October 19, 2008

The House in My Dreams... Again

In June, I wrote a post about the house where I grew up. I knew I had saved a little album of photographs from the house, but just couldn't find it. Today, as I was searching for the converters and UK power cords, I came across it and thought you might like to see some more details of the house. The last time I wrote about this house, I was accused of showing off, but I don't think that's the case. By accident of birth, I was lucky enough to be raised a certain way. There was nothing I could or can do to change that. I was recently accused of having a "hoity-toity" name, and there's really nothing I can do about that either. Anyway... I hope you enjoy these pictures. Let me know what you think (if it's not too mean!).

This is the detail from one of the columns entering the living room. At Christmas, we'd wrap them in balsam garlanding. Just behind, you can see the fanlight over the front door.This is the wall-paper from the dining room. Only the top third of the room was papered and it's hand-printed Chinese paper.The curtains in the dining room were the same pattern, probably printed on a heavy silk/linen.There were three full baths in the house, and this is the shower in one of the two kids bathrooms. When we moved in, all the nozzles on the sides worked, but then they started leaking. We would have had to take the whole shower stall apart to repair them, so we just never turned them on.This is the bathtub that was in my parents' bathroom. The tub was huge and took ages to fill, but we'd make it as hot as we could stand and just stay in there for hours. The tub was porcelain, not enamel over cast iron. One of my favourite things about the house was the front porch, with two of these amazing lanterns. They were iron and frosted glass and looked wonderful when they were lit. There were 24 steps leading up to the house and the lamps were like shining beacons.As I said in the original post about the house, the front hall was about 10+ feet wide and we used to roll back the rugs and teach our friends the Shag. At Christmas, we'd hang a little tiny elf mobile from the center of the chandelier.
The front porch was a major living space during the warmer months. It was surrounded by a stone wall and this is the detail from the wall, which you can also see in the snowy picture above.
In the living room, there was a huge granite fireplace surround, topped by mahogany planks. There were two faces holding up the mantel and this is one of them. We never found out the history of the two faces... although the original owner of the house disappeared just before the house was finished... and the house was haunted. Who knows?

37 comments:

  1. lovely! all those beautiful details-especially the porch lanterns- and silly me, i thought the multiple head shower was a modern creation!

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  2. Terrific. Of course we might be a bit jealous... The wall paper is amazing. When was it made?

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  3. I think it's amazing that you lived in this house and this post and the other one from June are just lovely. The best thing I think is that your father took all these photos and that you can share them and not have to rely on just memories. Wonderful photography and wonderful homes.

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  4. Gorgeous. It really does hark back to a different America. It's nice to know that it still exists.

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  5. you have a hoity toity name? is it the fairfax or the fielding? seriously - I'm Jewish - I don't know from hoity toity - haha!! i'm cracking myself up!! really - which is it, or is it both? I bet its the Fairfax! that does sound "rich" to me. Meg, help me out here.

    ok - that bathtub - that's my favorite picture! you know I love this house soo much and am so jealous you lived here. I lived in a spaceship contemporary. ugh. that face from to the fireplace - it's sad! it looks religious to me, like a monk maybe? with that hat or is that hair? I just love these pictures soooo much and want to see even more!!!!! love the shower too. and those light fixtures - incredible. the look like arts and craft movement. just beautiful!!!!

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  6. a grand old dame - beautiful and classic - the chandelier is wonderful - mantle man: a monk as joanie suggests - a St Thomas More look-a-like...

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  7. Joni... Like I could move out when I was 10 and change my name! Really, how stupid of someone to criticize for that.

    Emm... I think my sister took these pictures. She made a huge framed set for my parents, and I am remembering that these might be copies of those. The others were from my father.

    Balsam... I think that the paper is probably 30's. The house had a re-do then, including the kitchen, which wasn't done again until we moved there in the 70's.

    House... the whole area is full of houses like this one.

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  8. Who are these people criticizing your name? That sounds like insecurity or at least people not worth caring about what they think.
    The house is beautiful -I love these detail shots. It's details like these that make a house a home.
    Often these faces in homes were of the stone masons who did the carving.....who knows though!

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  9. Love the photos! What an incredible house...the wallpaper reminds me of this vintage Thibaut one I keep lusting after on E-Bay...of course yours is way cooler and more elegant
    http://cgi.ebay.com/Thibaut-hand-print-Chinese-Fantasy-wallpaper-mural_W0QQitemZ260302487709QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item260302487709&_trkparms=72%3A1240%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

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  10. What a wonderful place to grow up. Houses really shape our sense of beauty and space and we're lucky if our families and relatives or friends live in a place that can teach us about beauty. All the houses I've lived in are imprinted on my heart — as they should be.

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  11. Anyone who would think you are showing off doesn't know you at all. Thanks for sharing these pictures - I love seeing them.

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  12. you've just made my day : )

    it's all so lovely and gorgeous and right!

    the detail of the column entering the living room is a little bit of heaven...the wallpaper from the dining room is stunning! i'm mad for the amazing stone wall.

    ps i love love love the story of hanging a tiny elf mobile from the chandelier!!!

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  13. MRL... I checked the ebay site out. What a huge piece. I would say that the section I've shown is about 3 feet across.

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  14. What a beautiful home. Why would anyone criticize you for being fortunate? I went back and viewed the other set of pictures. Thank you for sharing them

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  15. Don't let the haters get you down. What a joy it is to find someone who wants to share beauty... whether it's found in public or in a childhood home. Beauty is still beauty, regardless of where it's found or what your name is. As a blogger, you should be commended for bringing it into our lives!

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  16. HOW blessed you are to have lived in such a wonderful home.....I for one think it is GREAT! Thanks for sharing it with us. Love that wallpaper!

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  17. What a beautiful home - I especially love the snow shot.
    Growing up in Australia, snow was an unknown concept for me, so the romantic notion of a childhood home covered in snow certainly resonates for me. xv

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  18. Meg -- what I enjoyed most is hearing about your traditions. And I smiled with recognition when reading about the older not perfectly functioning bathrooms!

    That stone wall detail is beautiful. No wonder you have such an appreciation for architecture.

    What a magical place for Christmas.

    You are the opposite of a show-off!

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  19. Your childhood home is beautiful and looks like a warm and wonderful place to have grown up. Thank you for sharing it with us. That wainscotting in the dining room and the bathroom tile with greek are inspiring to us as we renovate our tiny tudor. But above all I love the large leaded glass window with window seat on the landing it is indeed, dreamy. Smiles, LC

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  20. LC... WOW! Thank you so much! What a lovely thing for you to say

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  21. GREAT HOUSE! My son just told me he hopes it snows at our house this year. We will have to move for it to snow at our house. THe the photo of the house in the snow!

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  22. Wonderful house with wonderful detail. Is it still in the family?

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  23. Beautiful house from both the outside and inside. I love that you use to hang an elf mobile from the chandelier.

    Thanks for sharing your childhood home.

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  24. Meg - what a beautiful house! And how great that someone in your family thought to take all these detail photos. It makes me wish I had photos of the house I grew up in. But, I have only the memories - of my mom's hot pink kitchen cabinets and chartreuse-painted dining room! (It was the 50s & she was a design fanatic too.)

    -Lana

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  25. i loved this post - and re-read your older one. i keep thinking about your mom and the parties in the garage - sounds like serious fun.

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  26. Hi! This is exactly the kind of house I would have wished to grow up in- it's a dream house, really,....is that a third floor or attic space? wonderful!

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  27. So pretty, I miss big old rambling homes with provenance! and snow, I miss snow.

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  28. This is a wonderful house, built in a great era for home building. I love seeing pictures of it.

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  29. Thank you for sharing this beautiful home...I can easily picture wonderful holidays that must have been celebrated there. It seems like a fairy tale place to have grown up.

    PS--Is this house In Roland Park or Guilford ( it seems like it would be)...I'd like to do a driveby sometime.

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  30. Meg
    Luv the pictures, and keep 'em coming!
    I would just like to ask you what kind of a scanner and the settings you use to scan them. The details are fabulous!

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  31. Hayseed... i wanted to let you know that the third floor was a huge bedroom, which was the window on the right, and then a playroom/nursery, which was the two windows on the left. There was also a smaller bedroom and a bathroom with a great old cast iron tub, which we painted kelly green and yellow at one point.

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  32. Meg! I hope you never feel tempted to apologize, or even respond to that very RUDE commenter. It is fabulous that you were fortunate enough to be raised in such a beautiful home. If not you then who?!? It is so wonderful that you have such a rich tradition and heritage, I never tire of hearing aobut it. AND I am VERY jealous that you are shopping with HOBAC! I hope you take lots of pictures!

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  33. I love that it was you who grew up there...because if it was someone else it's very likely that we would never get a peek inside! It's so rare to see that kind of craftsmanship and attention to detail in the world I live in...thanks for sharing...more please ;)

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  34. How I wish that I had pictures of the homes I grew up in (I moved around every few years as a child). There is one home in particular, a former embassy in Washington DC. Sometimes, when I visit DC, I drive by it and wonder what it looks like inside now.

    I wonder why we live in a cultural climate where people are accusatory and angry at a person for growing up and/or living comfortably. Where it is the 'patriotic duty' of financially successful Americans to pay for the overwhelming majority of the tax burden on this country. Anyway, I digress.

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  35. Absolutely lovely! Thanks for sharing! I grew up (until the age of 12) in the same home that my dad grew up in and the same neighborhood my grandfather grew up in. Not as nice a neighborhood, but I still feel fortunate!!! Seriously, there's no end to ridiculous people out there in the world who will jump on anyone for anything! Hope it rolled like water off a duck's back! :)

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  36. Hoity toity schmoity- please, you're not that at all! You know, I just don't think they make houses like that anymore. You were quite lucky to grow up in such a beautiful home, but I know that you know that! I love the tile floor with the Greek Key design in your parents' bathroom.
    (PS- Does anyone Shag anymore? And I mean the dance!)

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