After finding substantial leaks beneath the house, we decided the time was right to plumb in a new line and add a second bath to our 1920 Craftsman bungalow. A 1940a partial front-porch conversion left a useless closet off the master bedroom with a bordered over window visible only from the exterior. Crossing our fingers, we began to cut through the lath and plaster, hoping to find the window intact beneath. To our surprise, the procedure only took 15 minutes and opened the window, which had not given sunlight for decades.
Now we had a small space - less than 3.5′ wide by 7′ long - for a powder room.
The name of the builder of our 1917 American Foursquare appears on the back of pieces of wood throughout our house. A couple years ago I wanted to learn more so I researched him at our local genealogical society. It was so fun. An unexpected thrill was when I wrote about it on my blog and readers began commenting. They turned out to be descendants of the builder!
There are so many things and ways to research an old house. And you never know what you’ll find. Check out my discovery here: http://mushroomfactor.com/old-houses-mushroom-in-many-ways
We were able to look up the names of previous owners in city directories, as well as their occupations & telephone numbers. One was a well-known author who lived in the house during the 1930s. We were able to get his photo from an obituary, & made some cold calls to locate his decedents, but haven’t had any luck yet.
However, we have met two people who lived in the house, one woman who lived there from 1940-1968 & one who lived there from 1973-1975, both of whom just happened to stop by the house. The woman who lived there from 1940-68 brought us two very nice 8×10 photos of the house from the 50s.
The city’s Historic Designation Advisory Board happens to have many of the old building permits on microfilm. Pulling the permit told me who the architect was, and also who the builder was. One of the architect’s associates is actually still in business, and they are searching their archives for any plans they might have. I think I’ve got a pretty complete picture of the house’s history, but only time will tell how much more I’ll find…