Working on old houses alongside his father, Jerod Fitzgerald grew up learning about carpentry. The restoration bug didn’t hit him, though, until he met his wife, Maria—a real-estate agent with an eye for neglected, historic houses with potential. When the couple found the 1913 Craftsman in Portland’s Irvington neighborhood, a National Register Historic District, they were thrilled. With two full storeys, it had four bedrooms and a generous attic, plenty of space for their three boys. School was a five-minute walk away. Box-beam ceilings and generous mouldings hinted at the house’s past as a model home.
IT WASN’T SURPRISING, however, that there hadn’t been much interest in the house before the Fitzgeralds saw it. A 1960s remodeling had rendered it virtually unrecognizable from its picture in a 1913 newspaper ad. An open sleeping porch had been removed, along with side pergolas and overhanging eaves. Decorative rafter tails had been cut back to the roofline (probably secondary to rot that resulted from neglect). The flat-roofed porch was held up by 4x4 posts and the façade was covered in disproportionate aluminum siding. Inside, the dining room and kitchen had plywood ceilings dropped to 8', walls were painted an unsettling lime color, floral linoleum had been laid on oak floors, and fluorescent lighting hung overhead.
This story is from the November - December 2019 edition of Old House Journal.
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This story is from the November - December 2019 edition of Old House Journal.
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THE Villa RENEWED
This house in Greene County, New York, has been faithfully restored, from its foundation and structure to exterior elements and trim inside.
walls & ceilings
BY THE 1870s, the tripartite treatment was fashionable: walls divided into dado (or wainscot) below the chair rail, fill or field section, and frieze at the top of the wall.
lighting + hardware
ANTIQUE, REPRODUCTION, or contemporary, lighting fixtures and lamps are among the most cost-effective ways to add drama or period style to a room.
CRAFTSMAN PATINA
A smitten owner brings the Arts & Crafts aesthetic to a 1921 bungalow in Seattle.
furniture & decorative accessories
PERIOD ROOMS are the goal of a very small niche of old-house owners.
wall & floor tiles
TODAY WE FIND TILE from small studios . . . carved relief tiles, subway tile and mosaics, glazes matte and iridescent . . . plus encaustics and California revivals.
A TRANSCENDENT BATHROOM IN OJAI
A seamless addition allowed for this timeless primary bath, which has been re-imagined as an upgrade dating to ca. 1930.
CRAFTSMAN DETAILS IN A KITCHEN
An excellent layout and period motifs distinguish this midsize kitchen in a bungalow-era house.
home design - HOUSES HAVE A PAST - AND A FUTURE, TOO
THE BEST RENOVATIONS TOE THE LINE BETWEEN NECESSARY UPDATES AND ENOUGH SENSITIVITY TO ASSURE DESIGN INTEGRITY.
a farmhouse RESCUE
Using a cache of salvaged finds, the homeowner, architect, and contractor together rescued a tumbledown farmhouse in Vermont.