Readers respond to Mystery House #33
Old House Details

The Mystery   |  Answers from Readers

From Bobby:

Your house might be older than 1906. Looks Queen Anne. Very beautiful.

I hope you preserve and restore, rather than renovate. Your house would look wonderful with its original painted siding, shutters and windows.

Please keep those curved windows. If your windows are original, replacement would damage the character of your house. Yes, they can be fixed. And the savings in fuel from new windows as opposed to restored windows is often not recovered for decades - often just in time to replace the "new better" windows.

From Pat:

This house looks to me as if it were built before 1900. It also looks as if it originally had a porch. I have never seen a house this style without a long porch. The porches on these old houses often deteriorate because the wood which holds them up will rot with time. Maybe you could put a virtual porch on the photo and see if you think it looks beautiful enough to justify the expense of having it rebuilt.

The Victorian houses I have seen & know about have the trim a darker color than the house itself. About the shutters - I believe they were on all windows for heat and cold. But I'm not sure you would want them or need them on all the windows.

From Diana Cumbo:

I believe you are referring to the built in bays...windows. In older homes (Victorian Queen Anne) they put in three-sided walls -- it is in the bay format. My home also has them. Mine is Mystery House 18... Country Queen Anne.

I can't believe that your home is only 1600 sq.feet. It looks much larger. Mine looks smaller than yours and it has 4360 sq.feet. I also have a turret. I want to someday tear out the ceiling and have a cathedral like ceiling there. I guess you're always thinking up ways to make more work for yourself. I guess you're like me trying to preserve the beauty of the woodwork and restore it to its original beauty. Best of Luck.

From Don:

Nice house! It certainly has Victorian features. If your three-sided extrusion with windows is the structure on the right side of the house in the photo, I would call it a two-story bay window. Does your house have new siding on it? My guess is it probably had shingles or narrower clapboards on it; maybe both. If you decide to remove the new siding, you may discover that the original siding is still intact underneath. It may have had a large porch on the front originally. If there is any way to do it, try to save your curved windows; have them rebuilt if necessary because they are a unique feature of your house. Have fun and good luck.

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