And Now... The Back of the House

I thought I would use this post to give some feedback on a couple of comments that were left on the blog this week. The first, from Charley, is a request for a picture of the back of the house since such views are rare. As you can see from the picture below, it isn't exactly the houses best side. And I should note a couple of deviations/alterations from the original design. First, the two windows in the dormer should be closer together, but are a few feet farther apart in order to accommodate the rear chimney. In the original design, the chimney would be in the back bedroom closet. As for alterations, there was a window just to the right of the back door, but it was removed during a recent kitchen remodel. Although it would be nice to have all of the windows intact, this particular one was taking up valuable real estate in a very small kitchen, so I'm not complaining too much.

The second comment comes from fellow Dr Who fan and Marsden owner The Master, and she writes:
I also own a Marsden! Mine is in very bad shape, it was almost condemned before I bought it. Most of it's beautiful woodwork/bookcases/windows/hardware has been removed or updated to a more modern look. What were they thinking! I have just started plans to restore it, but was lost until I found your blog. You made me realize this house still has hope and she could be returned back to her original, unique, self.

I would love to hear from you, share some pictures, and maybe even do some brainstorming for ideas.

Great to hear from another Marsden owner. Sorry to hear that it has been the victim of a horrible remuddle, but it sounds like you're willing to do what it takes to bring it back to its former glory. Although I haven't posted pictures of every part of the house, there should be enough in what is posted to give you an idea of what your house was like when it was built. As fitting an Arts and Crafts house, everything is very simple, with very little detail, so restoring things like window and door frames or baseboards should be relatively easy compared to restoring similar parts of a Victorian. Other details such as doors or built-ins would vary from house to house, so just try to stay within the right time period and style and you should be fine. If you have any other questions, just post a comment. And good luck!

And if anyone else wants to see a particular part of the house or any other requests, just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

More Treasures from the Box

Now that I've come out of hibernation after a nasty winter, I decided to go through some more of the pictures that the original owners of the house left behind. I had actually been putting it off for a while due to the frustration of not knowing much about the people in the photos. Sure, I could take some educated guesses as to some of their identities, but most eluded me. Dating the photos was problematic as well. If I knew more about turn-of-the-20th-century clothing, it might be easier. Fortunately one single picture became the piece of the puzzle I had been looking for.

I had a hunch that in this group of women workers outside the Columbus Pharmacal Co. was Estella Ankrom, daughter of the house's original owner (and eventual owner herself), but the picture is too small (2x3) to see much detail. Until, of course, I scanned it. It was an epiphany. There was someone I recognized from several other pictures. There was Estella (third from the right, bottom row).
So now that I've found Estella, I thought I would share some more photos of her.

I have no clue who the 2 young gentlemen are, but Estella seems pretty pleased with herself.
Another photo from the same day. Presumably the 2nd young man took this photo and the other young lady the previous one.Here she is posing next to a sundial on the Oval at The Ohio State University.
Estella hanging out by the pool with friends. Its possible that this is the pool at Olentangy Park, for many years the largest pool in the United States.Here she is with her brother Lindsay and possibly his future wife Grace. This may have also been taken at Olentangy Park, at the Boat House on the Olentangy River. It seems someone has the wrong pair of shoes! There's not enough information in the picture to tell where it was taken, but it could be the park again. The location of this picture is a bit easier to identify since its the front of the house. I would guess that the picture dates from the early 30s. It's the only picture I have of the four members of the family together.An interesting bit of trivia: my wife and I first viewed the house on March 15th last year. That was 20 years to the day that Estella's obituary ran in the local paper. And we took possession of the house only 2 days before her 119th birthday.

A Boxful of History

Having studied archaeology in college, I obviously have a great deal of interest in the past. So it should come as no surprise that I was very excited when I found out that the original owners of our house left behind a box full of old photographs. I've spent many hours studying the pictures, trying to figure out who was who and when was what. With very little to go on, I've managed to piece together a bit of the history of the house and it's first occupants.

Solomon Ankrom was a 60 year old retired grocer who brought his wife Lydia and 2 grown children (Lindsay was 33 and Estella 29) up to Columbus from McArthur in the southern part of the state in 1918. It would appear that the property was being developed for sale by Charles Cornell, who had the house built in 1917, possibly after Ankrom had agreed to purchase the property. It's difficult to say why Mr. Ankrom chose Columbus as a place to retire, but the photographs may give a clue. Many of the pictures were taken on trips to parks and swimming pools. Considering that Olentangy Park, at the time the largest amusement park in the country, was just a two or three minute walk from the house, it is reasonable to assume that the Ankrom family had visited the area before 1918.

Solomon passed away in 1935 and Lydia in 1948. Son Lindsay had moved to a house on the opposite side of Walhalla ravine after getting married some time in the mid 20's. But daughter Estella remained in the house for nearly 70 years until her death in 1987 at the age of 98. And so thanks to Estella for leaving behind a fascinating treasure chest of her family's history.

Here is a picture of Solomon standing on the west side of the house. Notice the screens in the kitchen windows.

This is son Lindsay, following in his father's footsteps, in front of a grocery store, probably in Columbus.

Lindsay, Lydia, Lindsay's wife Grace, and Sonny the cat. The concrete barrier behind them is still there, acting as a guard rail above the ravine. Probably taken in the early 40's.
I always thought the following 2 pictures were amusing, as they show Lindsay and Lydia cooking over a campfire among what appears to be a lot of junk. However, after scanning the pictures I was able to see more clearly what is in the background. It appears to be a construction site, possibly of the house. Perhaps they came up to check on the progress of the house. The spot where they are cooking lunch could be the last flat piece of ground on the north side of the street before it drops off into the ravine. The distance is about right, and the fact that there are no other houses in the picture would be correct as well.

The frame of the house is clearly visible just behind Lindsay.

I think we're going to have to have hot dogs to celebrate our first year in the house.

This is just a sample of the pictures, but I'll share the others with you some time later.

Holiday Surprise

The Winter issue of American Bungalow came out last week and our house appears in the Family Album section of the magazine. It can also be seen on the American Bungalow website here. I submitted it back in early summer, so I've been waiting for it to appear. Glad to say that it holds its own against the other houses in the Album. And very cool to open up such a great magazine and see a picture of your own home.

Finally, Some New Pictures!

I apologize for the long wait, as I know many of you have been checking for new posts, but its been a case of one-thing-after-another (usually not house-related, fortunately). At the moment I find myself at home sick and with some time to share a few new pictures.

A view of the fireplace end of the living room. For this seating area we decided to do something keeping with the period the house was built and settled on wicker.

Here's a photo of the dining room with the table and chairs.


And another shot looking the other direction. Ignore the out-of-place Victorian bench under the window. Its for the cats. :)


One of the last changes we made was to remove the shag carpet runner on the stairs and replace it with something more appropriate.


This is our bedroom. Honestly, I'm mainly showing off my wife's quilts. They're completely handmade. The one on the bed took around 7 years to finish.


This is one of our two cats. Her name is Spider. She's showing how much she appreciates those 7 years of work. BTW, sometime down the road I'll be doing a post about the house's original feline resident, Sonny.