| |
| |
|
Real Estate Information |
|
|
Small Town Stone House with a Long History
As a native Midwesterner, the first thing I noticed when moving to the Delaware Valley was the enormous number of fieldstone houses. Frankly, I'd never seen such a thing. What people in the East take for granted is a matter of wonder for the rest of us who grew up in much younger cities. This house is currently offered for sale, and it's a delight to visit a residence that has been restored with every attention to detail. But the transformation didn't come easy! The depth of knowledge (and pockets) to pull off such a project can be daunting. However, this magnificent stone house in the small town of Sergeantsville, NJ proves that such a renovation can have tremendous rewards, and it is waiting for a new owner who will carry on the tradition. The current owner, Charles Frischmann, was just the man to take on the project. Organist, music professor, historian, antique collector, Charles had already restored two stone houses and was ready to take on the third. He had learned much from the previous undertaking, and this one didn't even give him pause. The previous owner had already begun some of the restoration. The 10-foot wide stone fireplace had been turned into a closet; the panels needed to be removed, and the wood stove was installed. An expansive kitchen/dining area was added on to the rear of the house, using antique barnwood beams in the ceiling and exposing the stone on the interior wall. Because the only entrance to the basement was originally an exterior entrance, it has now become a trap door in the kitchen floor. But that was only a first step. All the old doorways and window frames needed replacement. "The new windows are all hand-built in the 18th-century style, and have early glass in them," Charles explained. He found period hardware for the doors and windows, and added working shutters that are so tight they practically create a vacuum seal when closed. He also fitted removable custom storm windows to the inside of the frames, to make this period house more energy-efficient. Although probably original, the front doors had been cut and fitted with windows, which didn't really work for the house. To improve this look, Charles commissioned new doors and period-style paneled doorways to take the place of the weathered jambs. When removing the old door frames, they discovered that early on - probably in the 1830's - someone had done a significant renovation to the house. The floor had been raised about nine inches, apparently to make more headroom in the cellar. Although the owner has not been able to trace the house sales back farther than 1857, this renovation dates the house closer to the turn of the century, making it one of the oldest surviving structures in Sergeantsville. Then, on to the stone walls. It is commonly thought that the raw stone exteriors were exposed, but in reality, unless the builder was using "dressed stone" these walls were considered unsightly rubble, and only the poorest homeowner would refrain from covering them with plaster. Charles decided to at least stucco the front wall to make the house look more appropriate to the period. But in order to please the modern eye, he left the sides of the house exposed. As one might expect from a 200 year-old roof, the rafters needed to be shored up. Indeed, they were actually splayed from the weight, and Charles decided to remove the roof altogether. Once the old roof was off, the carpenters actually winched the rafters back into place, then added additional rafters that cannot be seen when coming up the steps. He also decided to add a new pent roof to replace the small porch that formerly shaded the two front doors; all that was left of this porch was an oddly-placed cornice above the doors. Both the pent roof and house roof were shingled with cedar shakes, cut thicker than is usually done with today's materials. A molded cornice has been added to the eaves, matching the details of the doorways. As with many houses from the 19th century, this house has two front doors. There's a very logical reason for this. One door leads into the "keeping room", where the family keeps house. The keeping room contains the large fireplace for cooking, and of course a table and chairs for the family to relax. This is not the room you want to introduce your guests into! So a second door would lead into the living room, which was probably only used for special occasions. Jersey Winder - or pie-shaped - stairs lead up to the two second-story bedrooms. These stairs are stenciled, as are the floors in the master bedroom and bath. The upstairs hallway still shows the exposed stone wall. The upstairs closet and bathroom doors are finished with faux graining, and you have to touch them to know the difference. Sergeantsville is located just down the road from Green Sergeant's Bridge, the last surviving covered bridge in New Jersey. The bridge was built around 1750, and it is thought the town was established around 1830. Route 523, which passes through Sergeantsville, was the original Old York Road which linked Trenton to Flemington, then on to New York. This village is located in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County, not far from New Hope PA and just a few miles east of the river. Mercedes Hayes is a Realtor licensed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I specialize in Log Homes and Specialty Homes. This house is offered by Weidel Realtors. You can see more information about this charming property at http://www.HunterdonRealtor.com
MORE RESOURCES: This RSS feed URL is deprecated, please update. New URLs can be found in the footers at https://news.google.com/news
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Buying Houses at Discount Prices Buying a house is the best way you can create immediate equity. Gaining equity through buying a house is something which is very easy to do, as long as you follow these guidelines. Florida Investment Real Estate and What Are Considerations Before Buying Investment Real Estate, First Things FirstConsidering investing in property? What are some pertinent things to consider before taking this leap? Of all the investment possibilities, investment in land generally produces the most positive results. It is vital, however, to carefully investigate the pros and cons, benefits and deficits of real estate investment. Join the Bulgarian Property Boom With Confidence An Irish property investor in Sydney, Australia has created an investment kit that provides potential buyers with all of the relevant facts, figures and information to confidently buy Bulgarian property, which grew an average of 30% in 2004. "Bulgarian Property - The Overseas Buyers' Kit" contains a complete guide to the tax and ownership laws, calculators and various information-gathering templates. Guide To Finding The Perfect Central Illinois House Central Illinois is an area rich in cultural activities andbusiness opportunities. The quality of life experienced bythe residents of the numerous close-knit communities issecond to none. Selling by Owner Escrow or Closing Checklist Home sellers should keep on top of their pending sale; especially when selling without the assistance of a real estate agent. Sometimes busy real estate agents forget to monitor all aspects of a pending sale. Selling Your Home - What Can Go Wrong With Pricing and Loans So, you're selling your home (house, townhouse, condo, apartment, land, lot, farm, ranch, etc.), what can go wrong? The sad fact is that a lot of things can go wrong. Bulgarian Property Market Insight GOLF GRABS BULGARIA!At the present time there are only three golf courses in the whole of Bulgaria: one at Elin Pelin, near the capital, Sofia, and two owned by Air Sofia. These are located at Ihtiman, opened in 2000, 40km from Sofia, and at Sliven, opened in 2004, 90km from the Black Sea. Conditions Are Right For Buying The Higher Priced Home You'Ve Always Wanted Higher interest rates and home prices in the past have kept home owners from purchasing larger homes. The current real estate market conditions, however, are encouraging for many home owners who want to "buy up" to higher priced homes with more to offer. Family Feud with an Auction Deadline - Adventures in Probate/ Estate Purchases One of our investor students told us of an interesting probate deal or "adventure" they're working on now and while it's a good story, it also illustrates lots of the ins and out of probate or estate issues and purchases.The Seller (we'll call him Scott) co-owned this house with his mom, and he co-signed on the loan with mom. Dont Sell It Yourself Don't sell it yourself! Sometimes a "FSBO," or house "for sale by owner" can sell as fast, and for as much as it would have if listed with a real estate agent. Sometimes. Pricing Your Property A house properly priced is half sold. But there are plenty of ways to price it improperly. How to Sell Your Own Home and Save Thousands of Dollars Most people take the easy way out when selling their home and hand the responsibility over to a real estate agent, when in fact the average homeowner is capable of selling their own home.Apart from the satisfaction of making the sale yourself there is the bonus of saving thousands of dollars in agents fees. Look Past the Bottom Line for a Propertys Potential It's unfortunate that many real estate investors tend to look at the bottom line when deliberating about a property, rather than the big picture. The real moneymakers in real estate investments are the people with vision, who think creatively, and are willing to assume some level of risk. 5 Factors of Selling a Home There are five major factors to consider when selling a home. These factors will greatly influence not only the final price you will get for the property, but also how quickly it will sell and how much grief you will suffer through the sale. Cutting Edge Real Estate, Is the Bubble Ready To Burst? Of course, this is the big question in real estate now. . Becoming A Battle Hardened Real Estate Veteran Without All The Scars Step 1 is always to determine the fair market value(FMV). As a real estate investor, you can always buy properties at the FMV. Empty Nesters Flock To Inner City Babyboomers whose children have left home, commonly known as "empty-nesters" are buying inner city apartments in record numbers.Director of Acton Special Projects, Marc Drexel says the trend is towards quality rather than mass developments. FSBO - How to Prepare Your House to Sell Did you hear that? Prices of houses in Phoenix have been jumping 5% each month for 2005 according to market experts! Some even predict that the price of housing could jump an additional 10% for the upcoming year. The shortage of houses for sales and the still relatively low interest prices are causing the price of homes not just here in Phoenix but nationwide to escalate. Want To Be Profitable In This Real Estate Bubble? I'll Show You How In Just Three Easy Steps STEP#1. First you have to recognize that in order to make money in almost any market (i. Why Are Mortgage Notes Discounted Anyway? When real estate note brokers purchase partially paid notes, they pay the note holder a discounted price after factoring in the time value of money, the payer history, and property condition.If there is still a significant period of time left for the payer to make payments, the future payments are not worth the same amount in current dollars.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 TIGER MEDIA |