Back in 1978, when I was a teenager, I got lost driving through Denver and found myself in the ill-famed Five-Points and Curtis Park area in Denver, Colorado (Denver’s oldest neighborhood). I subconsciously locked my car door, but at the same time marveled at all the potential that lay in that long-neglected neighborhood. There were dilapidated mansions just waiting for the right owner to come along and breathe life back in. When I happened on the house on Stout Street in 2004, it was the scariest house on the block, but had the most potential. It was a Second Empire house that was in major disrepair. The house had settled poorly due to bad storm drainage. The house had scaling brick and mortar softened to mere dust. Studs and joists had been cut out to make way for haphazard ductwork and plumbing. It had rotted eaves that squirrels had eaten away and resided in the mansard attic that wraps around the entire house. The squirrels had chewed through the electrical wires to bare copper in a number of places. The windows were broken. The house was heavily infested with an army of cockroaches (which are uncommon Denver’s dry climate). The place was barely livable. I had three insurance companies refuse me coverage before I commenced work on it. In the spring of 2004 I bought and began this wonderful, yet anxiety-ridden adventure. I pulled all the permits and did all the work myself including all the systems (e.g., plumbing, electrical).
Broken windows and rotting trim. Glimpses of dentil and dog-tooth trim
Rotted wood sills
Electrical mast missing and no meter.
It’s a wonder Excel allowed this to occur.
Dangerous non-shielded high voltage power cable
Powerful chemicals strip away century-old paint
Poor settling required rebuilding
major portions of brick. The old
concrete keystones had to be
rebuilt.
Rows and rows of the exterior wythe (layer)
of brick had to be removed. A novice
mason cut through the Portland cement
mortar cutting in to the brick face. All the
bricks had to be remved and replaced.
All but the front windows had rotted wood sills which I dug out and made forms for a concrete sill with a tint that matched the buff mortar.
This house has three basic types of windows. The main floor has double-hung arched and small multi-paned casement windows in the back. The upper level has an 8-pane double hung - all the same size. Back in the day, the Victorians placed all their best stuff in the front of the house. In this case, it was evident with the windows. The two front arched windows were full-paned
sashes, whereas the side arched windows had a center muntin, dividing the sash into two panes. The price of glass was steep back then - and the larger the pane - the more exhorbitant the price. That’s why multi-paned windows were developed. Now they’re looked at as a romantic feature, but back then it was a cost-saving method. I employed a window firm in Indiana to construct replica windows. The ironic thing was the front window reproductions were cheaper than the side windows since the extra muntin required more labor. I chose a window with a true-divided light and not one with a fake grille that snaps on the inside and outside of the house. I enlisted the help from my mom to prime and paint the windows before installing them.
The central chimney provided no use in my plans with a high-efficient furnace. The chimeny also limited floor plan options, so it made sense to remove it - from rooftop down to foundation. My friend Rob volunteered to help me dismantle the chimney. I enlisted my mom and sister to scrape off the old mortar so that the bricks could be reused on the house. As it turned out the salvaged bricks were valuable and used to replace old deteriorated brick.
Using a heat gun and scraper, layers of paint were removed. Dentil work can be so tedious
The enclosed back porch offered valuable utility space, but the facade had to be revamped. I decided to
open up a corner of the enclosed porch so that it would tie into the future wrap-around porch.
Because the house is situated on the far side of the lot presented an option for a wrap-around porch. The initial feat was to dig and pour a foundation. Completing the deck platform first provided a solid platform from which to build the roof. Framing can be so rewarding as the form of an idea becomes a reality in a weekend. Instead of using the 3-1/2" tongue-in-groove pine boards that are common in Victorian porches, I used a composite wood/plastic material that requires no maintenance.
I investigated second empire porches and observed
existing examples in the neighborhood. I came up
with the design in the spring of ‘08 which includes
bold paired columns with beaded mill-work which
was a borrowed idea from other houses in the ‘hood.
The scroll design is simple, and my design which were
easy to fabricate.
The lower column design is all my own. It incorporates simple 2x4s wrapped around the structural 4x4s and the corners are adorned with closet rod dowel stock. The design is focused around shedding water away from the column core, even if the caulk seal fails. I was a little afraid that the porch would greatly darken the house, so I placed unobstrusive skylights over each window.
The Second Empire roof is what de fines the style. The mansard roof provides for deep window seats in the second floor. It also provides a route for squirrels to get in and infest the entire perimeter of the house AND the fl oor joist space between the floors as it is all accessible once you get into the mansard "attic" space. As such, many repairs had to be done that barricaded the squirrels from getting in. With all the dormers that interrupt the roof-line, this became a tedious task. When you work on an old house such as this, you discover things about the past. I am very con dent that this house is a late century pop-top. The second level floor joists were 2x6s and were very under-designed as was evident when walking in the center of the rooms and experiencing the floor de flection. Other clues to the pop-top were the closed up window where the stairs are now located, and the design of the balistrades and newel post for the stairs are in the style of around 1900 (about 15 years after the house was built).
Demolition of the plaster upstairs uncovered the evidence of gabled dormers at one time. I’m assuming a
shed dormer was favored so that larger windows could be installed.
First things first - I decided to do the roof after constructing the wrap-around porch because it gave me a
safe platform from which to work.
All layers of asphalt and the original wood shingles were removed. The installation of a OSB sheathing will help strengthen the roof and provide a solid continuous surface from which to apply the new roof. I considered a slat roof which is common in Second Empire homes, but the cost was prohibitive. The new porch roof allowed me to removed the mansard roof gutters that bridged across the dormer windows. The skylights in the porch roof are not period, but were desired to maintain as much naturally light in the first level, as possible. The skylights are positioned directly over each of the lower level windows. The slope of the porch roof is so slight that the skylights are not very visible from the street.
I designed the garage to mimic the style of my existing old garage the resides on the south side of the lot. I
reutilized the original arched windows that I salvaged from the house. may of the sashes still have the cool
old wavy glass. The existing original garage is presently being transformed into a studio space.
I designed the garage to mimic the style of my existing old garage the resides on the south side of the lot. I reutilized the original arched windows that I salvaged from the house. may of the sashes still have the cool old wavy glass. The existing original garage is presently being transformed into a studio space.
A video documenting the restoration of the main house and the carriage house
Broken windows and rotting trim. Glimpses of dentil and dog-tooth trim