Touring 132 Year Old Victorian Era House in Benton Park | This House Tours
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2021
- We were invited to tour this 132 year old Victorian Era house in Benton Park. The woodwork and original hardware will leave you breathless!
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Touring 132 Year Old Victorian Era House in Benton Park | This House Tours
• Touring 132 Year Old V...
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Benton park is a fantastic neighborhood. And I love living here. But I want to push back on what you said at the end. We can still build neighborhoods like this. We have chosen not to. There are many regulations, zoning ordinances and standard practices that stand in the way. But we as a society put those rules in place and we can remove them. New development can look like this but it has to be a choice we ask for.
That is a fantastic point! While possible, it would take a lot of people demanding it of their local planning and zoning commissions to allow for this type of city planning to be reimplemented.
Theoretically you are correct with a city like St.Louis where you don’t have aggressive real estate happening. Meanwhile in Vancouver BC where even civic government is hell bent on trying to get as many residents on the land as possible and we anticipate another million by about 2035. Good climate, clean air, good schools and generally safe living. Meanwhile in another side of town people are pitching tents on the sidewalk as they have no affordable housing. A one bedroom apartment rents for between 1500-2000 per month. Thanks for letting me vent.
@@dougmackay677 yeah cities like Vancouver bc and Hong Kong are really different.
Very interesting! Why do we think that we can’t reproduce houses like this.
Oh you mentioned the empire strikes back house. I love what they are doing with that house.
I agree. Caleb's enthusiasm is infectious and I never miss his blogs. It is wonderful how so many of his viewers donate pieces and give suggestions to help him with his project.
@@williamstringer6519 I agree I love that everyone is helping him and his wife bring it together. His dads accident was a very close call. I am so glad he didnt break his leg in that fall.
Thank you for mentioning Caleb that was a good thing!!✌🇺🇸
Me too! Finding Caleb on TH-cam was a joy, and it introduced me to Saint Louis, a city full of unexpectedly beautiful architecture quite different from our own nineteenth century buildings here in Australia, but which are also full of elegant detail not found in modern housing.
My Aunt Gin (my mothers middle sister) still lives in a "row house" in York, PA built in 1910....there are large grates in the floors bringing heat from the coal furnace in the basement. Had I seen this last week, I could have supplied pictures as I was just there for Easter, its so wonderful folks are actually living in this house and preserving it...love your channel Ken!
What a lovely way to spend Easter! I'm glad you're enjoying this channel, cheers!
Those serpentine sections of the stairway handrails, would have been hand carved from a block of wood, sawed to the general shape, and then refined with various chisels. There were companies, as there are now, that specialized in creating stairs. One of their workers likely specialized in the making of those specific pieces.
❤
Wow!
What an amazing house and a neighbor! Yes, we are neighbors, as my husband and I also live on Victor in one of the adjoin Victorian townhouses.
Such a wonderful neighborhood!
Hi neighbor!
This is my favorite home to date. Peter has maintained the originality while making it a comfortable home. This home was lucky Peter found it. A big thanks for allowing us to see inside his stunning home.
We're so glad you enjoyed it as much as we did!
THANKS! But I could do a lot more with it.
@@LaughingLion Just continue to love it and make it your home.
That floral pattern on the transom in the master was clearly a sticker.
@Nazar 23 It keeps my daughter from looking down on my bed as she comes down the stairs, which makes both of us happy.
Thank you for this tour, Ken.
And thank you, Peter, for letting us see your amazing home.
Congratulations on your marriage.
Did anyone else catch that he is re-marrying his ex-wife? There must be a real love there that could overcome whatever separated them. I wish them well!
I love these old homes. I try to imagine living in something like these homes.
My grandparents had a very large house that they raised 12 children plus multiple grandchildren in, in Soulard. They had all the floor grates. The fact that's unusual is funny to me. I thought that was pretty typical 😂.
The first floor of our 1924 duplex in Bevo still has the ornate floor grates. Too large of an openning to "update"!
It hurts like h*ll to step on them when the furnace is going!!! The first time you think,”OOOOOWWWWIIIEEEE!! Must not do that again!” The second time it’s like, “%#*@$! YIKES! I really HAVE TO STOP doing that!!” and for the most part you DO end up avoiding it & walk around it. In the winter. In the summer you know it won’t be hot….and you let your guard down 😳 but once heating season comes back around it t only takes once to remember to side step it! The second summer spent in a house with floor grate heating you end up continuing to walk around the grates so you can avoid branding your feet!!
Wonderful to see such a fine example that hasn't been "bastardized" for modern living, even the kitchen fits the architecture of the home!
So does that mean you're cooking off of a wood burning stove
@@mikekeeler6362I did for several years...
In 🇬🇧 UK 🇬🇧 in the mid to late 1880s central heating was being installed into new homes- for the nouveau riche- newly rich industrial money, people who wanted to fill their homes with the latest technology. It’s very possible that this house was built with built in central heating.
That’s a great point! We would be curious to find out for sure
I think it was built with central heating, too, and that the floor grates were original. But I, of course, don’t actually KNOW that.
Ken, you do the best job showing houses of anyone I have seen. This an incredibly beautiful house. So nice of the owners to let us see their house.!
Good grief, the maid's staircase, just gorgeous, our is so plain in contrast. Amazing house!
What a lovely home! I like the upstairs where the wood work is painted white & brightened the rooms up.
I had wooden baseboards & doors but my decorator told me to paint them white. I thought that it was sac religious to paint over wood, but i did & it brightened up the house so much & i loved it.
I do realize he may want to keep it the way it is for historical value.
It is all lovely.
Thank you, Awesome!!!!!
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it!
I am definitely a sucker for spooky history! Crazy story in the beginning
Stick around, we will be featuring some really spooky homes in October!
Have the owners over the years ever noticed any unexplained sounds? Poor lady in the bottom of the well. Might not have been an accidental fall.
Really enjoyed having the owner comments. Thank you again for the tour. The garden was so enjoyable so refreshing !
Glad you enjoyed it
I really liked this house, sensibly and sensitively blended to provide comfortable contemporary living. It is very light inside, surprising as most homes of the era seem to always be so dark.
To be fair, we filmed just after sunrise so that the sun would be coming straight through the side windows. It really surprised us how much light filled the home!
Hi, I really liked this house. It wasn't done with a ton of fussy period furniture. Don't get me wrong, I sometimes love that look, but this house is comfortable and very livable. Gorgeous woodwork too. I enjoyed the vid very much. You did a fantastic job. TY . That is sooo cool that the owner is engaged to be remarried to his ex wife. :) I am a former St. Louisan from 1980 to 2005.
Thank you so much, glad you enjoyed this video!
I agree, Rusty!
I thought that was interesting because my mom's cousin married his ex wife several decades ago and they are still going strong. 👍
I am a fan of the fussy period and kinda sad for some of the missing updated features. BUT that being said you are absolutely right. A house should be functional and a welcoming reflection of the person who lives there. This gentleman has done a good job of his lifestyle
@@janetcarbone4213 😀
Beautiful..what a Gem❤💙💜💚
Hi Kenneth. Love your tours. The particular twisted portions of the railings were hand crafted to match the mill worked or "run of the mill" portions. Once upon a time there were artisans and I see so much of their work in your tours.
Lovely lovely house. I love old houses..they have memories to share.💘
This is a beautiful home, with a lot of interesting details. Thank you for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it!
We own an 1886 Folk Victorian. We didn't restore but renovated. I wanted a big kitchen and kitchens were not where people entertained back then. We kept everything we could but replaced what we couldn't. Ours is 3K sq ft. We have the fret work, rounded stair rails, ornate newel post, stain glass above the windows, transoms above the bedroom doors and water filled cast iron ornate steam radiators. We enclosed the 400 sq.ft porch and now it's a sun porch usable 9 months a year with adding a propane fireplace. We did this at 50 yrs old when most people are downsizing. Would it be too much house for one person? Yes, which is why I would live on the first floor which is comparable to a BIG apartment. We're 70 now and I hope both of us go out of here feet first. We love this house. It felt right. We are only the 4 owners since it was built. In the 1920's to the 1960's it was a convent. My sister says it feels like church in here. It's peaceful. :o)
sometimes I put your videos one because your voice is so calming lol.
I’ve never heard of “mosaic tile rug” before, I like it! :) The front door stained glass was really something, quite the statement piece.
Glad you enjoyed it! The details in this house had us amazed!
I would replace the dark red stain glass with a lighter glass to bring more reflection in the room. Beautiful home and craftsmanship is definitely old school.
My great-great grandparents lived in Benton Park in the late 1800's early 1900's. My great-great grandfather belonged to the Benton Park Association.
Loved this house so many nice features. Thanks for the tour Ken!
Also glad to see the modernization of the kitchen wasn't over done. Keeping it dark help it too look more original.
Our pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Ken, @ 11:26 the original hardware on the pocket door is held in with Philips head screws. Although invented in the 30's, they were seldom seen in carpentry and wooden furniture till the 60's.
I have lived and visited all over the world but the homes in St Louis are the most beautiful. Even the one in north st louis that are falling apart.
Homeowner is a real movie buff, huh?
Every single picture on the wall of the foyer was a movie poster or autographed headshot of various stars!!🤣👍🏻
The windows are gorgeous!
The maids staircase would have also been „ decorative“ in generous households. It’s still a lot simpler than the front stair, and its newel post is much more modest than the front stair newel post.
I was surprised by the owner’s comment that he didn’t feel this was a “cozy” home or that someone living alone would utilize it properly. I loved this home and, despite the original details and features, I was actually imagining myself living, day to day, in the space. And it felt quite comfy. I’m wondering if it’s partly a feature of the ceiling height which we can’t really experience or get a feel for through the camera. I can see how that might make the rooms feel less intimate.
That front door is absolutely magnificent! I’d say those doors and the staircases are definitely the best features of the house - and that’s saying something. The floors, woodwork (especially the fretwork grills embellished with fleur-de-lis), fireplaces and transoms are in such beautiful condition. And the pocket doors - I’m a sucker for them, too! My parents built a home with pocket doors and we used them often. They are very handy for privacy and for temperature control.
This home was a real gem and I’m glad the owner reached out and you responded. You did a great job and did his home justice. Wishing him and wife all happiness in their future together.
Thank you so much! The house definitely felt large while I was exploring it. The 12ft ceilings really threw off the sense of scale in the rooms. It's layout was nearly identical to our first house tour in Lafayette Square, but each room was much larger.
Pocket doors are amazing! I would have them in every room in my home if I could!
-Ken
I am widowed these days and still live alone here in Australia in our very large colonial house surrounded by a big English style garden. I am privileged to have the space around me to help avoid crowded places in these days of COVID. There are smaller rooms to retreat to when I'm in the mood to enjoy some cheese and wine in lovely Victorian surroundings, and larger rooms for entertaining family and friends who really appreciate the elegant atmosphere.
@@williamstringer6519
You sound like a very lucky and very contented man. How wonderful that you continue to appreciate and enjoy your space.
@@Lucinda_Jackson Thank you Lucinda. I am aware that I am privileged, especially by comparison to those poor souls bombed out of their homes in the current conflict in Ukraine.
@@williamstringer6519
No, I didn’t mean privileged in a negative way, but a positive one. You are lucky to have such a beautiful place and to enjoy it.
I enjoy ur TH-cam channel very much. I love history and anything to do with history and these beautiful houses u show and talk about r amazing keep the new videos coming I enjoy them every much
Those banisters would have been carved from wood blocks and then assembled (as indicated by the seam), not bent. Steam bending is for plywood (a very mid-century technique), or for long, gentle curves in the older style.
I wondered how much you could bend a milled piece of lumber like that banister.
I've seen violin makers steam bend wood. Don't know if it's plywood or just thin pieces, but it's fascinating. And I've seen thin pieces of wood bent, layered, and glued together. Great skills!
My fine woodworking skills are limited pretty much to trim carpentry (I'm really good at it) and wood finishing and refinishing. I love the old wood - there will never be wood like that again, ever - and I always try to talk people into refurbishing old furniture made of "real" wood instead of trashing it and buying fake furniture. There's a reason those 80-100 year old pieces of furniture are still serviceable- they're heirloom quality. Modern furniture is good for 10 years or until it gets wet - whichever comes first.
Anyway, I really geek out over old architecture and I think it's important to preserve and appreciate what's left.
Floor grates are cold air return's, originally went to a gravity fed force air furnace with white calcium sulfide ridged insulation on the "hot" ducts, no blower (cold air returns uninsulated). Woodwork totally impressive! Garage? Basement? Attic? Yard? Great clip!
Thanks for the info! There's a detached garage, basement, yard, and 3rd floor/attic. At the owner's request, we did not show those parts of the property. Glad you liked it, this house was one of my favorites so far!
-Ken
Not all of them! I commented on my experience with hot grates just a few comments back!
I see a hinge on the underside of the maid staircase so either an under staircase closet or staircase to the basement. Love all the layers of floors with lovely staircases.
So nice this house was built with a nice stairway to the 3rd floor, so many built those with narrow steep stairs that were somewhat dangerous, but they really didn't care because it was " just the hired help" , which is rather sad
It is so nice to see a house this nice lived in and not just to look at. Enjoy
I love the height of the windows.
You are most knowledgeable and your enthusiasm for old detail is charming!
The railings were made from hand carved wood from a bent tree limb that was steamed to make it fit perfectly.
Those grates in the floor are original to older homes
Contoured peices were often cut from large curving branches so the grain of the wood would follow the curve keeping all the strength.
The Amish still practice this technique.
Gorgeous house. Amazing that some much of it has survived!
It really is a gem!
The staircase in this home is incredible. I don't know how the carpenter put together the rail system with the odd interchange. If I was to put it together I'd carve the two pieces from a block and use an instrument to gauge the width and height. It took someone many hours to complete the junction. Items like this make the home unique and valuable.
You mentioned the large grates on the floor being something you haven't seen and were wondering about them. I lived in a large home in Iowa built in 1910 that was based on grand homes in St. Louis and out east, and it had very similar large grates in the floor like that throughout the main floor of the home.
That's interesting!
Probably has/had a gravity furnace, fairly common in the late 1800's thru the first half of the 20th century.
I love the brick homes in our city. It is so depressing to drive the west side of the city & see so many once beautiful homes rotting away. But Benton Park is a great neighborhood to live in with beautiful historic homes..
What a great place, and what an astonishing banister: the Victorians were amazing!
Loved loved …loved the video. 💗🌇
I really enjoy your work!
Yes, it is a fancier open back staircase, many of them were closed staircases going to the kitchen.
Given the general layouts of homes in the area, it is very curious why the back stairs were left open. Most of the homes in the area feature closed stairs.
Beautiful !
Built with attention to the little details.
Oh you and your pocket doors. lol
I’m obsessed 🤩 -Ken
Another great video! I really like this house. If someone with money wanted to build a Victorian style home today it would be easier in some ways. I imagine all of the elaborate wood and stone carving could be replicated in minutes by a modern cnc machine or 3d printing.
There is a 50% chance the banister could have been made with a compwood machine. The wood could have also been carved from a larger piece by a master wood carver that took advantage of a natural growth oddity in the wood. It also might have been created by soaking and or steaming the wood.
Those are all very interesting theories! Thank you!
There is a 50% chance the second marriage ain’t gonna work either. Lol, just kidding..!! Good luck and congrats on the lovely home.
loor grates use to be "Cold Air Returns." Whoever built this house was unbelievably talented. Almost all Stained woodwork! Does it have a Garage, Basement, no yard walk through?
Thanks for the information! This house truly is a gem. There is a basement and a large side yard, though we chose not to show them as they are works-in-progress by the current owner.
Watch the New Yorkshire Workshop. He does amazing woodwork on his Victorian home in Yorkshire UK. Not far from where I live.
How they worked with amazing wood back in the day in the 1880s and 1890s as they would use steam they would already pre-cut the determined wood that they would want and send it then you steam to form it into the shape that they want
I love the home. I would have played with the pocket door mechanism for at least another 10 minutes had it been me there.
I played with it for a good 2 minutes off-camera LOL
-Ken
@@ThisHouse lol!!!
What is the build up area and length breadth of the house also basement
This house is haunted as hell! I can feel it by just looking at it.
My home has the floor grates like this which supplied heat from a coal stove in the basement.
I've watched several of your videos and they are "fabulous" in a "2 snap in a z-formation way". I would recommend an iron, however.
Thanks! Filming in the high humidity has its challenges, I should probably look for a battery powered iron to bring on site.
Ken, this house is really great. I’m wondering what he has planned to do to it, as it looks like there is construction going on. I’d love to see it returned to an original style fitting to the home. I don’t know about anyone else but I could live there alone and be really cozy, I’d sleep in a different bedroom every night and not make the bed until I got through to all of them, lol. Another beauty you do such great interviews and are so knowledgeable about Victorian architectural elements. Thanks for sharing , your friends ChuckandMax
Thank you! Glad you're enjoying our tours! I got a good chuckle out of your idea to cycle through the beds LOL 😁 -Ken
Owner here. Aside from replacing the bathtub, nothing special is really planned for the house. However I have made a request for a raingarden grant to plant four more trees in the backyard and another one in front. If you couldn't tell, I have a double lot, and I want the second lot to not just be a sward of grass I mow. I want to turn it into a forest (albeit a rather small one).
@@LaughingLion that sounds like a great plan, we can never have too many trees 🌳, although you’re going to have to have some kind of ground cover or mow around them. I have a very large lot on two corners, there are 21 zones for my sprinkler system for just the front yard. I have about 20 trees and around them is some kind of decorative green low growing plant that looks really nice and doesn’t take very much care, in my back yard I have a decorative grass that you don’t have to mow very often as well I can’t remember the name of it but it’s very beautiful and the fireflies like it.
I bet you will do a great job on that bathroom, you have very good taste. And congratulations on your back together wedding, I think that is awesome.
Most of the wood that is curved was water steamed and bended while steaming hot.
2nd Empire Strikes Back? How can I find this episode? Sounds intriguing.
That was one of our very first house tours, here it is: th-cam.com/video/pu0v1XYGM-w/w-d-xo.html
@@ThisHouse Thank you for the info and link.
I saw the photographer. lol
Oops! -Dalton
The "old growth" "mahogany" pocket doors are painted. It's the work of a grainer, a highly skilled artisan who would make imitation wood grains using paints. My very similar home has grained mahogany, oak and walnut look woodwork now sadly largely painted over or highly damaged and very, very difficult to replicate.
livable & not dark. how high the ceilings?
Nothing tops big city neighborhoods. Great eateries, entertainment all within walking distance. The burbs are notoriously cookie-cutter and car dependent. Yet people flock to them, I guess to become lawn heads.
I wonder why he had plastic over the stained glass?
Great question! That was to help with insulating the house during our scorching hot summer
@@ThisHouse Actually it's more important during the winter. Those stained glass panes are pretty but they let the wind in like you wouldn't believe. Summer is not as much of a problem, but I keep them up on all the single-pane windows year round because taking them down and putting them back up twice a year is a pain!
@@LaughingLion that’s right, I think you had mentioned that! -Ken
@Nazar 23 if you could see the panes themselves you would see that there is no place to install more glass. The answer is that I need to install a storm door outside the front door in the vestibule. There was one there in the past, but now there is not. But that will cost me $thousands I don't have to expend right now.
The swivel door was the maid's entrance to and from the kitchen. The hall door was not.
Is this house still on sale ?
I always hope you will show the maid/servant quarters but you never do. I am interested in the entire home, not just the “grand” areas of the home.
I was at a friends house in Benton park in the early 90’s for a bbq I’m the back yard. While we were out there, someone broke in and robbed the house and took our purses.
The neighborhood was actually pretty sketchy when I lived there in the seventies...have continued to visit the area through the years for the restaurants, etc. Beautiful houses, especially this one re-done so well, but this area still not terribly safe in my opinion. A shame.
It's gotten a lot better since then. Amazing neighborhood.
I don't think the bannister and spindles on the servant stairway are original. The wood doesn't match the stairs....???
98% of the people of that time were Christian. They would most likely have had many Christian books and bibles in the home. If you check the Neighborhoods history there probably is several churches in walking distance that the owners and subsequent owners attended through the 1960’s.
I remodel homes near downtown Cleveland. Christian artwork is common throughout the homes.
So the owner would not allow you access to the third floor and attic. Did you happen to research if this family was descendent of Madame Marie Delphine LaLaurie?
Can't understand that there isn't more interest in the home tours .
We are steadily growing and have only been on TH-cam for a few months. We hope that we will continue to grow with each new video :) Thanks for watching, we're happy you enjoy our videos!
Your clothes look older too.