He has made some interesting discoveries while stripping the mansion down for its big move, including a hidden stained glass window, a five-panel pocket door, and, in the basement, some charred joists (indicating that there had at some point been a fire).
In this first photo, you can see the stripped-down mansion (photo taken today, December 16, 2011). The actual moving of the mansion will take place sometime in January.
The original wood siding is being revealed under the stucco:
The five-panel pocket door:
The Little stain-glass window:
Nice that he's saving the house but too bad it's at the expense of the evicted tenants. I'm guessing that the finished product either won't be rentals or will go for waayyy more rent than what the former tenants were paying. Either way the Drive loses a little more of its charm & livability.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, after being encased in concrete, it's looking better already
ReplyDeleteRe: pasttense. As became clear at the council rezoning hearing (corroborated by former tenants), the tenants were going to be evicted anyway because the house was a wreck. That's the problem with this kind of 'affordability.' No maintenance = inevitable eviction. The choice council made was between restoring the house or demolishing it for strata-titled duplexes.
ReplyDeleteAnon: when you frame it like that, you make it sound like an act of nature for which no one is culpable. City Council consistently makes decisions that help bloat property values, thus making affordable rents unsustainable and creating the false choices like the one you describe. Developers win, renters lose.
ReplyDelete