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Victorian House for sale in NY

House is for sale
in the Berkshires

Sometimes the building was divided into 3 flats. There are the remains of an old kitchen on the third floor --- looks '40s or '50s in style. Or perhaps this reflects 3rd-floor Victorian servants' quarters. In one old photo there is a fellow driving a horse and wagon in a corn field next to the house, and a maid with a baby in a second-storey window. The dining room features a storage closet, and above this is a smaller cabinet with a locked door. Victorian manor-dwellers apparently kept their liquor there, along with the assumption that the servants were short, or unambitious, or couldn't find the key. Might have been short --- the stairway from the dining room features treads on which anyone with shoe sizes under 6 would have been comfortable.

To listen to people's stories, apparently everyone in New Baltimore lived in this house, played there, or their aunt lived there. Or their aunt knew someone who lived there.


PHILADELPHIA GUTTER

And this was what they played on, God help us! This is one name for a wide, rather flat gutter around the house at the bottom of the mansard. Couple feet wide shallow trough. The kids used to play chase around the gutters and in and out of the 3rd-floor windows. Hair-raising to contemplate. The trough to this Victorian gutter is supported by a pretty simple system of stub 2X4 resting on the 3rd-floor plate and tied to the studs. A shaped 1X6 defines the trough. The current owners repaired or rebuilt much of this and lined it with rubber roofing membrane, in place of the original metal lining. It is actually strong enough to walk on, though it does not seem much holds it up. This particular system is all external. The water runs off the low-slope roof, down the shingled mansard, onto the gutter trough.

Downspouts need to be added --- or rainchains. Meanwhile, the gutters are part of what keeps the house dry.

THIS IS A MANSARD VICTORIAN "PAINTED LADY"
That' s the style of house where the top floor's walls are sloped back (11 degrees in this case), with a fairly flat roof and cupola atop that. The story is that in XIXth (?) Century France, your property tax had to do with the number of storeys on your house. So some sharpster architect tipped those walls back, and called the top floor a "roof." This fooled the tax collectors???? Anyway, it wasn't Mansard. He just somehow got the thing named for himself.

At some point in the XXth Century, this particular mansard roof was redone in modern ugly composite shingles. Has been re-re-done in cedar shakes, shaped and patterened and stained. Under these is flashing of roofing rubber, contiguous with the gutter trough. Pretty secure.

The roof was redone in 2006. About half the sheathing boards were replaced, the rest turned and trimmed. The surface is called Henry Lo-Slope. It's a kind of roll roofing that incorporates a more waterproof and self-sealing layer in addition to the common materials. Glued and nailed down. Good for about ten years. [Next step would be either doing a completely rubber roof, or covering the current layer with one of the paintable rubber under- and overcoats and give it another coat every five years or so]. Special flashing measures around the chimney and cupola. Especially BETWEEN the cupola and chimney, which is a tricky and vulnerable spot. The cupola has raisable windows and pulleys for doing that. Y'wanta restore them, discourage wasps with screens, and maybe install a whole-house fan there for summer.

Entire structure rescued starting 1988, 25 feet of foundation rebuilt (in stone), basement pointed, jacks removed. Entire south side of house rebuilt, all structural water damage repaired/replaced.

All damaged clapboard replaced with cedar. House painted in 6 color Victorian scheme.

Mansard and gutters repaired/rebuilt and hand-shingled with stained cedar.

New roof 2005.

First 2 floors are completely insulated, plumbed, wired, and heated; all but laundry room are finished and decorated consistent with Victorian style. Wide-board floors are refinished.

ALL THE HEAVY, EXPENSIVE RESTORATION AND UPDATING WORK HAS BEEN DONE ON THIS BUILDING.

External work still to be done:
>Gutters and dormers want finishing, but are functional.
>Front porch roof needs sealing.
>Back of house needs to be painted.
>Cupola could be more fully restored.
>Third floor external doorway needs to be improved.

Third floor is currently used as unheated attic. Can be made into 5-7 more rooms. Can be plumbed with minimal disturbance to second floor. Door leads to a lower roof suitable for deck or greenhouse.

Well has never gone dry in 18 years. New pump 2005.

Street is dead-end and quiet; house faces wooded lot.

House is 5-minute walk from the Hudson River; 17 miles from downtown Albany on a bus line.

For sale on 1/2 acre lot which includes lawn, a dozen fruit trees, a privacy copse. Also offered is a contiguous acre through to the next street. More space/privacy (room for a garage and tennis court or a horse); or can be developed as two building lots with adequate frontage and sewer access.

Three-storey, 3300 square feet, 18 rooms. One full bath, 2 halves. Currently two bedrooms, but a couple other rooms could be bedrooms --- and there is the whole third floor to be redone if you want to --- 7 rooms currently as unheated storage. Full basement under most of the house. On half an acre, additional adjacent acre available.

INQUIRIES:
Don Fontaine, (518) 945-2125
Fontaine & Associates
(888) 800-3222
21 2nd. Street, Athens, New York 12015

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