Our house actually consists of two separate buildings, which were in joint ownership for many years but only combined into one house in the 1920s.
This is the architect's drawing of the front of our house:
It is a three storey house, built around 1690. It originally had a typical 17th century gabled front but was remodelled in 1812 when a flat front was added, with three sets of symmetrical sash windows. The windows on the ground floor were removed in the early 1980s and replaced with Queen Anne style bow windows - a style which is a century too early for the 19th century frontage. These windows completely destroy the symmetry of the front elevation.
This is the architect's drawing of the back:
On the right can be seen the rear of the three storey house, which extends backwards to form a short L-shape. It has a 17th century gable end, containing the huge chimney for the inglenook fireplace on the ground floor.
On the left is a two storey building dating from around 1620. It was probably built as a stable but was later used as a workshop. At some point a one storey extension was added behind this building, incorporating an outside toilet. The bite out of the left hand side is where there used to be a stone staircase, which was moved into the house in 1975 to form the an internal spiral staircase.
The resulting building has a higgledy-piggledy internal layout and very few right angles:
whilst the complexity of the roofline has to be seen to be believed:
2 comments:
Very cool! I'm not familiar with homes like this so I am so glad you are sharing this.
Thank you, Marian. It is certainly different from the beautiful New England homes you feature. At the moment it is definitely an ugly duckling but I'm hoping a swan will emerge given time and love.
Post a Comment