Anyone live in a really old house or building?

Historic, perhaps? Do you enjoy it? Antiques give me the creeps, but I'd love to live in a big old Victorian era dwelling. With adequate insulation.

It has withstood numerous Northern California earthquakes, and has original walls of old growth redwood planks. Not old by east coast standards, but old enough out here.

We put a fairly large addition onto it, but tried to keep everything architecturally consistent. We also massively remodelled the inside, tearing out & replacing the interior walls, insulating, etc. We could have probly bought as much square footage in a new manufactured home for half the cost, but we like what we have now. We're on a hilltop with wonderful views in every direction, with a lot of trees between us & the road. Maybe we'll get snowed in tonight.

Not a big believer in ghosts, but I was when I lived there. Creepy and cool all the same time. 14' ceilings, 3 fireplaces, and under the tub (they took out the flooring while I was there) was a space big enough to be a room.

I'd like to be living in one now instead of the charmless character free subdivision house that i have now.

was sub-divided in apartments years ago...Building is about 100 years old.

It is an old farmhouse that has been remodeled.

We are only the second family to own the house. I learned lots of history about the area and my house from the former owner, before he died.

With some work, it could be charming. However, it lacks insulation and it can get pretty drafty -- but even so, I don't ever want to live in a new house; the old ones have character and the new ones are boring. Even though they are warmer and the floors don't slope.

insulation a long time ago

always breaking and hard to repair.

That is, the room I'm in right now is the oldest part of the house -- early 1900s. The dining room was added at the end of the depression. The kitchen and other rooms on the rear of the house were added in the 50s.

At least, this is what we determined from looking at the dates on the newspapers in each section when we remodeled.

Edited because I forgot to answer the question. For the most part, I love our home. We have really high ceilings and hardwood floors. We've made some improvements (like enlarging the bathroom) that have made living here much more pleasant. There are more to be done. I'd like all new windows, another layer of insulation in the attic, etc.

It's not a super-tiny house, but it isn't a large house either. It's cozy -- big enough so that you can typically still find a quiet corner somewhere.

It was owned and lived in by a single family until the family matriarch passed away and none of her children needed the home. It had sat vacant for just over three years before we bought it. It was interesting (not to mention a hell of a lot of work) to make all the necessary repairs. I think that when we buy again we won't be looking for a property which requires so much work on our part.

I love it. It has a lot of great architectural details.

completed just before the stock market crash. Apparently the bar and nightclub on the first floor used to be a speak-easy and is the eternal haunting of a waitress killed there.

I like it. Hardwood floors, solid walls, good building with lots of history and character.

and yes, it is haunted. It was built for my ex's great, great, great grandfather and he is still here.

He is just mischievous not malicious though. Loves to take my hair brushes! I even went to my kids school once and told the principal, if the kids tell you Andrew took their homework, you need to believe them.

The only time he was "quiet" was when we have a grave rubbing of his tombstone hanging on the living room wall. He liked being acknowledged that way I think.

you must be in the 'hood-

whalerider55
newburyport MA

Are you on the East Coast? In the South?

It was built for a whaling captain in 1784. Plaque on the front of the house and everything.

whaling captain... what a NE story!
our best ghosts reside in the old jail, converted to an architects home. you can see the oldest continuously operating courthouse (1804), just across the mall, from the old jail.

whalerider55

He was actually lost at sea for weeks at one point when his ship went down. It's quite a famous local story around here.

Must make for great photography.

living by the ocean makes for wonderful sunrises, "interesting" weather...

drop us a line when you come up into NE to take some pix; we can move the kiddies around and put you up in the guestroom while you visit the people's republic of massachusetts...

whalerider55

You actually got to keep the house that had been in your ex's family for over 200 years????

designed by my great-grandfather, built by my grandfather and chock full of craftsman furniture that my grandfather thought contemporary, but might be considered antiques today. Insulation? LOL.

we tracked back a house on this site in 1792.

around the corner, there is a house built in 1650.

whalerider55
Newburyport, MA

grew up in a turn of the century art & crafts duplex. and the mini mansion i live in now has great details coming out of the woodwork. i think inspired by movies. deco in places, but grand style elsewhere. and drafts? try shit 50's aluminum storms over leaded windows. brrrr.

I dig deco, too.

I've lived in it since 1981 and have done a lot to restore it since the home went through a couple of decades of off site rental and was no better for that period.

It is a huge Victorian that was once a very grand home. It is certainly a lovely home now but the imprints of stolen brass backplates and missing stain glass windows make me a little sad. It still has beautiful mahogany built in's and wainscoting, etc. It has "good energy", nothing creepy at all.

I looked at the actual abstract and for decades all listings and updates were hand written. Incredibly neat handwriting! The legal description includes: lot 1 plot 1.

It is a wonderful home that I still have rental in - but I am no slumlord and usually have tenants for 5+ years, until they've saved enough to buy their own home. They usually look for and buy their own Victorian fixer-upper.

That still has lead paint and where something breaks once a week.

2 blocks from the Missouri River.
The building is listed in the National Historic Registry in I believe 1897.

It's called the "Ebeneezer" building and it used to be a warehouse of some type.

It's located in what's called the City Market area.
An area that was once renowned for Mob hits and exploding restaurants.

Anyway, two doors down is another building that used to be a brothel. Jessie James allegedly got laid there.
How freakin' cool is that?

I'm told that it's one of the first three multi-story buildings in Kansas City.

NOW.

My power goes out regularly.
That recently cost me my computer.

My water disappears regularly.
In the morning that means no coffee.
GRRRRR.
Bottled water fixed that.

I'm safe from most storms, and in Kansas City, we get some kick ass storms.

Serious tornado action, blowing through your neighborhood throwing cars and houses to and fro like.

I have had to hold one of my windows in, as it decided that it could not withstand the 80mph winds at three in the goddamn morning.

There I am naked, pushing against this window with rain blowing in on my ass...
Charming.

It's in the city, downtown near the river, so we get some vagrants and some criminals.

Three years ago this clown tried to steal a car and I heard him smash the window of this '01 Mustang GT.

I got up and peered out the window and saw this guy trying to screwdriver the ignition.

It's three in the freakin' morning.
All the exciting shit that happens in your life, happens at three in the morning.

Rather then call the cops, I decided on a more radical path.
Living in a loft my kitchen was steps away so I went to the fridge and grabbed a beer mug.

I opened the window and flung a frozen beer mug down at the crime scene.

It smashed into the fender and barely got this felons attention.

So, I grabbed another beer mug and did the rinse and repeat thing.

This time it smashed on the ground in between the two parked cars.

THAT got his attention.

I yelled out the window "Hey motherfuc*er cops on the way"

He climbs out of the car.

Black dude in a giant WHITE Dallas Cowboy parka (it was winter) looks up at me and says "Fu*k You!"
And then he takes off.

20 minutes later the cops had him in the back of a patrol car, and they were interviewing the guy who's car he tried to steal.

I went back to bed, and didn't have to speak to the police at three in the morning in the parking lot while it was 29 degrees out.
Screw that.

That's why I opted for the frozen beer mug defense.
It's little known, but highly effective.

Two days later I run into the dude that owned the mustang in the parking lot.
He was driving a rental because his ignition was screwed up.

He told me that there wasn't a whole lot of damage, but he couldn't figure out how he got a big dent in his front quarter panel.

"Hey man" I said
"I don't have a clue"

Lofts are great spaces, too. I'm a "towny" at heart who's currently living in the country.

called The Otis Hotel; I think it was built in 1917. Very, very weird place...