A few years ago, when visiting with my grandparents, my grandather told us the address of the home where he grew up. It is less than a mile from our house so we took a nice walk to the house and took some photos. This is the house...
We knocked on the door and hoped to go inside, but there was no one home and while there was a car in the garage, the home appeared to be either vacant or being renovated. It was hard to tell. We were so excited by the photos that we rushed them to my grandpa and showed them off. He then told us that it was actually his father who built the house. His father worked at a factory that used to be at the corner of our street, where our very favorite Mexican restaurant is now. The house is huge, and very beautiful.
I think I have mentioned that we have been thinking of moving. We love our neighborhood and when we do move will likely stay nearby. The neighborhood where my grandpa grew up is the ideal place for us, but the homes are quite expensive. Nevertheless, I often peruse realtor.com in hopes that one or two houses will be in our price range. We're still a while away from moving, but looking is fun too. So when I saw that my grandpa's old house was for sale, I couldn't help but call to find out more! The price is a bit over our range, but we knew we could take on some extra expense if it meant getting the house back into the family. I called the selling realtor and learned that the house is in pretty bad shape and would need a complete remodel. That definitely puts it out of our price range. I told him about our history in the house and said that I was excited to know that the house was going to be redone, whether it was by us or not. It was fun thinking about moving into this partcular house, although I kind of knew it was unrealistic. I mostly just wanted to see the inside and take some pictures. I really wanted one of BBZ near something that my grandpa would recognize. Perhaps something that shows the originality of the house. This is the one N took.
I can't wait for my grandpa to see it! I know he is going to be thrilled! I assume this is the original stair case...I hope so anyway. The house really was a mess. There is an elderly woman living there who has not taken care of it. Her family has been trying to get her to move for some time. The realtor did say that there were a couple of people looking at buying the house with the intention of redoing it. He gave us his card and hopes to connect us with the buyers so that we can at least see the house when it is complete. What a gift this has been to walk through the home where my great greandfather lived. And how wonderful it is to have this photo, and for BBZ to know one day that his great, great grandfather built that staircase he holds. Oh how I love this history!
