Laura's Page

A fine house!
and older than 1900.

The mouldings and curve on the French door are Italianate/Second French Empire details that were popular from about 1860 to the late 1870's - then quickly passe! Still beautiful to me - I do like that moulding, that curve, and the door paneling!

The staircase ( I assume it is the back stair) is a style that was widely used from the 1830's on in tight spaces. Your newel post wass turned on a lathe from a tree trunk, The style was stylish from the late 1830's to the1850's. I have seen many pre-1800 houses updated with a newel like that with stair railing to match.
The shape of your house is post- 1865 Victorian. The double windows on the second floor are another Italianate detail. The casings and the details at the bay window were fashionable then. I can quote you some books if you want.

By 1900 your house would have been ready for an update - technology had made great strides by then: central heat, indoor plumbing, iceboxes, screens, maybe even electricity. That great kitchen cabinet was probably added then,

Enclosing porches with windows and screen also happened a lot then - that seems to be what I see to the left in the picture of the back of the house.
It looks as if you may have a second floor porch that became a room. Sleeping porches - the fresh air was advised for your health - were added to all kinds of houses in the 1920's. You may have one of those.

Congratulations on your new home and thanks for posting the pictures.

Laura -A lot of counties computerized their real estate records with pre-Y2K computer programs that only allowed 2 numbers for each date. Thus, anything that was pre-1900 was listed as 1900 or 1901. For a couple of years after buying our "1901" house, I was convinced that there was a building boom in 1901, then I went to the city directory records and found out that all of the 1901 houses were also occupied in 1900 and 1901, including mine that had been occupied since at least 1895. Depending on the size of your town, there may be a city directory for your town too. Those were great, because they listed by name and by street address. If there is no city directory, then there may be a Sanborn fire map for your area (those are online for free with a bit of sleuthing). Sanborn maps are great because each house's footprint is drawn onto it exact spot on the lot, as well as outbuildings. The downside is that they only updated them maybe every decade. If your house is in the countryside, then both of the above options are out.

Once you get settled, I hope you will post a series of pictures of the house, outside and inside. I expect many people will weigh in on its age.