Tina,
Small square frame houses with two front doors next to one another constructed
in early 20th century in Oklahoma were still extant in the 1970s. They are
commonly refered to as "Prairie Box" houses.
J. T. Penman
PO Box 861568
Wahiawa, HI 96786
work phone (808) 655-9724
home phone (808) 622-2727
mobile phone (808) 220-6004
FAX (808) 622-2929
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From: Tina Devereaux <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Fri, September 17, 2010 12:08:14 PM
Subject: New here, couple of questions
First off, hello! Love the board.
#1.... I have a home built in 1870. It's a very simple "servants cottage" next
door to, and set pretty far back from, "the big house". The big house has a
fresh water cistern beneath it. On the other side of me used to be a very old
home as well, also set far up in front and to the side of my house, and it was
turned into a malaria hospital (!!!) then later destroyed. However, a newer home
was built over top of a fresh water cistern, which the top of was barely covered
with cement. Now, those two cisterns are almost exactly in line with each
other. I have an area in my front yard, also exactly in line with, and between,
the two cisterns, that is dipped down quite a bit. One of the former owners of
my home tried to conceal the spot with several azaleas, but they don't do well
there. Last summer, as I was pruning the shrubs, I noticed many antique red clay
bricks laying about in that dipped area. The area also was quite moist. I dug
around in the dirt a bit and discovered mo
re of the bricks. My husband told me to knock it off before I uncovered
something we couldn't handle, hahahahaha! **** SO.... my question is the
obvious: What do y'all think? Since my house sits so far back, perhaps there
was another structure/home there and there WAS another cistern there? Or maybe
because of all the red clay bricks it was a bucket-type well? If there's a
chance that there's a well there, I will SO reconstruct that sucker! I have at
least 200 full size bricks that I have carefully pulled from the ground all over
the property. They're so fragile when they're wet that I can break them in
half, but they strengthen a bit when they dry out.
#2... I discovered, through a 1960's photo I happened to see of my home at Town
Hall, that my house originally had two identical front doors, about 4 feet
apart. I asked the clerk to scan the photo and email it to me. Due to a former
owner (Mr. Azalea) making a horrible judgment call, MY house is THE only house
in the ENTIRE Historic District with vinyl siding on it. Sigh. Fortunately, the
original clapboards are still underneath and the house sits far enough back from
the road that you can't really tell. So, after taking a good look at the photo,
running my hand down the porch wall several times and finding what I was looking
for, I took a Whiz Wheel and cut the vinyl siding away from my hidden door!! It
was still there and in beautiful condition, frame and all! Can you believe he
had just slapped a piece of plywood over the door opening and put the siding
over it? ANYWAY.... the home has a center chimney, but is accessible from one
side only, and that appears to be from
the "less used" OR maybe "newer" side of the house. The other side has
pot-belly stove vents still in place. The flooring on the fireplace side is
narrow tongue and groove pine, and is in pretty decent shape. The flooring on
the pot belly stove side is random width pine, which has probably never been
refinished and only had more lacqure applied to it over the years to seal the
very wide cracks. It's in pretty bad shape, but I love it. The entire house is
balloon framed, both sides. But the odd thing is, both sides have huge beams,
and mortise and tenon joints with tree nails..... as well as a million nails of
every shape and size, both square head and round! There is no insulation of any
kind, except what Mr. Azalea & Vinyl Siding stuffed in here and there. *****
So, my question: Do you think both sides of the house were built at the same
time, or at different times? And, what in the WORLD are these house with two
front doors called, and where can I read more about them
? Any links you can suggest? I have found very little info!
rmation
through Google.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! Sorry so long..... Tina
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