Stewart House
This is the home of Barbara and David Stewart. It is located on Armfield Street, and is in the Academy Hill Historic District.
When we bought
this house in August of
1985, it was starting to demolish itself by neglect. Much of the
exterior was rotten and the soffit had so many holes in it, squirrels
lived in the attic. Since the squirrels had lived there longer than we
had, we had to come to an unhappy conclusion (for the squirrels) to
this problem.
The house was built around 1898 by Bob Miller. His father and brother also built houses on the street. The house was later sold to the Henley family, and is commonly referred to as the Henley house. Of course, we now call it the Stewart house. The Henleys lived in the house until the 1970's. There were two daughters who never married and continued to live in the house after the parents died, and the other siblings left home. Only one of these ladies worked, and when she died, the stay-at-home sister, out of financial necessity, let the house run down. She did cut the house into apartments to boost her income, but it didn't seem to be adequate. When the remaining Miss Henley went into a nursing home, she sold the house to the Watts family. In 1985 they sold it to Barbara and David Stewart. We took photos of the house before we started work, so we are going to present this one as a "before and after."
Below are pictures of the house in 1985 before repairs were made.
The house was more or less encased in scaffolding for the better part of three years.
It is difficult to see all the rot from this photo. Some close-up shots follow.
This shot shows the squirrels' entrance to the attic.
This shows an 8x8 timber rotten half way through. This had to be removed, the house jacked up, and a new timber installed. The porch floor also had to be removed and replaced.
The house was built around 1898 by Bob Miller. His father and brother also built houses on the street. The house was later sold to the Henley family, and is commonly referred to as the Henley house. Of course, we now call it the Stewart house. The Henleys lived in the house until the 1970's. There were two daughters who never married and continued to live in the house after the parents died, and the other siblings left home. Only one of these ladies worked, and when she died, the stay-at-home sister, out of financial necessity, let the house run down. She did cut the house into apartments to boost her income, but it didn't seem to be adequate. When the remaining Miss Henley went into a nursing home, she sold the house to the Watts family. In 1985 they sold it to Barbara and David Stewart. We took photos of the house before we started work, so we are going to present this one as a "before and after."
Below are pictures of the house in 1985 before repairs were made.
The house was more or less encased in scaffolding for the better part of three years.
It is difficult to see all the rot from this photo. Some close-up shots follow.
This shot shows the squirrels' entrance to the attic.
This shows an 8x8 timber rotten half way through. This had to be removed, the house jacked up, and a new timber installed. The porch floor also had to be removed and replaced.
We
first painted the house green.
That took three years, because David had to replace rotten wood, and I
striped all the paint off the house, sanded and caulked before
painting. This year, we had the house painted brown, and put a
new roof on it.
Here is a photo of the hall which ran down the middle of the house. We closed the door behind the table to make a breakfast room next to the kitchen, and a wet bar on the other side.
The breakfast room now provides a cozy place for informal dining.
And storing dishes..
For the wet bar, we recycled the old kitchen cabinets and David built new cabinets around them to fill the space. I handpainted a design on four of the doors.
This is a picture of the kitchen when we bought the house. I didn't have much counter space, and the ironing board on the right served as an additional work area.
Another photo of the kitchen before.
The kitchen today has all the modern conveniences. The cabinets are recycled heart pine wood from another old house that was being torn down. David got the wood, planed it down, and built the cabinets himself.
This was the full bath downstairs. The walls had sheet rock compound on them. This had been pulled out with something to form little spikes in the walls. It reminded me of what the "iron maiden" must have been like. We were very careful not to lean on the walls.
We turned it into a half bath since there are no bedrooms downstairs, re-sheetrocked and papered the walls. It not only improved the appearance, it is now a much friendlier room.
The library before.
The library today.
And another shot...
The dining room before. At this point, we had installed the new chandelier. Later, we would change the mantle as well.
The dining room after.
This is a shot of the living room when we moved in. It had been sheet rocked over plaster, and the moldings were level with the walls. We took the sheet rock off, removed the plaster, re-sheet rocked and then put the moldings back. We took the crown molding off and replaced it with a creation by David.
Some shots of the living room today.
The music room is adjacent to the living room. This room had to be jacked up because of the rotten 8x8 on the outside corner. The piano now sits happily on that southwest side.
The music room today.
The upstairs bathroom. There was a skirted tub in this room. I had never seen a tub like this. I considered moving the claw foot tub from downstairs, but David assured me that this would not be possible. We rolled the skirted tub into the hall for the renovation, and rolled it back - much easier than carrying one down and one up the stairs.
The bathroom today. We recycled an old cabinet for the vanity.
This is a shot of the south bedroom before.
And after..
This is the north bedroom under construction. All the ceilings had soft tile on them, and this was replaced throughout the house with sheet rock.
This photo is of the north bedroom after renovation. In adding the closets, a window seat seemed to just happen.
Another view of the same bedroom.
This small bedroom adjoined the master bedroom. We used it as a closet for a few years.
Then we turned it into a master bath, complete with closets and a sauna. The vanity in this room is also recycled. It had been in Steve Herman's garage for several years. Steve is a good friend, and I told him he needed to give it to me. He did, and we were pleased with the end result.
The master bedroom before...
and after...
This shot shows the entrance to the bath, where another window seat was created with the addition of closets.
This shot of the back yard in 1985 shows a complete lack of landscaping.
Today, the entire perimeter of the yard is outlined with beds where shrubs and flowers bloom from spring until late fall. I am particularly proud of these flower beds. Among other things, they contain prize winning peonies, irises, and daylilies.
Molly Brown found a cool place to park in front of a Flowering Quince and a clump of Tulips.
We also put a large deck on the back of the house. It is a great place for parties.
This shot shows a Weeping Cherry Tree that came with the house. This tree provides privacy on the deck, and is so beautiful. All the hard work we put into the house is worth it because of this tree - especially in the spring when it blooms.
A new driveway was cut to eliminate sharing a drive with the neighbor next door.
I spent the summer of 1986 cleaning old bricks for this job. Over 4,000 bricks are in the driveway now.
There was only a crawl space under the house. David needed a workshop, so he spent a whole summer digging out a basement workshop for himself. David now has gray hair and walks with a limp!
He reinforced the perimeter of the house with concrete blocks which now serve as his work tables, in addition to adding strength to the perimeter of the house.
In addition to the things we can see, the house was completely rewired and a new service panel added to accommodate more amps of electricity. All the old plumbing was replaced, and although it can't be seen, we enjoy a strong flow of water into the house. The plaster on all of the outside walls was removed from inside the house, and stuffed with insulation.
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Here is a photo of the hall which ran down the middle of the house. We closed the door behind the table to make a breakfast room next to the kitchen, and a wet bar on the other side.
The breakfast room now provides a cozy place for informal dining.
And storing dishes..
For the wet bar, we recycled the old kitchen cabinets and David built new cabinets around them to fill the space. I handpainted a design on four of the doors.
This is a picture of the kitchen when we bought the house. I didn't have much counter space, and the ironing board on the right served as an additional work area.
Another photo of the kitchen before.
The kitchen today has all the modern conveniences. The cabinets are recycled heart pine wood from another old house that was being torn down. David got the wood, planed it down, and built the cabinets himself.
This was the full bath downstairs. The walls had sheet rock compound on them. This had been pulled out with something to form little spikes in the walls. It reminded me of what the "iron maiden" must have been like. We were very careful not to lean on the walls.
We turned it into a half bath since there are no bedrooms downstairs, re-sheetrocked and papered the walls. It not only improved the appearance, it is now a much friendlier room.
The library before.
The library today.
And another shot...
The dining room before. At this point, we had installed the new chandelier. Later, we would change the mantle as well.
The dining room after.
This is a shot of the living room when we moved in. It had been sheet rocked over plaster, and the moldings were level with the walls. We took the sheet rock off, removed the plaster, re-sheet rocked and then put the moldings back. We took the crown molding off and replaced it with a creation by David.
Some shots of the living room today.
The music room is adjacent to the living room. This room had to be jacked up because of the rotten 8x8 on the outside corner. The piano now sits happily on that southwest side.
The music room today.
The upstairs bathroom. There was a skirted tub in this room. I had never seen a tub like this. I considered moving the claw foot tub from downstairs, but David assured me that this would not be possible. We rolled the skirted tub into the hall for the renovation, and rolled it back - much easier than carrying one down and one up the stairs.
The bathroom today. We recycled an old cabinet for the vanity.
This is a shot of the south bedroom before.
And after..
This is the north bedroom under construction. All the ceilings had soft tile on them, and this was replaced throughout the house with sheet rock.
This photo is of the north bedroom after renovation. In adding the closets, a window seat seemed to just happen.
Another view of the same bedroom.
This small bedroom adjoined the master bedroom. We used it as a closet for a few years.
Then we turned it into a master bath, complete with closets and a sauna. The vanity in this room is also recycled. It had been in Steve Herman's garage for several years. Steve is a good friend, and I told him he needed to give it to me. He did, and we were pleased with the end result.
The master bedroom before...
and after...
This shot shows the entrance to the bath, where another window seat was created with the addition of closets.
This shot of the back yard in 1985 shows a complete lack of landscaping.
Today, the entire perimeter of the yard is outlined with beds where shrubs and flowers bloom from spring until late fall. I am particularly proud of these flower beds. Among other things, they contain prize winning peonies, irises, and daylilies.
Molly Brown found a cool place to park in front of a Flowering Quince and a clump of Tulips.
We also put a large deck on the back of the house. It is a great place for parties.
This shot shows a Weeping Cherry Tree that came with the house. This tree provides privacy on the deck, and is so beautiful. All the hard work we put into the house is worth it because of this tree - especially in the spring when it blooms.
A new driveway was cut to eliminate sharing a drive with the neighbor next door.
I spent the summer of 1986 cleaning old bricks for this job. Over 4,000 bricks are in the driveway now.
There was only a crawl space under the house. David needed a workshop, so he spent a whole summer digging out a basement workshop for himself. David now has gray hair and walks with a limp!
He reinforced the perimeter of the house with concrete blocks which now serve as his work tables, in addition to adding strength to the perimeter of the house.
In addition to the things we can see, the house was completely rewired and a new service panel added to accommodate more amps of electricity. All the old plumbing was replaced, and although it can't be seen, we enjoy a strong flow of water into the house. The plaster on all of the outside walls was removed from inside the house, and stuffed with insulation.
Back to Newsletter