Victorian Houses: Front Porches and Vintage Decor

One of Ogden's most endearing qualities is the sheer quantity of old Victorian houses that adorn its streets.  Ogden benefited from the economic boom of the late 1800's that was mostly spurred by the railroad industry.  With that boom came lots of construction.

However, despite the abundance of stately designed Victorian edifices from that era, those same buildings are missing much of their original charm and grandeur. 

What's missing?  Decorative and ornamental woodwork...especially on front porches. 

For those of you contemplating restoring an Ogden Victorian home, I thought I would present a few examples of what a Victorian front porch is supposed to look like.  Join me for a brief tour in front porch design and restoration.

Our first stop takes us to 28th Street and Adams avenue to an old 1880's farmhouse.  It's now in the city but hasn't always been that way.  Notice the turned columns and brackets decorating either side.  A very simple design.

Next is an excellent example of how a nicely done front porch can make even the most simple home look prominent.  This home is located at 322 31st Street.  Most folks don't notice it because it is on a busy one way road headed into town.  Take a look next time you drive by.  Notice the turned colums, brackets, and top railing that decorate the home.  Original top railings are hard to find intact these days but add a ton of charm to a home.  

The next two homes are Italianate Victorians.  The are characterized by tall vertical lines and low hipped roofs.   

Each of these homes has original front porch woodwork.  Very nice.

The Jefferson Ave. Historic District has many examples of finely restored front porch decoration.

Finally, here are some other examples of fine front porch and ornamental work.

I have a great book that references old Victorian design elements and floorplans.  If you are looking to restore a Victorian home, CONTACT ME, and I can point you to the right resources. 

Restoring Old Homes: How to Screen a Porch and Strip Hardware

We have been slowly restoring our home.  One of the projects that has been on the back burner for several years is our back porch.  When we purchased the home, the back porch screens had been vandalized.  They were also made of chrome frames.  We quickly discarded them and never got around to putting in their replacements.

Finally, I had a couple weekends to work on the back porch.  To put the screens back in place, I purchased a roll of tight mesh black screen at Home Depot.  I used my staple gun to stick the screen to the existing wood frames with 1/4 inch staples being sufficient for the job.

Obviously staples are not pretty to look at.  I searched for some trim strips and came up with some hemlock 1.5 inch pieces that seemed to work well.  After two coats of paint, they were ready for installation.

I got the hemlock strips up with 4d nails on the frames and 3d finish nails for the door.  After that, I pulled the original copper hardware out of storage and gave it a bath in Goof Off.  That helped soften up the coats of paint that cloaked the metal finish.  A rag and some very fine steel wool did the trick of removing most of the paint.

NOTE: Rubber gloves break down with Goof Off so I just used some sandwich bags to keep it off my skin.  If you leave it on your skin too long your skin turns into a giant callous.  Believe, me. I know.    

After about fifteen minutes of buffing the paint off, the pieces were ready for installation.

The finished product is quite rewarding. 

FOR SALE: Historic Victorian 5-Plex on Jefferson Ave.

I recently listed this property for sale:

If you buy this property, you gain the unique privilege of becoming my next door neighbor.  I have been managing the property for the current owners for about a year.  I can give you all the information you need to know.

The property has super cashflow potential.  Current gross scheduled rents are around $2,650 per month.  However, it also has potential as a victorian home.  Ogden City will give an owner occupant $40,000 to restore it to a single family premises like it was when it was built in the 1890's.  It has gorgeous fluted casings and 12" ceilings.  It could be made into an awesome home again.  The entire property is about 3,000 SQFT.

If you are interested in learning more about this property or want to see rent rolls and expenses, CONTACT ME, and I can answer all your questions.  

Restoring Old Houses: Decorative Woodwork and Roofing Redo

One of the challenges facing owners of old homes is the issue of handling repairs and upgrades while preserving the architectural integrity of their home.  Today’s new construction is performed to much lower architectural standards than in days of yore.

For instance, lets use our Arts and Crafts Style (aka Craftsman) home as an example.  Unfortunately, our home has been in need of a new roof for some time.  The original roof from 1908 was beautiful cedar shake installed on cedar slats.  Over 104 years, three other layers of shingle were added.  Another layer of cedar shake was installed along with two layers of asphalt.  The last time the roof was shingled was likely in the late 1970’s.  You can see the moss growing on the cedar shakes below.

 
One of the unique characteristics of our home (relative to new homes) is that it has crown molding adorning the fascia boards as an ornamental architectural feature.  Since the crown butts up against the roof, any roofer would have to work with it to have a nice looking finished product while maintaining the decorative ornamentation.

We called several roofers to bid the job.  One of the responses was disheartening:

“Oh, I can do that job no problem.  Let’s rip off all that ugly crown molding and just put some drip edge on there.  We can get’er done fast!”

Clearly, this roofer had no appreciation for old homes.  As I later confirmed, he mostly worked on homes built after 1960 and was only bidding my roof because he was starving at the time.  We passed on using this contractor.

Of the three bids we received for our roof, we ended up going with the highest bid.  The lowest bid was a 35 year old guy and a truck who had been roofing for 5 years.  He was nice enough but he was unfamiliar with working around the crown molding.   We ended up using Stuart Roofing which had 80 years experience as a family roofing business.  Their bid was only $2,000 higher and we felt they were by far the best value for our home.  We definitely got our money’s worth.

The tear off crews arrived around 6am one morning and had the roof torn of and dried-in after just two days.  They removed 60 yards of debris.  Amazingly, they used drop clothes around the home and didn’t leave a single nail in the grass or on our driveway.

Then it was time to pause while we dealt with our crown molding.  After searching for the right contractor for the job, we tapped Paul Martin to install new crown molding and paint our home.  We had Ellis Planing, on Wall Ave. and 26th St.,  custom mill our 4” crown out of paint-grade poplar.  Paul got to work priming, painting and installing the new crown.

After Paul installed the crown, he painted our dormers and the decorative woodwork around the home.  We asked him to leave the lower half of the front porch for us to paint as a Saturday family project.  Paul completed his work in just over a week and it was time to put the shingles on the home.

We chose a 40-year architectural asphalt shingle as we figured we didn’t want to install another roof on this home in our lifetimes.  We tossed around the idea of installing a cedar shake roof but the cost would have doubled our bid.  So, asphalt prevailed.   Three more days of work, and the project was finished.     

Here is the before and after video:

Ogden Rising: The Ogden River Parkway

The improvements going on in Downtown Ogden continue to impress.  The Ogden River Parkway now connects to greenbelt trails in West Haven and Riverdale.  The trail system is quite remarkable and enjoyable to run or ride on. 

Today I wanted to showcase the portion of the trail between Washington Blvd. and just west of Wall Ave.  Ogden now has a tremendous asset flowing through the heart of the city. 




The Ogden River is now a great place for family outings.  Note: The wildlife in the area is still unfamiliar with people.  Unlike the ducks at Beus Pond which have had generations of people feed bread crumbs to them, the ducks on this stretch of the Ogden River run away from people well before you can can get close to them.  I guess that is a testament to their "newness" to the area.  Regardless, they are a welcome addition.    

Be sure to get out and enjoy this great part of the city!

Historic Homes: The Eccles Historic District - Ogden, Utah

Today I wanted to spotlight one of Ogden's premier neighborhoods:  The Eccles Historic District.  The district is found just east of Downtown. Built mostly between 1910 and 1925, it boasts some of the most amazing Prairie School and Craftsman style architecture to be found in Utah.

Here is a video montage for your delight:



The neighborhood is adorned with antique style street lighting, decorative sidewalks, and stone street crossings.  It is nestled near the mountains and is just minutes to recreational hiking, biking and outdoor fun.  Shopping, restaurants, and entertainment are just minutes away.  It is a great location.  

If you are interested in learning more about homes FOR SALE in the Eccles Historic District, CONTACT ME and I will get you all the details on what is currently available.

Junk Trees: Dealing with the Pernicious Chinese Elm

For the last several years I have been trying to figure out a plan to remove junk trees from my properties.  The most prominent problem was a chinese elm tree straddling the property line of two of our properties.

Junk trees are notoriously resilient to pruning and damage.  When their seeds land in fence lines of absentee owner's properties, they grow unabated and turn into landscaping eyesores.  Often they will grow into fences and destroy concrete.  Such was the case with the tree I was tackling.

You can always tell a chinese elm from the leaf structure.  It has serrated edges and an easily identifiable shape.   The leaves will drip sap on your car or anything else you leave under it. It also casts seeds everywhere in the spring. 

They were once thought of as a good idea by pioneers to the area since they grow without water.  They are extremely drought resistant.  That is great when you are a pioneer.  Today they are a scourge.

 
If you look carefully, you can see the guy wire that has been "consumed" by rampant tree growth.  Looking at the tree rings, it appears the tree grew about an inch or more in diameter each year.

The stump will require an aggressive regiment of herbicide treatment to kill permanently.  If left as it is, it will bounce back with a vengeance next season.

Here is a photo of the landscape before the tree was removed:

 Here is the view afterwards:

If you have a junk tree that needs to be removed, let me know and I can put you in contact with my tree guy.

FOR SALE: Historic Arts and Crafts Style Duplex

This grand home located at 2370 Madison Ave. was built in 1909.  It boasts over 3200 SQFT, 2 original fireplaces, original woodwork, brick construction, and all the Arts & Crafts ornamentation characteristic of the era.

The home is currently arranged as a duplex with tenants upstairs and and on the main level.  The basement is large and used currently for storage.  The home has a 2 car garage/carriage house in the back with a private yard.

The property would make a good investment or could be converted back to a single family home for elegant living.  Here is the video tour of the property:



If you are interested in this property and want details on financing terms, rents, and other specifics, please contact me.

Restoring Old Homes: The Timeless Cedar Shake

One of the common materials used in building old homes was the cedar shake.  It was light weight, weather resistant, and aesthetically appealing.  However, as old growth cedar has been mostly harvested, the price has increased significantly and made cedar roofs much more expensive.

Nevertheless, cedar also has useful applications as siding.  Many old homes have dormers, porches, or gables that are sided with cedar shake.  My home is such an example.

Here is an example of a stairway I built for a rental property.

The OSB board is used to cover the 2X4 studs but is really unsightly.  The property was built in 1910 and the sheeting is really not very appealing.  I needed to cover it with something but vinyl was too ugly and paint would just look terrible as well.  I decided to go with a traditional cedar shake siding.  Here is the result:

That looks alot better.  There is still some trim work to be done but this compliments the rest of the buildling.

So what do you do when the surfaces you are working with don't fit together?  We ran into this problem with a home we restored at 2670 Jefferson Ave. years ago.  Here is a snapshot:

As you can see, this house was in really bad shape.  It also was a series of additions that were constructed over decades.  The roof behind the sunporch had a strange parapet that I had to fabricate a metal overlay for.  The roof beyond that was put on in the 1970's.  The dormer was OSB board.  Very strange and difficult to tie together.  Yet, with the power of the cedar shake, we were able to pull it all together.

If you are looking for some cedar shakes in Ogden, Utah, the best place is ABC Roofing on 21st Street.  They are on the south side of the road just before Flying J.  Call in advance because they often have to order them in.  They are about $50 a bundle right now. 

So now that you know, get out there and start shaking your siding.

DEMOLITION: Historic Ogden School District Building Razed

I was cruising down 20th Street the other day in Ogden and notice a dramatic change in the landscape.  Here is a photo of a cool old building found on the Ogden School District administrative campus from several years ago:

The structure was quite large, extending almost a quarter length of the city block.  I thought it was also architecturally significant with great lines and ornamental brick work.

 Here is the scene I fell upon recently:

The whole edifice is gone.  When I inquired with the guy holding the hose what happened, he indicated that the roof was bad on the building and the bid to replace it came in at $1,000,000.  Wow!  It was much less expensive for the school district to knock the building down and turn it into landscaping. 

It is sad to see this building go but the resources of the school district are lean.  As stewards of public funds, I suspect the School District couldn't justify the repair expense to the public that it serves.

This building was quite different than Ogden High School which recently was the focus of a restoration and preservation effort.  Not only did taxpayer funds support the preservation effort, but private funds paid for the most elaborate and expensive part of restoring the amphitheater.

Workers You Can Trust: Jeremy's Preferred Vendors

As we come on the Summer season, repair and improvement work on homes tends to increase dramatically.  I have been busy already this last week ordering fix up on rentals.  For those of you looking for some good vendors, here is who I use:

Trusted Home Service Providers

If you have any question about who is the best fit for the job, contact me and I can let you know.  Happy rehabbing!

FOR SALE: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT School of Design - Architectural Treasure!

Last September, I listed 2508 Jackson Ave. in the Eccles Historic District that was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright.  However, some repairs needed to be made to the property.  The repairs were delayed so the home was taken off the market so they could be made.

The repairs are done and the home is now ready to show in all its splendor.  Here is the updated video:



The home is 4870 SQFT and has 6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 3 kitchens, 2 car garage, a pool, .68 acres, and all the woodwork you could want inside.  

 If you are interested in viewing this exquisite property to purchase, email me or please give me a call at 801-390-1480.

Ogden Redevelopment: Ogden Temple, IRS Building, Hilton Hotel and More...

While driving around this morning, I thought I would take the opportunity to snap some photos of some redevelopment projects currently underway in Downtown Ogden.

The New Ogden Temple

The Ogden Temple continues to plod along.  There have been some delays as more prep work is done to clear the way for underground parking at the site.  Water table issues stopped work for a while so engineers could retool and budgets could be realigned.  However, construction on the main edifice has begun to show.  Here you can see the new concrete boxes being framed and poured just east to the main framework of the old structure.

The Ogden Hilton

Crews just recently were able to "dry-in" the structure and are now at work putting on the exterior finishes.  This new building is located at the corner of 23rd Street and Washington Blvd.

The New IRS Building

This new structure has been under construction for some time.  The builders are behind schedule but the interior is currently being finished so the project should be completed soon.  The structure will compliment other IRS facilities located on the block.

Pioneer (4th Ward) Chapel Restoration

Several years ago Boyd K. Packer came to our Chapel for a Stake Conference.  When he walked through the church he told our Stake President: "Don't you let anyone touch this building." To see what he was talking about, watch this video of the interior.  The church is now making seismic upgrades to the building similar to those made to Ogden High School.  Hopefully, the structure will last for generations to come.

Before and After: Photos from Ogden's Five-Points Past

Back in 1914, the local LDS folks of the Ogden 15th (Lynne) ward constructed a chapel.  Here is a photo of that gothic edifice:

  

If you are an Ogden resident and the above photo resonates with an odd familiarity, there is a reason.  Located at the intersection of 2nd Street and Washington Blvd., this building is now used by the Bank of Utah.

Quite the make-over.  I don't know about you, but I prefer the original version.  The white-wash, chimney removal, window replacements, window shutters, Gothic arch removal, and gable window ornamentation rework all seem to have robbed this building of its soul.