Author: Valerie Fairlight

Unreal Estate

An occasional roundup of interesting or fantastic old houses on the market.

 Ames-Webster Mansion (shown above) in Back Bay (Boston), a 26,000-square-foot palace with 50 rooms and 28 fireplaces is now bargain priced at $692 a square foot! Curbed.com

The Austin Mansion in Effingham, Illinois was built in 1892 and has a storied history. It was once a college and has been featured on TV and in the press. A great look at it that includes historical photos. Hooked on Houses

1803 New Hampshire Mill overlooking a waterfall. Obviously modernized since it’s now a residence, it’s still pretty amazing. OldHouseDreams.com 

Oakwood in Cincinnati, is listed on the National Historic Register. It was constructed over five years from 1859 and is a castle smack dab in the midwest. OldHouses.com

And finally… Ghosts! Craigslist

 

Lovely functionality


I never knew! Apartment Therapy brings to our attention this post about balustrade boot scrapers. I might never have noticed this subtle addition to the iron railings of outdoor stairs, but then again most of the buildings here on the west coast are newer than this and have benefitted from paved streets and sidewalks.

Check out the whole article at Curator of S**t.com …and don’t be scared off by the name!

Tiny cottage in the Catskills

This article came out earlier this year, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share it here.

Sandra Foster renovated and furnished this 9-by-14-foot hunting cabin herself at a cost of $3,000. It’s a great story of something beautiful coming out of frustration. And look at that porch! Those windows!

Read the New York Times article here and be sure to click on the slideshow.

Master in miniature


Mike Doyle is a New York artist who has constructed an incredible run-down Victorian mansion made entirely of Lego blocks. This sculpture is as tall as I am and took approximately 130,000 Legos to build.

“Victorian on Mud Heap” (pictured above) is the third in Mike’s series of Victorians, and took him nearly 600 hours to build.

Check out Mike’s other houses here and here.