How I spent New Years Eve ;D

[Mary_Krupa]

Great for you!  This is fun to hear about and encouraging because I love old houses--the style, the materials, all the lives that have passed through them. It seems to me that very, very few people in this area care about the older homes. Of course, you do need to have some money to fix up the homes, but it does seem like many people find the money to buy new homes in the suburbs that are poorly made and don't have nice lines to them. They are sort of hodge-podge and give the impression of not being durable. They could have used this money to fix up an older home.

I lived in Denver for 16 years and you should see the prices that the yuppies paid for old little bungalows and little cottage style homes from the early 1900s. When I left in 2001, these were in the $130,000 range for 1000 square foot homes with postage stamp back yards and no garages.

Many of the plain, wooden, older homes in the working class areas of Youngstown also have charm to them. But, because they have been sided with aluminum, have had tasteless additions added on, have had their porches enclosed and have had little or no or inadequate landscaping done to them, you cannot see this charm.  If I had lots of money, I would work on these issues. These areas tell the history of the city.

[AllanY2525]

I think it's a great idea to do the "period specific" colors with the exterior.

One of the "project" properties I am working on (on the Northside)
is a lovely old Yellow brick house, and the interior was constructed in the "Early Mission"
style according to an architect friend of mine.

When we finish the interior of the house, we are going to try and do a faithful and
authentic restoration of all of the original woodwork.  I even went out and bought
a set of antique Pocket Doors and installed them into the wall framing between
the living room and the dining room - the pocket wall had been stripped of the
original doors and dry walled over some time in the 1960's.

I've even purchased some antique french doors to put up between the living room
and dining room, and two antique exterior doors.  Preserving Youngstown's architectural
past is a wonderful idea...and restoring the antiquities in these sturdy and well-built
classic homes only adds beauty to a city that is working very hard to make a come-back.

[Mary_Krupa]

An architect friend of mine said that the style of the house is a colonial revival mix--probably eclectic would be a more accurate answer.  Perhaps even strip the brick pedestals to reveal the brick rather than paint it.

Yes, you are probably right about the North Side. However, I know the people on Euclid and Rush Boulevards would do something like that, too. However, their homes are in good shape, at least from the street, and they don't need to do colors since many of their homes are brick.

[northside lurker]

Unfortunately, most people value low maintenance over architectural detail. (and I'll probably be just as guilty of it, if I start rehabbing houses)  So, the detail usually gets covered up with beige vinyl siding.

I think it would be great if a group of neighbors came together and painted their houses in period-correct colors.  I think something like that is most likely to happen on the north side, though.

[Mary_Krupa]

How exciting to find someone else in Youngstown actually excited about the architectural elements of our old neighborhoods. At first glance, I thought the color combination a bit loud but started thinking that the colors are actually quite cheerful. If there were several old houses in your neighborhood with similar true-to-the era paint jobs, just think what a neat statement that would make if someone were to drive through you neighborhood and see that.

I hope you can get more people to reveal the original architecture of their homes such as you have done.

[northside lurker]

Because I didn't want to worry about getting to and from downtown, I just stayed home and did the following little project.

This house is currently for sale on S. Hazelwood.  The first photo is what it currently looks like.  I can't stand that it has it's original trim intact, but is painted a monochromatic gray.  The second version is modified to show period correct colors.  I'm having second thoughts about the colors I picked, and I'm not sure I would pick them if I owned the house, but I definitely like them better than all gray.

What are your opinions?