The Meadows House Addition Mystery

Was the addition originally separated from the house, then filled in with a second section that connected it to the house, or was it connected to the house and then the end section built later? Given the tax assessment records, it would seem that the original addition was the end area, given the description "Lot 58 and buildings." Yet the 1872 bird's eye view, completed three or four years after the addition, may indicate an attached addition. What are Bailey and I to think?


This area of the house gets even better. When looking at historic photos, Bailey and I also noticed that the now-exposed sub-basement used to be a cellar, covered with soil and wooden doors like those seen on any other cellar. Apologies for the lack of specialized vocabulary; I'm not there just yet :)


This mystery will have to wait, as class is wrapping up and we have work to hand in. I enjoyed having the opportunity to focus on a specific house, and I want to know more about the structure itself and the people who lived in there. One particular man was a tailor, using the addition most likely as his place of business. More must be known about this man and how he used this space, and I want to find this out. I would also like to do more drawing, this time doing a detail of the mantelpiece.

This is one of the first structural mysteries that has really interested me. I usually deal with objects in interiors, but I must admit that the exterior is pretty nifty in its own right; I just have a problem with vernacular historians who seem to dismiss interiors because of their inability to last due to redecoration. I may just work up some vernacular architecture street cred with Anna after all.