An t-Earrach 2006

After another extended absence, I've decided to resume posting. Two events inspired me in this direction: completing the house trim painting (funny how a project can extend over almost 2 years) and a visit from three architecture students this fall. These three young women painstakingly measured and documented the dimensions of our first floor as part of a project related to a Vernacular Architecture Forum Conference to be held in June 2009. My goal is to meet my original (and scaled back once already) milestone of adding a post for every season since we purchased our new old house in the Fall of 2003. Back on track with Spring 2006...

I'll also interrupt the house tour theme to say a few words about the builder of our house, Frank Oldhaber. Mr. Oldhauber, with help from friends and family, built our present home block-by-block. He also fabricated the blocks on-site, one-by-one, using a cement block maker similar to the Wizard marketed by Sears & Roebuck.

The picture above was provided by the late Edna Anderson, Frank's niece. Although Frank's not present in this picture of the family, Edna is the babe-in-arms. We were fortunate to have Edna walk through the house with us shortly before her death. The photo dates from the early 1920s, the front porch of the house looks much the same as now, with one exception. At some point, iron pipe supports were added to the top of the half-pillars (perhaps to correct a sag in the porch). Not knowing if the supports were absolutely needed for support, we erred on the side of caution and left them in place. They're visible in the early posts.