

One day a Realtor from our office, Dottie, said cheerfully, “Pru, I have good news for you.  I have an offer for one of the lots.”  My heart sank.  This would bail us out but I had been holding my breath that we wouldn’t have to do this.  But do it, we did.  We had no choice.  The contract was signed.

In just a few days another Realtor from the office, Sandra, took two buyers from New York out to look at property.  She took them all over Rockport and Gloucester.  Late in the day they returned to the office.  They had not found anything they wanted.  They were introduced and I chatted with them.  They were selling a business in Manhatten and wanted to move to New England.

My brain clicked into gear.  Here were two people escaping New York City for a taste of New England.  What was more New England than our Moses Jewett house sitting there waiting? What could fit the bill more than our picture-perfect Currier and Ives farmhouse in the country?  “Sandra”, I said.  “Didn’t you show them the Moses Jewett house?”  “No.” she replied. “I didn’t even think of it.”  She didn’t think of it?  Our own office listing!  And she had dragged them all over Cape Ann for nothing. I had trouble containing myself and bit my tongue.

I proceeded to tell them about the house, got them excited, gave them the listing material, gave Sandra the key and told her to get them up there on the double.  They went and just as I fantasized, they loved it.  In fact, they were infatuated with the history, the restoration and everything about it.  And, better still, they bought it!

More heartbreak when they told us they would like all of the land, all six acres.  There was nothing we could do.  It was under agreement to Dottie’s customers and the die was cast. The last of the Jewett farm of 100 acres was now subdivided into approximately two acre parcels.

BUYERS AT LAST

On November 17^th the lot on the street east of the house was sold to the Fowlers who would build a house on the site.  The closing on the Jewett house was set for December 1, 1982.

The house the Fowlers built  next door later expanded and
improved by neighbors Ron and Gwen.

At this point David decided he would buy the lot in the rear that would be up a long driveway.  His plan was to build a Maine Post and Beam saltbox for himself, Shelley and his boys, Zachary and Spencer.  He would sell his house in Newbury but would need a place to live while building.

Maine Post and Beam house built by David at the end of
the long driveway. He called the address 1 Post Road just for fun..

It turned out that Hugh and Jerry, our buyers, would not be ready to move until the following summer so an agreement was reached whereby David and family would live in the Moses Jewett house until their house was complete.

There would be no mortgage or bank involved in the sale so the closing could take place right there in the house.  Hugh and Jerry arrived from New York and we all gathered around a big table in the old kitchen in front of the fireplace.  We had wine.  A toast was in order.  David conducted the closing and tallied up the assorted checks to make up the total selling price.  After the closing David drove the new buyers to the Registry of Deeds in Salem and the deed was recorded.

The back page of the deed.  The deed was done...literally!
The house that had been part of out lives for so long was
now theirs.

Was that the end of the story?  Not at all! A new chapter was beginning.

Work progressed on David’s new house with its long drive.  He affectionately called his new house the house at “One Post Road” after the name of our group, Post Road Development Corporation, and the historic reference to the old highway called the Post Road.  I guess you could call it a private joke.

It was the summer of 1983 when Hugh and Jerry arrived with a truck and moved into the Moses Jewett house.  David was in his new house.  The Fowlers had a built a new cape next door.  So many lot of changes since that September day when we purchased the old place nearly two years prior.  Following the Fowler a friendly couple, Ron and Gwen took up residence and became good friends and neighbors to Hugh and Jerry.

For their first Christmas, 1983, Hugh and Jerry had a party.  All of their guests were Realtors from the Vernon A. Martin office.  The only people they had met were Realtors but by now everyone in the office knew them.  What a house for a party.  Candles, fires in the fireplaces, great food and drink were in abundance.  This was the first of many. A pattern emerged.  There was a Christmas party each December, usually on a Sunday evening, and another in the late summer on the newly built bluestone patio outside the two back doors.  The numbers grew, people came and went, the cast of characters changed but the routine remains to this day.  No one who has ever crossed that threshold at Christmas can forget the ambiance, the fires, warm friendships and good times.

David and Shelley moved on.  Their house was sold.  The land was further subdivided.  So imagine my surprise when driving past the old place one day a few  years ago to see a new street sign on what had previously been David’s driveway.  And what did they name this new street? Post Road Lane!  I was incredulous. The inside joke from twenty years before had become a reality and now numerous families make their home on Post Road Lane.

Map showing Post Road Lane.  The Fowler house is on the corner of
Post Road Lane improved by Ron and Gwen.  The Moses Jewett House is on the left and  David's
house is near the bend in the road hidden in the trees.

Nearly thirty years later, Hugh and Jerry, our buyers, are still happily in the house.  The neighbors and friends keep coming.  It has been a good quarter century plus for the old Moses Jewett house

The Moses Jewett house in the snow.  Not the true red but very pretty anyway!

One more installment before moving on.  Hang in there!

PARTY TIME AND OTHER INCIDENTS ALONG THE WAY PART 9

THE 

OLD HOUSE 

AT 

IPSWICH VILLAGE

 

SAVING MOSES JEWETT’S HOUSE

POST ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

1981-1982

PART 9

PRUDENCE PAINE FISH

PARTY TIME

Still in very high spirits we planned a big open house party by invitation.  We were so ambitious we decided to bring appointments from our own homes and collections to adorn the house.  We had a really big toy and we wanted to play house with it.  Today we would simply say we staged the house.

By the day of the party we had essentially furnished the house, if only for a short time.

I brought my dining room chairs and rug for the dining room.  My blue velvet wing chair would go in the parlor with its blue woodwork along with my blue Chinese rug and my mother’s tilt-top table that our handy man had just beautifully repaired and refinished for me; also the Queen Ann tea table that I had purchased from my friend, Jane Nelson, in Newburyport.  In the old kitchen would be my old pine box chair by the fireplace.

The working kitchen had room for my Windsor and banister back chairs, my old scale and some of my antique dolls and carriage would look great in the loft. My wash stand with great sentimental value was between the twin beds and a cute diminutive bench/settee was at the foot of the stairs along with my small oriental rug.

Nancy’s reproduction canopy bed was upstairs in the guest bedroom.  My friend, Noel, came from Connecticut to help me sew a new set of bed hangings in unbleached muslin for the bed. My mother’s antique one drawer stand was next to the bed.

David brought oriental rugs.

Donn Pollard brought Sheraton fancy chairs for the guest bed chamber and an antique portrait for the parlor. He also brought a wash stand for the guest room, a wing chair for the upstairs sitting room and a candelabra for the parlor.

Our handyman supplied the dining room table, a wonderful mirror with a reverse painting and some small items.

Bob Molinski contributed antique rope twin beds and quilts to cover them.

Yolanda Martin brought her pewter collection and portraits to go above the twin beds and a small table for the parlor.

More than that, Yolanda offered to make window treatments.  Nellie and I found remnants of material at the Handkerchief Factory in Exeter, NH and Yolanda sewed.  All the windows were draped with toile, stripes, small prints and unbleached muslin. There were swags and tab curtains.  It was an admirable selection of attractive window coverings.

The ever practical Yolanda also thought to bring soap, towels, waste baskets and other necessities for the party.

Only the dining room was left without window treatments.  At the last minute, the night before the party, I whipped up simple swags using rich ivory antique satin from old drapes for which I had no use.

Sometime earlier I had noticed a Chinese Chippendale camel back loveseat at Bob’s shop.  It was pretty awful.  It was covered in a disgusting faded and soiled pink material.  In lieu of welting it had black fringe.  The wood and fretwork was painted black. I decided that it had more potential than anyone realized and went to buy it.  I waited until all the other customers had left the shop.  I didn’t want to be seen buying this horror!

Nancy stripped the wood trim and stained it a rich mahogany.  I found Nellie’s favorite “tree of life, bird of paradise” fabric and took the loveseat to Bonnie Kishbaugh in Hampton, NH for reupholstering.

On the day of the party I borrowed David’s Jeep and went to Hampton to get the loveseat.  It would go into the Moses Jewett house for the party and remain for a few extra days before being taken to my house in Lanesville. I was thrilled with the outcome.  It was so pleasing to me that I actually pulled over a couple of times and turned around to admire it in the back of the vehicle as I drove from Hampton to Ipswich.

Back in Ipswich things were coming together.  Cousins Ernie and Coralie had arrived from Dalton, the first guests. Ernie helped carry the loveseat into the parlor.  Perfect!

Meanwhile, Nancy, home in Gloucester, had a problem with her car.  How could she get to Ipswich from Lanesville?  In desperation she decided to thumb a ride.  (That would never happen today!) Lady Luck was with her.  She was picked up by Bob Hamlin from Walker Creek Furniture who was on this way to deliver a handmade reproduction pewter cupboard to a customer.  He agreed to unload it at the house and pick it up after the party. So Nancy arrived with this wonderful cupboard.  Into the old kitchen it went and was quickly filled with Yolanda’s pewter just as the guests began to arrive.  Bob Hamlin’s business cards were on the shelf.

Fires burned in the fireplaces.  The candle chandelier hung over the table.  Everything was picture-perfect.  We had a full house of admirers from near and far, including all the neighbors, Sue and Steve Stevens, from the Aaron Jewett house, Barbara and Wayne King, Hillman and Priscilla Barney, Dorothy Brigham, Edna Jewett and of course, Nellie and her eccentric husband, Hal.  By the end of the day music was playing and friends and neighbors alike were dancing in front of the fireplace in the old kitchen. A good time was had by all.  The house was launched into its new chapter.  Now we just had to find a buyer.

    

INCIDENTS ALONG THE WAY

Summer was still mostly with us as we began this challenging project.  Fall came on quickly, however, followed by a long winter.  The lovely warm days turned to bone chilling episodes in the old house not yet heated.

There was often a fire in the big fireplace and I huddled there sitting on an overturned five gallon joint compound bucket, almost inside the huge fireplace as though it was an inglenook, just trying to warm up.

David and Tony checked in with the workers regularly.  I mostly remember my role as researching for solutions and then convincing my partners after I had worked out a problem in my head.  They were reasonable and not hard to convince. I thought that we worked well together.

Tony unexpectedly announced that he and Diana would like to buy the house for himself and his family.  I think it must have been a deteriorating real estate market and escalating interest rate that ultimately discouraged Tony and Diana and they backed off.

One day someone knocked at the front door.  I was as surprised to see a Lanesville neighbor standing there as she was to see me on the other side of the threshold.  She had been watching the progress not knowing that I had anything to do with it and wondered where we had found the bull’s eye glass.

Another time David and I observed two men walking up the driveway toward the house.  I freaked!  I recognized them as two purist house restorers and I was scared to death to let them in.  What would they think?  Of course, we did let them in.  They were antiques dealer, Roger Pheulpin, and Attorney Steve Green.  They looked around with interest and if they didn’t approve, they kept it to themselves.  We became good friends and I have enjoyed their acquaintance and knowledge ever since.

One day as I drove to Ipswich early in the morning I saw our always available handyman going into an Essex antiques shop.  He was carrying a small dog weather vane that had been in our barn.  I stopped to see what was going on.  He said that the tail on the dog was broken and he was getting it fixed for us. “Thanks”, I said and left feeling more than a little disturbed. He had recently been laid up with a badly injured leg because of a fall but was just getting back into circulation and again helping out.

The real estate office had a call one day from a motorist saying that there was lots of smoke coming from the big  chimney.  Someone went to the house and saw smoke inside.  The new oil burner had backfired and left a film on everything.  Professionals were called in to clean.  It was covered by insurance and turned out OK but just the thought of having all our work sullied before the house even hit the market was disconcerting.

On one of my regular visit to the house I headed for the cellar.  I opened the door.  The cellar stairs looked weird or were my eyes playing tricks on me?  I was having trouble seeing the stairs.  After a few seconds of bewilderment I came to my senses and realized the half of the staircase was under water!  Taking a long handled peel (a flat shovel used for removing food from the bake oven)from the big fireplace I tried to lower it to see how deep the water was.  When my hand hit the water, I dropped the shovel.  I had not hit bottom.  That water was deep!  The sump pump had failed.  Now I appreciated the wisdom of the old arrangement of trenches around the cellar and the hole in the foundation.

All these disasters and the house was not yet even on the market.

Eventually we did start having open houses.  The house attracted so much interest that many of the Realtors placing the open house sign at the end of the driveway were invariably followed back up the driveway to the house by passersby just wanting to see it.

The project was highly visible.  Several newspapers came for interviews and tours and there was publicity galore.

Nellie, our most loyal mentor and decorator, kept “coming over the road” to follow the progress.   

One Sunday after an open house we all gathered around the fireplace.  It was decided that Bob Fish and David would go to the shore and get mussels and Shelley Martin would cook them.

Next to the fireplace was a wonderful large copper pot that had been contributed by Bob Molinski’s friend, Michael.

Bob and David returned with the mussels and Shelley put them in the big copper pot with some wine and garlic to steam on the new Jennair stove.  We all sat in the old kitchen by the big fireplace awaiting this treat. Suddenly there was a terrible explosion in the kitchen!  Thoroughly startled and scared we rushed to the kitchen.  The copper pot was so big it had hung over the edge of the stove, overlapping but not touching the Formica counter.  As the mussels steamed the copper transferred the heat to the counter, the Formica inflated like a big balloon and then blew!  A big hole in the counter remained.  The damage was ultimately rectified by cutting out that section of the counter and inserting a large cutting board. What next?

Unbeknownst to us the most dramatic of events were about to begin. We were marketing the house in earnest.  The market was not so good.  The excitement of discovery and restoration was behind us.  So was the party.  Open houses and showings were the order of the day.

 After the party a few appointments were left in the house for varying amounts of time to take the emptiness from the bare rooms.  The plan was to gradually remove them when it was convenient but with no rush to do so.  

A new broker, Jackie Cordima, went to the house to meet a buyer shortly after the party.  She made a quick phone call to the office, “Pru, did you take your wing chair home? It’s not here”.  I rushed to the house.  The wing chair was gone.  So was the box chair by the fireplace and the oriental rug that had been in front of the fireplace.

A few days later Jackie went to the house and called me again. “Pru, your loveseat  isn’t here. The tea table is gone”.  No! Not my wonderful loveseat of which I was so proud.  My tea table is gone?”  It was true.  David’s rugs were gone too.  .  

In the ensuing weeks the Chinese rug, the banister back chair, my mother’s tilt top table, the scale with the brass scoop and my treasured washstand were added to the list.  The police were called again and again until they said something like, “It’s that Fish woman again.”  They didn’t seem to be too hot on the trail of a thief.  Yolanda, Donn and the handy man had already removed their things so they suffered no loss.

Jackie had discovered so many thefts that she began to think they would be suspecting her and but it wasn’t over yet.  Once again Jackie made the discovery.

Arriving at the house one day she tried to enter the back door only to find the Jennair stove lying on its face with the oven door handle broken off.  This stove that had been built-in had been wrenched from it spot in the kitchen counter and dragged toward the door until the handle gave way, the stove fell over and was abandoned.

One day while driving home to Gloucester I spotted my mother’s tilt-top table in front of an antiques shop on the road to Essex.  Oh, no! Our handy man had just repaired and refinished it for me!  It was beautiful!  The police came and took the table back to the police station as evidence.  Then came the bad news. The antiques dealer had purchased it from our handyman!  Then I remembered the weather vane incident.

Our handyman was a thief!  He restored my table, then stole it and sold it!  How dare he?

Another day one of his buddies who had helped with the boiler removal commented, “Richie really hurt himself when he fell through the barn floor.  That was really something.”  So that’s how he hurt his leg!  That’s when he stole the weather vane! Served him right that he hurt himself, the thief!

This problem was compounded when I discovered that my own house had been robbed.  Then Bob Molinski discovered his Ipswich antiques shop had also been robbed. We were living in the middle of a nightmare.

To sum it up, the police were ineffective, the court failed to convict.  I recovered my mother’s table but nothing else.  My wing chair, tea table, new loveseat, washstand, bannister back chair, rugs and so much more were gone for good.  I visited antiques shops over a large area and found a few things here and there in numerous towns which the police then took for evidence most of which I never saw again.  

I remembered all those times the handyman had come to the real estate office, even bringing me coffee in the morning and asking what my day was like.  Based on that he would raid my home or the Moses Jewett house.

We tried to put this behind us and move on but panic was setting in.  Our interest rate and carrying costs were skyrocketing.  We needed a buyer and we needed one fast.

Continued in Part 10

THE FINAL PUSH AND THE BARN PART 8

THE 

OLD HOUSE 

AT 

IPSWICH VILLAGE

SAVING MOSES JEWETT’S HOUSE

POST ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

1981-1982


PART 8



Prudence Paine Fish

THE REAR OF THE HOUSE

After the installation of the back stairs it seemed best to consider that upstairs room as an upstairs sitting room, library or TV room because with the invasion of the stairs it was no longer private.  This room also accessed the attic now that we had reversed the staircase.

Cutting the hole for the new back stairs.

Construction of the back stairs.

The attic stirs were reversed so that from the
top of the new back stairs one went directly
to the attic stairs .  Great for accessing the attic.

From here a corridor led to a bedroom at the opposite end of the house.  Off this corridor was the second floor bathroom in the same space as it originally was found.  We installed a new cast iron tub/shower and a pine vanity.  In the ceiling a fan and a heat lamp was installed. Throughout the second floor we used nice sconces and lanterns from the Federal Street Lighthouse.

Here is the old attic door (formerly a closet)
with a new reproduced identical door leading
to a rear second floor hallway.

This is what we discovered by making many holes in Victorian plaster.  There was a wealth of feather edged
sheathing, never painted but covered for maybe 150 years.

The most rewarding find in this part of the house was that every single interior wall was lined with feather edged sheathing beneath Victorian plaster and lath.  As we excavated wall after wall we found the sheathing everywhere we looked.  Best of all it had never been

This photo shows the door to the guest bedroom on the right at the top of the back staircase.  Next to it is the new matching
door that will lead to the bathroom and other bedrooms from a narrow hall.

painted. The old plaster was removed throughout this area and the sheathing emerged to be cleaned up and admired after being hidden for maybe 150 years.  The striped flowered wallpaper  was in
the back left hand room with the back stairs that became a sitting room.

Here again you can see the old flowered wallpaper adjacent to the newly uncovered sheathing

Just when we thought we were finished and all was in readiness for marketing, I noticed as I came down the attic stairs that the wall beside me was wood.  Why wasn’t it plastered? The outside of the wall was plastered and already redecorated.  Could this be more sheathing?  Had we not discovered all of it?

This is another view of the area with cleaned up sheathing and
new backstair railing.

More sheathing it was.  The plaster was pulled down and the sheathing restored. This time it really was the end.  All of the ancient pine had been revealed.  The house had given up its last secret!

THE BEDRAGGLED BARN

There was not much positive that could be said about the barn.  It was frail.  It was rotten. It was two stories tall.  There were two bays on the first floor and an appendage because the barn was not deep enough for a car.  It seemed best to restore the front as intended and add a few feet onto the rear of the building to satisfy the need for more depth. 

It is now late fall and the work going on in the house is visible.  The red paint, the new windows and restored door
are evidence of the good progress.  This picture shows the relation of the barn to the house.  Inside you can see the
staircase to the second floor.

Inside the door on the left was a steep flight of stairs leading to the upstairs of the barn.

The barn could not possibly have been more dilapidated.  It was barely
standing.

This old barn, however, did have some history.  The second story contained bits and pieces of leather. We soon discovered a chapter of area history.

In the 19^th century Lynn developed as the center of the shoe industry.  This shoe industry soon provided winter work for area farmers.  This is how it worked.

Agents or couriers from the shoe company called “bag men” fanned out across the region, perhaps as far as Portsmouth with bags of raw materials for local cordwainers who would complete a certain part of the production.  The bag men would return after a certain length of time to pick up the completed work and drop off a new bag of raw material.  The finished product would be taken to Lynn for completion and assembly. They were then shipped all over the country.

Many cordwainers had a small building dedicated to this purpose.  Some were shared with a neighbor or relative.  These little buildings were complete with a stove or, if particularly early, a fireplace, paneled doors and simple finishes.  They were of nice proportions and some were architectural gems.  The nickname for these little buildings was “ten footer” representing the average size, although they varied slightly. Time has taken its toll.  Few remain, all are dilapidated and may not even be identified.  Many were located in the Ipswich and Rowley area.  Ipswich Village was the heart of the cordwainer cottage industry.

Here is a typical Massachusetts "ten-footer" shop where farmers and neighbors
would work in the winter to supplement their income.  This one is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places.  At the Moses Jewett house the second floor of the barn
became the shoe shop.  The little shops, however, were scattered around the area.

Amos Jewett was one such cordwainer.  He sold the Jewett property to Daniel Boynton in several stages between 1835 and 1844.  Daniel Boynton was also a cordwainer.  If they had a “ten footer” it does not remain but they did have a barn with a nice second floor for a shop.  Apparently, the second floor became the center of this operation judging by the evidence left behind.

If you look on the second floor of the barn you can see the
wind braces of the timber frame construction attesting to
the age of the building

It is obvious that there was once a bigger barn on the farm.  What we are referring to as a barn was probably just an accessory building when this was a working farm. The only other notable issue with the barn was how it got a big hole in the floor (more later) and the miracle that it was saved and still upright.  But it was saved and today serves as a two car garage with storage above,

This is the barn as seen from the kitchen window.  Antique windows salvaged
from the house are being installed in the barn.  They are nine over six. Unfortunately
they were OK for a time but didn't hold up very well and now they are very frail. 

The inside staircase was removed and rebuilt on the exterior to make more room for cars.  When the stairs were removed a very long piece of wood was found.  Paul recognized it as the original corner board of the house and when held up to the corner it fit perfectly.

When restoring a house one needs to look very carefully at what it removed.  It was customary to recycle any material that could possibly be recycled and many pieces and parts turn up and can help determine original features such as the fluted pilasters recycled into the Greek Revival front door.

"Waste not, want not" was the spirit of those times.

For some reason I don't seem to have a photo of the finished barn.  If I don't find one before posting I may be able to take a picture this weekend and add it soon.

To be continued in Part 9

THE OLD HOUSE AT IPSWICH VILLAGE PART 7

THE 

OLD HOUSE 

AT 

IPSWICH VILLAGE

 

SAVING MOSES JEWETT’S HOUSE

POST ROAD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

1981-1982


PART 7


PRUDENCE PAINE FISH

THE MASTER BEDCHAMBER

At the top of the stairs a turn to the left brings you into the master bedchamber as it would have been called in the 18^th century.  Here was a major problem.

As described previously the back staircase had been removed leaving the front stairs the only way to access to the second floor.  The chimney in the middle necessitated going through one of the two front rooms to get to a back room.  This would not be an acceptable arrangement for a late 20^th century buyer.

To overcome this problem, an owner in the distant past had found the easiest solution.  He divided the bedroom.  Three quarters of the space toward the gable end of the house became the bedroom reduced in size.  The remaining quarter closest to the stairs and chimney was partitioned off creating a corridor running from the front wall of the house to the back rooms of the house.  In this corridor was hidden the paneled fireplace wall with bricked up fireplace and non-existent hearth that should have been the main focus in a wonderful room.  The paneling happened to be the best in the house.

On the left side not showing was the added in wall so
what you see in the photo was the dark corridor from the door
that you can see leading toward the rear second floor rooms.

.

This wall would have to be removed to restore the room to its original look. Now that there would be a new back staircase there was no need for the offending corridor in which was found this beautiful and most sophisticated paneling of all.

The back of the this bedroom shows some of the paneling, a door
to the back hall and bedrooms and a closet. The partition had
been miraculously removed with hardly a mark on the ceiling or the floor.

With great care Paul’s crew removed the added wall without destroying the ceiling.  I didn’t think this could be done but it was.  The entire ceiling was saved and the floor to which the partition had been nailed was also brought back without damage.

Here is the paneled wall before restoration of the
 hearth and fireplace.  This lovely wall had been
previously hidden in a dark and narrow corridor

The fireplace and hearth were restored and a damper added.

Here is the same rear corner after being painted.

The room was then painted a lovely blue, the floor was painted and the room returned to its original look very carefully and completely.  What a beautiful room!

Looking toward the front of the house in the master
bedchamber

Unfortunately the colors are so distorted you
would never know that this is a beautiful room
with white walls and a Williamsburg blue on the
woodwork.  Tab curtains were made for the
windows.

THE GUEST ROOM

The second floor hall landing looking
toward the second bedchamber. A little of
the bedchamber blue is showing as is the
"tusk" mixed by Nellie that worked so well.

The room opposite the master bedchamber (designated as the master bedchamber because it had the best paneling) was another room of similar size.  There were no special issues to deal with here.  There was a lot of feather edged sheathing on the fireplace wall and two paneled doors at the left of the fireplace opening two cupboards, one above the other.  

Like the parlor beneath this room there is an odd mix of feather edged sheathing
combined with panels and nice paneled doors.

The floor had particularly wide boards and the center had never been painted.  There was ancient linoleum and the border around the linoleum had been painted many times.  The floor was severely pitched away from the chimney that was holding it up.  It was slanting in the direction of the gable end of the house where the sill had rotted. Leveling this floor would have been much too invasive and would result in loss of plaster.  It was left alone hoping that antique buyers would understand and find it acceptable. Lovers of old houses have to have a certain amount of tolerance for the idiosyncrasies that go with an ancient building!

This is the plaster preparatory to saving it.  Looks pretty awful but
how perfect it was when finished.  The added piece of wood between the
windows is still a mystery to me but I have seen it in other houses as well. 

The major problem we had with this room was of our own making.  I had seen a color I particularly liked. It was a lovely rosy salmon color.  I picked out a color and painted the room.  As it dried it got worse and worse. We tried again.  It was almost hot pink!  Oh! My gosh!  Help!  Again, Nellie reminded us, “Intensity increases with volume”.  We should have heeded her advice. I thought it was burned into our brains. We should have had her mix the paint! What looks like a nice color can be quite unsatisfactory when seen in large quantity on an entire room.

After many tried we succeeded in finding the
color we wanted and it still looks nice. This
photo may not be quite right but it is closer.

The room was charming when we added some old pieces
of furniture.  The walls were actually white and the wood work
was the color of the door opposite.

  We dubbed the room the “bubble gum room” because no matter how hard we tried or how many times we repainted, it always came out looking like bubble gum.

 Searching for the right color I liked what I saw on a chart for Old Village Paints.  This was a little different.  We had to purchase a can of brownish paint, then a can of off white and mix the two together. Voila!  A perfectly wonderful, soft salmon emerged as this strange concoction was blended. On the woodwork it looked even better.  The bubble gum room was finally history and a lovely, warm, cheerful room was a sight for sore eyes.  The bubble gum nightmare was over but never forgotten.

The completed bedroom looked charming and sweet
but I am so disappointed that the photos do not show
the true colors.  The furniture is part of our staging the
house for showings.  In this we were ahead of out time.

Restoration of the hearth, fireplace and installation of a damper completed the masonry work.  A coat of paint on the floor and this room was ready for a new owner. 

To be continued in part 8.  Just a little more to go!