ON A Victorian High

Inspired by their penchant for touring 19th-century house museums, a couple went looking for a spectacular mansion.

- Regina Cole

LEFT When these owners found the house, it wore heavy layers of white paint, inside and out. Removing it was a long, arduous process.

RIGHT When the house was built, during the 1870s, the staircase was at the center. Its orientation changed with the 1880s remodeling. The front doors open to a decorative vestibule and this second set of interior doors.

WHEN CARLA MINOSH, a nurse practitioner, and Tom Belles, a corporate attorney, were looking for a restoration project, their hearts were set on a Victorian house. “I love the over-the-top-ness of Victorian architecture,” Carla says. “It’s stimulating.”

“It was an interesting time in American history,” her husband adds. “The period after the Civil War was a time of growth and optimism, and the houses reflect that.”

GLASS RESTORED

At the entry, the interior set of doors had lost their stained-glass panels and transom. Homeowner Tom Belles made new glass panels with a design patterned after the intact exterior transom.

DOUBLE PARLORS

Fireplaces date to the 1870s construction. 'Seymour' pattern Anaglypta is hung over a Gothic dado of Lincrusta. The frieze is 'Diana' Lincrusta, polychromed. Herter Bros. furniture joins an 1876 Italian marble statue.