Who wants a 1950s GM Frigidaire range?

[oldhouseman]

Yes Sandy

Thank you for making that point clear. The good folks at Williamsburg have been good to offer advise and it has been two and a half years of very hard work.

I get letters from the Trust on a regular basis telling me what they do and don't like about my work on the place. Most of what they don't like is that I don't have the money to make the place picture perfect overnight.

Well, I just tell them "tickle my tits 'till tuesday, it getting done as best as it can". That sent the Trust guys packing away. They are due back for another inspection soon.

Dave, we both choose a field because of our personal interests but it does not pay a living wage. Even as an Archivist with the Secretary of State's office I still have to take on outside projects and jobs to make it all work. I have the house and saving it may be my final contribution in the field. I have plenty of people knocking on the door every Saturday wanting a tour and I honestly enjoy seeing the reactions. That wide eyed "WOW" when they step inside and have a look around. Makes it all worth it.

Savannah, like Charleston, is beautiful but a difficult place to live unless you have the bucks it takes to afford it. I used to sell antiques to Jim Williams some years ago. A former Supervisor sat on the grand jury when he was put on trial for murder (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil).

Sorry to hear about your eyesight Dave. If the Stove is something you can use then go for it. We can certainly save it between us. Either way it gets a good home.

Ralph, Sandy and others here have been a great source of inspiration and offered great advise on the kitchen and laundry areas. I hope they and others will visit sometime, especially when I get some vintage appliances in place.

 

[oldhouseman]

Check your

email Dave. Lets see what can be worked out to save this Stove.

 

[classiccaprice]

Hey Greg,

I'm so happy for you. You really deserve the stove, it will look very cool in your house (the pictures are amazing that you've shown in the past). I hope one day I can see this magnificent house in person.

Dave,
if things fall through, you'd better call me (or our friend Wesley will get a phone call!)

 

[danemodsandy]

Here's What Greg Contends With:

I'm going to start with a 1926 photo of the George Wythe House in Colonial Williamsburg. The Wythe House is thought to date from the mid-1750s. When the first restoration efforts began at Williamsburg, the house had been through many changes of ownership, additions and changes to the house itself, and lots and lots of what is genteelly referred to as "deferred maintenance". You can see the inappropriate front porch that had been added, the window above the front door that had been converted to a doorway for access to the balcony above the porch, the overgrowth and the general disrepair.

 

[danemodsandy]

Wythe House Today:

Here's the Wythe House as it looks after seventy years of restoration and conservation. The tawdry "improvements" of yesteryear have been removed, including closure of the doorway that was above the entrance door. Disrepair and overgrowth have been addressed. But -

All of it was done to historical standards. Williamsburg's standard is "ordinary repair" of deteriorated and missing elements with the closest possible match to original materials, not replacement with something similar. Also, no Hollywood fakery is permitted to make anything look older than it is. You can see this ethic at work where the doorway above the entrance door was removed, and a window put back in. Colonial Williamsburg made new bricks to match the old - using the identical local clay found in the originals, fired in reconstructed wood-fired brick kilns - and laid them exactly as the originals had been. But nothing was done in an attempt to artificially "age" the new/old bricks; you can still tell the difference between original and restored brickwork, seventy years on.

The Wythe House has many modern-day features like electricity and climate control, to help conserve the structure, but all new elements had to be concealed, or had to look appropriate. The roof is an example. The cedar shakes used originally were out of the question, for fire safety reasons (the history of Williamsburg is rife with fires started when sparks from one house's chimney set the roof of an adjacent house ablaze). So, a composition shingle closely resembling cedar shakes was chosen. That's an exception to the "no fakes" rule, but it's necessary for safety.

So, that's what Greg's doing. He has to restore using old materials and methods wherever practicable, without resort to fakery whenever possible. Vinyl siding, vinyl replacement windows, new hardware, and steel doors are not an option for him. He has to use a lot of judgement where updates are concerned.

And he has to do it all on the same kind of budget most of us have. The Wythe House, like most of the original restoration at Williamsburg, was restored with funding from John D. Rockefeller. Greg gets to do it one paycheck at a time.

Keep up the good work, Greg! In a way, your efforts mean more than the professional ones at Williamsburg, because the results are harder-won.

 

[oldhouseman]

Thanks Sandy

You have a great way of explaining matters that are very clear. Here is a picture of the dinning room as it was underway almost 2 years ago. Several contractors told me the plaster had to be removed because it had so much damage from age and a leaking roof. We decided to repair it on our own. Besides we didn't have the 20 thousand quoted us to redo the interior walls. We managed to save the original plaster in every room so far. I'll add an after shot after I post this

 

[oldhouseman]

Here is the same room now

yes, I still have to do the floors, that's next years project because they have to be hand sanded, no machines because they will tear up the dips and ridges in the floor. I was lucky to find the inventories for the house in various estate records so I am putting back the types of furnishings that would have been there originally (some of the original furniture is in the Conn. Historical Society).

I am very grateful for the help and advise I have received from members here. Will, how is the television coming along?

 

[oldhouseman]

Will, never mind

you answered that question earlier...

Here is another project off the list, the front piazza BEFORE

It does not show well in the photograph but most of the wood in that 1848 woodwork was rotted. Parts would fall oaway when touched. We had to save as much of the original wood as possible (the front piazza and two flanking rooms were added in 1848, the only really major change done to the place)

 

[oldhouseman]

Here is a during

pic, it took five months to do all the repairs. Note the curve on the bottom of the screen door. When it was put up sometime mid 20th century they cut the bottom to accomodate the centuries of wear on the threshold.

 

[oldhouseman]

And finally

a finished front! You bet there was a celebration when this part was done! We sat in the hall and had sandwiches and tea picnic style because there still was no water or electricity in the house at that point. And we found a brick walkway when we cleaned up the front yard. Look at the bottom of the screen door, ..lots of footsteps there since 1797!

 

[danemodsandy]

Greg:

Great job! Very few people appreciate the hands-on hard work that has to go into stuff like that. They will say, "Oh, how nice - you painted the place!" or something similar.

Especially great that you found the original walk under the yard debris - what a great bonus.

Keep me posted on your efforts - I'm always on the lookout for houses to write up for magazines.

 

[oldhouseman]

Thanks Sandy

will do. Dave and I are playing phone tag now on the stove. I hope we can make it happen.

Putting appliances in this house is a balancing act. Modern new appliances would not feel right to me.

My partner does not agree, he feels new appliances are just part of the newer restoration of the house. Maybe he is right but in that case so are older appliances. He bought the current stove in the kitchen and has some reservations about my bringing in older appliances. But he does not cook or do laundry (his parents had a full staff when he was growing up, I was not reared in that kind of household).

I have a bit of a diplomatic effort on my hands to get vintage goods (appliances) in the house but if I can put the house in shape one room at a time I can certainly pull this off. They may just show up and be in place. He never operates them anyway so he may not notice depending on the vintage. But he would certainly notice if a piece of furniture was a few years out of being correct for the house. He is the only historian I know that discounts machines of the 20th century but his focus on history has a special fix on furniture so I can forgive him and admire his focus on being an expert on American furniture and antiques. We work as a team when it comes to history and the household.

Ah, the aspects of a relationship. And old houses and Vintage Washing machines, Dryers, Stoves and Refrigerators.

Dave is busy tonight so we will talk tomorrow about the Stove! I am excited!!!

 

[oldhouseman]

Ok Will,

the lowest shipping charge I got was $620.00 dollars to move the stove from Virginia to Georgia.

With current gas prices......

With a very, very sad and bowed head I must pass on the stove. That's just to far above what I can pay for shipping. Especially considering the fact I am still in the middle of restoring an 18th century house. That still needs tons of work.

Will, I hope you can make good use of this machine!

Cheers,

Greg

 

[classiccaprice]

Bad News Greg! I agreed without measuring...

It won't fit in my kitchen!

Can someone on here help our dear friend, Dave?

 

[elginkid]

Hey Dave,

Why didn't you send the range home with Steph?

Also, Greg, your home is amazing! I wish I'd've known about it when I was living in Georgia. As to the, "Oh, how nice - you painted the place." - Comments like that, even though they don't respect the amount of work you've put it, should be taken as compliments. It is an unwitting way of people letting you know that you nailed it. They can't even tell that it hasn't always been that way.

Wes

 

[oldhouseman]

Thanks guys

I posted some bad work news in another thread. We are getting hit with massive job cuts next month so we are stopping work on the house until we are on firmer ground.

I am finishing the guest room because I already bought the supplies (actually I'm almost done, just finishing sanding the floor now). We are doing ok but since the house is pretty far along we will postpone further work until better times come. We just don't want to take any chances financially.

At least if I get cut from the staff I can take a break and have some guests over and finally enjoy the house for a while.

Wes, Sparta is not that far from Savannah, you really should come for a visit sometime soon.

Greg

 

[oldhouseman]

Oh yea,

....forgot to say...

The door is always open for visitors, especially AW members!

Greg

 

[classiccaprice]

It is quite a beautiful house Greg. I know you've worked hard and for what it's worth, I'm proud of you. So many people now a days don't care about the past... It's such a shame how much of our history is disappearing in front of our eyes. Our society's obsession with new and modern is resulting in a loss of historic fabric, some of which is irreplaceable. I could say more, but I'll get off my soap box for now.

Wesley is my friend who, along with Dave, I got the elixir recipe from. I forgot he had a profile, Wes isn't on much. He also hasn't lived in Savannah in nearly a year, he moved back home to Ohio. He's a neat fellow, I'm sure you'd like him. I plan on emailing you in the near future about advice on the tv set. It's just a bit too late tonight. Take Care!

Will

 

[lightedcontrols]

Greg!

Greg, Steve Riley (gyrafoam)is going to Atlanta in a week or so. Contact him and see if he can put the stove on his truck and take it to you. Mark

 

[lightedcontrols]

You Gotta Visit!

You have to come to Wytheville, the town that was named after George Wythe! Lots of history here too!!! Mark .... at lovely Chateau Wythmont in beautiful Wytheville