Definitely doesn't have the character of the first two, but rather cute. It could be a real charmer with a good restoration. The corner cabinets have to go, ditto the pink tile in the bathroom. The bathtub looks like genuine American Standard cast iron, in pretty good shape.

 

The little hearts cut into the stair balusters are just too cute!

 

look at all the great wood work.  You'll have to scrape all that crap off the painted rooms.

 

You can't always be sure that the woodwork is good hardwood under the paint. Many houses of the 20s and 30s had poplar or other less-expensive trim, and it was always painted. I stripped a few spots in my brick house and found poplar in every case, so I kept it painted; it would not have looked good in a natural finish unless I stripped and bleached and stained it, and that would have involved removing all of it and sending it out.

Swiss Chalet is still not my style, but I found this link that might be interesting to other UO'ers:

http://www.ci.cincinnati.oh.us/cdap/pages/-3783-/

Apparently, this style was somewhat popular in Cincinnati.

 

Definitely doesn't have the character of the first two, but rather cute. It could be a real charmer with a good restoration. The corner cabinets have to go, ditto the pink tile in the bathroom. The bathtub looks like genuine American Standard cast iron, in pretty good shape.

 

The little hearts cut into the stair balusters are just too cute!

I think I'm going to pass on this one.  It should be easy to find the right person for this house.  It's not overwhelmingly big, so utilities should be reasonable.  It is cute.  It could make a great little house for the first-time homeowner.  And, with the extra land available, it could appeal to those who prefer a more suburban yard.

 

You can't always be sure that the woodwork is good hardwood under the paint. Many houses of the 20s and 30s had poplar or other less-expensive trim, and it was always painted. I stripped a few spots in my brick house and found poplar in every case, so I kept it painted; it would not have looked good in a natural finish unless I stripped and bleached and stained it, and that would have involved removing all of it and sending it out.

My current house has oak woodwork downstairs, and natural finished pine woodwork upstairs.

 

You may not be able to tell from the pictures, but the first house has oak woodwork upstairs.  So, it could go either way for the second house.  But, if you look closely at the floor of the blue bedroom, you can see wide pine boards in the center, and narrower boards around the edge of the room.  That might mean that the floor was partially oak, or some other higher quality wood. (which might mean the woodwork is also a higher quality wood to match)

Well, I went to see more houses today.  We took a whirlwind tour through 8 (EIGHT!!!) houses.

 

I will post them all eventually.  But, I will only post the two that I like the best tonight. (but I'm afraid they might be too much for me to take on...)  Sorry I wasn't as thorough as the last time.

 

Here is the second house I looked at today:

 

Detail of the crown molding in the foyer:

 

Similar crown molding in the living room: (but not much else worth photographing)

 

Dining Room:

 

Detail showing that someone started to strip the woodwork...

 

Original built-in shelf in kitchen:

 

Master bedroom:

 

Other bedrooms:

 

Bathroom:

 

Attic facing the front of the house:

Same room:

 

Another attic room:

 

Attic bath:

 

Here is the 8th and last house I looked at today:

 

It may not be visible in the picture, but the original bevelled glass in the interior door and sidelights is still intact!

 

Huge fireplace in the livingroom!

 

Looking from living room back to the foyer:

 

Looking from the dining room into the pantry: (butler's pantry?)

 

Kitchen:

 

Master bedroom:

 

Bathroom:

 

Second bedroom:

 

Other bedrooms:

 

For some reason, all the 5-panel doors were taken off their hinges and were laying around.  I think they were all there, though.

 

It was a fun day, but hearbreaking at the same time.

Here are more of the houses as promised.  I guess I was more tired than I though, because we explored 7 houses, not 8.

 

This is the first house we entered:

 

A lot of these houses have this detail.

 

Front hall:

 

Living room:

 

Dining Room:

 

Kitchen:

 

Upstairs:

 

Attic:

 

Daylight :( :

 

Then we entered the green house I posted yesterday.

 

This is the 3rd house we entered:

 

Living room:

^Considering how trashed the rest of the house is, I'm surprised this is still there.

 

Dining room:

 

Original kitchen:

 

Downstairs bath:

 

Upstairs:

 

Attic:

 

More daylight...

 

I'll post the rest in the next post.

This house had been chopped up quite a bit, so it's hard to describe the layout with pictures.

 

Front hall:

 

Living room that is no longer accessible from the front hall:

 

Dining room: (apparently the party room)

 

 

Upstairs:

^Must have been nice moldings!

 

 

Attic:

 

We then headed across the street for the last 3 houses.

 

This one was "modernized" with lots of fake wood panelling, and every room seems to have been turned into a dorm room.  That's why I'm only posting 2 pictures.

^One of the only original details left.  But, it would seem this was originally a very nice house.

 

Second to last house we went into, but the last house I'll be posting.  The last house we entered was posted last night.

 

^That looks like it would have been a great place to read a book in winter.

 

Upstairs:

 

In the master bedroom, another cozy spot:

 

^Looks like the set for a horror movie!

 

I know these are all in terrible shape.  But their location is great.  You can see YSU and Wick Park from the front yards of each of these houses.  And, they are all on the city's demolition list.  So, I have that incentive to try to save one.

 

I hope you enjoyed the tour.  This was how the upper middle class lived before it was fashionable to move to the suburbs...

Man, looks like a lot of work to do.

 

My landlord is renovating [technically restoring] my apartment right now.  Just watching the plumbing being replaced right now...Oy!

Man, looks like a lot of work to do.

 

My landlord is renovating [technically restoring] my apartment right now.  Just watching the plumbing being replaced right now...Oy!

 

Definitely a lot of work.  And, I hope I'm capable of getting it all done.  But, there's an expresseion that is used a lot in the "Defend Youngstown" circles: "We are the people we have been waiting for."

 

I found out yesterday that all of the recent houses I posted were sold.  So, I'm back to looking at the first two houses I posted pics of on May 5.

For anyone who is interested...

 

I just found out a couple days ago that "house #1" on this page was designed by Charles F. Owsley, the same architect who designed some of Youngstown's famous buildings.  Some of these buildings are: the Home Savings and Loan building, the Isaly Dairy (aka U-Haul) building, the main library, and the Mahoning County Courthouse.

 

This "pedigree" is making that house more appealing to me even though it needs more work than "house #2."

Fixing up a "century" home like so many of the beautiful ones on Youngstown's

North Side is an expensive proposition, no matter how you look at it.

 

I bought a beautiful old yellow brick home in the Wick Park neighborhood in

2006 and have been working on the place [off and on] ever since.  When

the house is finished, I will easily have put $100K into it (including the original

purchase price) but it's worth every penny.

 

My labor of love was built in 1900 - and had electricity added eleven years LATER.

 

The house was a total gut, as the city inspector refused to allow me to turn

on the electricity again without rewiring the entire house.  Since this was the

case,  I figured I might as well insulate the place and fix some structural

issues while the walls were all taken apart.  The house was converted from

steam heat to forced air sometime in the mid 1960's by an unscrupulous

heating contractor - who cut through LOAD BEARING FRAMING to install

the duct work.

 

I had to jack up the house with 75,000 lb jacks repeatedly - and in multiple

places - to make it right again.  I also had to replace several main beams

under the center of the house, and install some 12 inch steel girder beam

sections and pilings 6 feet into the basement floor.

 

The insides are finally back in the house (tape, plaster and paint not included)

and everything works now - new plumbing, new electrical wiring, new sewer and

drains under the basement floor, new roof, entirely new high-efficiency forced

air heating system, restored (antique) pocket doors, new (antique) front and

side entrance doors, etc.

 

The house has hardwood floors downstairs, and (poplar? maple?) floors upstairs.

All of the wood work is red oak, and was NEVER painted over - a stroke of

pure luck.

 

I don't know if I will ever do another total "gut" project again, but it was

definitely worthwhile.  I hope to live in this house in my declining years, after

I retire someday.

 

The new roof cost about $6,000, the heating system cost another $6,000 (I

know someone who knows someone....gave me a DEAL), the basement

structural work cost another $5,000, sewer and drains about $2,000, a new

water main from the street into the basement - $550, complete tear-off and

replacement of the front porch roof (ie: from the brick pillars on up) $1,500,

new wiring - about $6,000 (I had a 100 amp sub-panel put into the attic, as

there used to be a one bedroom apartment up there that was original

construction - probably maid's quarters, etc).

 

The house has the original, double-hung wooden sashes, but there are storm

windows so I'll be able to hold off on new windows for a couple years.

 

I've kept a photographic record of the progress on my rehab of the house,

and post everything on my website.  If anyone here is interested in seeing

a total gut job from beginning to [almost] end, just let me know.

 

my email address is:  [email protected]

Wow, great thread.  ReSettle Youngstown sounds intriguing.

 

All the best to you JRC.

Thanks for the reply Allan.  Glad you made it over here.

 

I have a new lead on a house.  But I'm not posting pics or sharing details until after I get it.  Everytime I share my excitement about a new lead on a public forum, something always happens to make the deal fall through. (:))  So, I'm not saying anything else until I have possession of the house. (we'll see...)

 

Unfortunately, every house from post 52 on is now gone forever.  The first 3 houses are still available.  But my employment isn't steady enough, and they need too much work, for me to take one of them on.

Allan we would love to see a photo thread on the rehab.

CBC,

 

I have literally hundreds and hundreds of photos, but I will try to give you all some of the highlights...

 

First, the roof...

More proch roof...

Structural repairs to center wall framing (load bearing wall damaged by

prior heating installation), overhead framing under upstairs bedroom - showing repairs and corrections.....

Restoration of the bay window in the dining room... there would have been

stained and/or leaded glass in the traverse panel across the top, and the center

framed window below back in the day...

Total replacement of sewer and drains in the basement... the original sewer and

drainage system was made of terra-cotta pipe, and settling of the house and basement slab had completely crushed the sewer pipes....

Restoration of the pocket wall and sliding doors - this is one of my

favorite architectural features of the older, century homes.

 

The pocket doors were taken out in the mid 1960's, when the house was

changed over from steam heat to forced air gas heat.  I wasn't able to

find a set of antique doors to fit the original framing of the door opening,

so I had to re-frame the opening, to fit the replacement doors...

 

When we took down the plaster and lathe on the living room side of the

door framing, we found an electrical inspection tag - dated November 11, 1911.

That's how I know the house was wired for electricity 11 years after it was

built.

This is the main bathroom. When the house was remodeled in the mid 1960's,

the owner had this GOD-AWFUL "George Jetson" style bathroom put in.  Talk

about perennial Christmas....ACK!!

 

The floor was originally made of planked maple or poplar, and was in very bad

condition underneath the linoleum tile so it had to be replace with a new

sub-floor and concrete board since I wanted to have a tile floor that would

look like something from the early 1900's.

 

I looked at examples of bathtubs, floor tile and sinks that would have been

common during this period, and came to a compromise.  The floor tile is a

reproduction of the original bisque hex tiles.

 

In the end, the new bathroom will be a compromise between antiquity and a

modern bathroom, with reproduction wall tile like that shown in the example

photos and some type of reproduction bull-nose molding tile around the top

where the tile meets the finished walls.

 

I got lucky with the medicine chest - this was the original, which I found

stashed away in the attic.  I plan on stripping it and restoring it, along with

an antique silvered glass mirror...

The kitchen and breakfast kitchen:

 

The current kitchen is located in what used to be a pantry or indoor

mud room, and incorporates what used to be an outside corner porch.

When the house was remodeled in the 60's, the corner porch was

brought inside, and the kitchen was moved from what is now the

breakfast kitchen to it's current location.

 

There was a wall between the old kitchen and the present one, which

was taken out and a steel girder was installed to hold up the outer

wall of the house above it.

 

I eliminated the old laundry chute next to the chimney, because the

new heating system uses a cold air return pipe in its place.

 

The wall where the glass block window is now had a window which

was bricked up and walled over when the kitchen had been remodeled.

I decided to put the glass block in because the kitchen is so long

and narrow, and needed more light.

 

The antique 6-panel door you see in the photo is between the breakfast

kitchen and the formal dining room - it was a swinging door, which will be

converted into a single pocket door that will slide to the left and into the

wall.

 

WOW! Better you than me, but WOW! :-)

It's a big investment in both time and money, but some day when I retire

it will be a great house to live in.

Thanks Allan!  There are some details here that I hadn't picked up in your blog.

JRC, what is the link to his blog?

 

Allan, wow! Is all that I can say.

JRC, what is the link to his blog?

 

Allan, wow! Is all that I can say.

 

This is Allan's website: http://www.allthingsyoungstown.net/ (Lots of stuff here!)

 

To get to the specific blog I was referring to, click on "Homes & Buildings" in the left-hand frame, then "Historic Homes," then "No. 114 Woodbine Street."

 

thanks!

JRC - I put your photos from this thread into galleries and put them

up on the website.

 

I've been adding some new content this week, and came across the following

photo in an old edition of Ohio Architect Engineer and Builder magazine, ca.

1915. The article was a write up on C.F. Owsley - the famous architect that

designed so many homes and buildings in Youngstown.

 

Before and after photos are always so compelling to look at..this is the German

Dutch Colonial house at N. 1210 Bryson street - just a few years after it was

built, followed by one of your photos.

 

I fell in love with the place after seeing your photos of the interior (I had taken

some photos of my own a while back, but only of the exterior). 

 

If I had the money, I would buy this house TOMORROW and fix it up.  It's big

enough to be apartments inside and, from looking at your photos it looks like

someone had already divided the place up inside.

 

Out of all  your photos that I've looked at so far, this house seems to be

in much better shape than most of the others... I wish SOMEONE would

buy this house.

 

Does this house have two staircases?  I think it does, based on your photos,

but it's hard to picture the interior floor plan in my head....

What a lovely house!

JRC,

 

I wanted to post the photos you took of this house on the website also,

but I don't know what the address is... could you email it to me privately?

 

Thanks!

 

Allan

:)

JRC - I put your photos from this thread into galleries and put them

up on the website.

 

I've been adding some new content this week, and came across the following

photo in an old edition of Ohio Architect Engineer and Builder magazine, ca.

1915. The article was a write up on C.F. Owsley - the famous architect that

designed so many homes and buildings in Youngstown.

 

Before and after photos are always so compelling to look at..this is the German

Dutch Colonial house at N. 1210 Bryson street - just a few years after it was

built, followed by one of your photos.

 

I fell in love with the place after seeing your photos of the interior (I had taken

some photos of my own a while back, but only of the exterior). 

 

If I had the money, I would buy this house TOMORROW and fix it up.  It's big

enough to be apartments inside and, from looking at your photos it looks like

someone had already divided the place up inside.

 

Out of all  your photos that I've looked at so far, this house seems to be

in much better shape than most of the others... I wish SOMEONE would

buy this house.

 

Does this house have two staircases?  I think it does, based on your photos,

but it's hard to picture the interior floor plan in my head....

 

Wow, thanks for sharing the original photo Allan!  The did a good job remodeling the front porch.  The enclosed sun room has a nice oak floor under the green carpet.  And, there is a concrete floor, level with the rest of the porch, under the pergola/arbor on the right.  The port cochere, on the other hand, is showing signs of sagging where they widened it.

 

Yes, it was apartments.  I think there was an apartment on the first floor, and two apartments upstairs.

 

I'll try to explain how this house is laid out in words, but I'm sorry ahead of time if it's too confusing.

 

Looking at the house from the front -

On the first floor:

On the right side of the house, you have the living room and the dining room.  The front door enters directly into the living room.  On the left, you have the library (converted to a kitchen) then the foyer, then the kitchen.  The side door enters into the foyer.  There were two stairs right next to each other.  The rear stair, the one closest to the kitchen, was closed off.

 

On the second floor:

On the right side of the house, you have the master bedroom in front, and another bedroom (with the a leaking roof) in the back.  The small master bath and closet is between the two.  On the left, you have two more bedrooms at the front and back, with the stairs and hallway between. (over the foyer)  The original bathroom is in the back between the two back bedrooms.

 

Unfortunately, this house needs too much work for me right now.  Employment is too unstable.  If I were to lose my job in 6 months or a year, I would be stuck with two houses - one in almost unsellable condition.  A co-worker estimates that it would take $40k just to make the house inhabitable. :cry:

Allan, your website rocks!

CBC,

 

Thanks for the kind compliments on the website... the website turned three

years old this year, from it's first version on a free, crappy hosting service

with no disk space and tons of restrictions to where it is now.

 

I bought the domain allthingsyoungstown.net two years ago, and moved the

site "in-house" (literally - it's sitting on the floor next to me) and onto my own

server.  I've got just shy of 2 Terabytes of disk space available now, and can

stream video and audio of my choosing.

 

Last month, it surpassed the 10,000 visits mark.

 

I am always looking for new content, so if you ever have anything Youngstown

related (especially historical info, photos, etc) that you would like to share

then please do not hesitate to upload to the site via the FTP address.

 

The website goes hand in hand with my Yahoo group, which is used as the

message board system for the website:

 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YTownHistoricHomesBldgs/

JRC - any word on the house you are currently looking at?  I know you didn't want to

"jinx" yourself by saying anything unless the deal went through - just wondering if

you had any good news to share.

 

 

:)

^I wish, Allan.  The current owner isn't motivated to sell.  I called him last week, and am waiting for him to call back.  I don't want to nag him and make him decide that he'd rather keep the place, but I don't want to seem uninterested, either.  It's a fine balancing act that I'm not familiar with. :)

I feel you, JRC....

 

Good luck - and keep us posted.  If the deal does go through  I'd love to see lots and

lots of photos, of course!

 

 

:)

I just love this thread.  I dont envy you, especially since I may be going down this road again.

JRC,

 

I recently returned from a trip to Youngstown.  I spent the entire month of April

doing some major rehab and restoration work on one of my properties there.

 

You can check out the photos at:

 

http://allthingsyoungstown.net/124illinois/index.html

JRC,

 

I recently returned from a trip to Youngstown.  I spent the entire month of April

doing some major rehab and restoration work on one of my properties there.

 

You can check out the photos at:

 

http://allthingsyoungstown.net/124illinois/index.html

 

Nice work.  Love the floors. 

JRC,

 

I recently returned from a trip to Youngstown. I spent the entire month of April

doing some major rehab and restoration work on one of my properties there.

 

You can check out the photos at:

 

http://allthingsyoungstown.net/124illinois/index.html

 

Thanks for thinking of me.  I'm "westsider" at mahoningvalley.info, so I saw this there.  Nice work!

Update - the short version:

The owner and I came to an agreement about purchasing the house late last spring.  I tried to get a conventional mortgage, but the bank said no, because the house appraised for less than the agreed purchase price, but also because the house needed too much work. (late August)

 

Then, I suggested that the owner consider owner financing, and he said no. (late October)

 

So then I went to a different bank for a home purchase/renovation mortgage. (like a FHA 203k, for those who know what that is)  For this mortgage, the bank needed a written estimate of repairs from a contractor.  Last night, I called to set up an appointment when a contractor could view the house.  Unfortunately, the owner told me that he was no longer interested in selling the house, unless the buyer has cash, or can use a conventional mortgage.  He didn't like so many people going through the house, and it was too much of a hassle.

 

I have a lead on another house in the neighborhood.  But at 3100 s.f. I'm concerned that it might be too large for me to manage.

I think you can manage 3100 square feet.  Just think big!

I wouldn't mind living in a large home.  I can be creative with spaces. (music room, home theater, office, exercise room, etc.)  But I'm worried about the utilities in a 100+ year-old house that proabably has few, if any mechanical updates or insulation. (not that I couldn't correct these problem, eventually...)

I wouldn't mind living in a large home.  I can be creative with spaces. (music room, home theater, office, exercise room, etc.)  But I'm worried about the utilities in a 100+ year-old house that proabably has few, if any mechanical updates or insulation. (not that I couldn't correct these problem, eventually...)

 

Insulate...insulate...insulate!

 

make it a fabulous investment.

I wouldn't mind living in a large home. I can be creative with spaces. (music room, home theater, office, exercise room, etc.) But I'm worried about the utilities in a 100+ year-old house that proabably has few, if any mechanical updates or insulation. (not that I couldn't correct these problem, eventually...)

 

Another option would be to rent out part of it or if zoning allowed, perhaps lease out the downstairs for business use. You'd have to really know who you're renting or leasing to, though. (See the old movie "Pacific Heights" for an idea about the scary renter from Hades) A zoned heating/AC system would allow you to heat and cool specific parts of the house and close off the rest. 3,100 sq, feet is not that big, most average McMansions are considerably larger than that. The most important issue is how much work on the house is needed? A $5,000 wreck may end up costing more than a $100k house in decent condition. Appraised value vs. selling price; property taxes, location, (safe in a stable neighborhood or in a marginal area with little potential for appreciation) and proximity to those places you frequent the most such as work, school(s), restaurants, family members, etc. Not to be overlooked is how long do you think you would live there? Probably not a good idea to sink a lot of money in a house you may want to sell in a few years. Maybe a checklist for all of these considerations would help you to determine if it really is ideal for you or better passed. Of course, no property is without some risks and no one has a crystal ball on the future of real estate, so every real estate investment is a little bit of a gamble these days. Good luck.

If you go down this road, spend money on insulation, new storm windows/doors, and the roof before you do anything else.  It's a lot of money up front, but it will pay off in the long run.  Then do plumbing, then electric, and of course address any structural issues before you do anything on this list.  Obviously, do the floors last.  The simple rule is to fix things that could break something else first.  No point in making the inside of the house nice if the roof leaks unexpectedly and ruins everything.

 

This will be a big project and you definitely don't want to start work until you've broken it into phases.  Oh, and WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN.  Having everything on paper makes the project much easier to manage, and you'll be less likely to forget something important.  I missed one or two things that would have been easy up until a certain stage of my own renovation and I'm still kicking myself for it.

I think you should do electric before plumbing, unless its that far gone.

Here is a picture of the house I didn't get:

 

I know it doesn't look like anything special from the outside, but the interior has some great original details.

 

Here is the 3100 s.f. house I'm thinking about looking at next: (I had to steal a pic from JW again, but I don't think he'll mind, since he doesn't seem to post here anymore)

 

I don't know much about it yet.  The auditor's site says it was built in 1912, but I can see it clearly on AllanY's 1907 Sanborn Map.

i like the second house better!

Me too. That second house has the potential to be something special.

What I really liked about the first house, (the house that I lost) besides the original detailing inside and the managable size, was that it faced Wick Park.  Because it is so visible, any improvements to the exterior have more impact on the neighborhood in general.

 

I love the street that the second house is on.  But, it's a side street.

 

I'm going to talk to a guy who has lived in the neighborhood all his life.  He owns a couple properties, and has his finger on the pulse of the neighborhood and knows who owns what, and who is willing to sell, etc.  He owns this house on Wick Park:

In my wildest dreams, he would sell this to me for a decent price.  (and he might do this, so I'm told, because he only bought this mansion to keep it out of the hands of speculators)  But it's even bigger than 3100 s.f.