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Welcome to our home. The first thing you may notice is the purple "marbled" glass. When we bought the house, it was told to us that this was original to the house. It was learned later that the original glass was replaced with the purple glass by the Kendricks. Rachel was a very private person and wanted glass that provided privacy from those who may look in. This also explains that excessive growth that was found on the outside of the front porch during the Kendrick occupancy.The marbled glass above the mail slot used to be a solid piece, but someone broke into the house during the Mendenhall occupancy and the glass was shattered. It was subsequently replaced with the current decorative piece.
From what we know, this is the original door knob. Over the years, the original keys to the locks have been lost. However, David recently restored the locking mechanisms and cut new keys for all of the skeleton key locks throughout the house. The patent dates stamped into the lock mechanisms are 1889.
A note of interest, it has been told that this door knob is identical to one that is at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver.
The oak molding was restored to its original finish prior to our taking ownership of the house. Sadly, this is the only room that has the oak wood showing. The rest of the molding has been painted. It is our goal to remove all of the paint and let the glory of the wood shine.
The original floor can still be found in the entry and in the coat closet. The coat closet is located under the stairwell, and it still has the unfinished original flooring. There is also a trap door that allows access under the front part of the house. The rest of the house has had the flooring updated with a newer oak.
Like a lot of older homes, mail slots were common. We still use ours. To keep the cold out, a slot cover on both sides of the entry is used.
Throughout your tour, you will see numerous buffets. Not only are they decorative pieces of furniture, but they provide a ton of storage.
The stairs have led many to the living quarters above, and according to Terry Mendenhall, still have the same squeak that they did back in the 1960's. Notice the quarter round window. From what we can tell, the scalloped glass is original...or at the very least it was there as of 1932 when the Kendricks moved in.
Further up the stairs is a decorative window. Until recently, this window had remnants of the old paint. It has recently been restored to a former glory. Since the purple, marbled glass is in the window, we are not sure if the decorative wood work is original to the house, or if the Kendricks had it made. We like to think that window itself is original, and just the glass was replaced.
For being over 109 years old, the stairwell is in great condition. Our cat Eunice poses in her favorite spot on the stairwell.
