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| It's a cute little starter home... |
Forest Hills is a neighborhood of what we'd now call "McMansions" just to the south of Kessler and east of College. Biggish homes made to look even bigger by tiny lots, it was a streetcar suburb of Indy back in the first third of the last century.
While not as grandiose as the ginormous cribs crowding Meridian on the far side of College, there's enough variety in the architecture and landscaping to make a pleasant backdrop for a bicycle ride...
26 comments:
my experience is that slate roofs are pretty maintenance free
It looks like the front door might be difficult to open with that huge tree growing directly in front of it.
Wow, that roof is near vertical.
Mine is sloped much more than it needs to be in the South and it's frightening to get up onto. That one looks terrifying.
I was wondering about that humongous tree my self. Looks to be 4 feet past the front of the house. That would expensive to remove and probably has branches that could crush the house.
Hopefully in a little less up scale neighborhood.
Paul,
That's a trick of forced perspective.
There are other photos at the link; that's a decent-sized entryway and the tree's a good eight or ten feet from the door... But it IS a big oi' tree, alright.
Beautiful place, and probably needs replumbing and rewiring... NOT cheap!!!
4 feet from the door? I thought it was growing through the front porch slab from the picture!
Both slate and leaded glass are nearly entirely maintenance free, especially if the flashing is lead sheet as well...it's just expensive to build the house to hold them up.
On second look, are you sure those aren't the spanky new vinyl look-alike roofing tiles? The hips look a little to "clean", and the tiles themselves are extremely uniform...not to mention quite thick.
Richard Douglas,
"On second look, are you sure those aren't the spanky new vinyl look-alike roofing tiles? The hips look a little to "clean", and the tiles themselves are extremely uniform...not to mention quite thick."
Interesting. I dunno; I'll take a closer look while I'm out tomorrow.
You'd think that would risk the wrath of the Neighborhood Association! :D
"On second look, are you sure those aren't the spanky new vinyl look-alike roofing tiles? The hips look a little to "clean", and the tiles themselves are extremely uniform...not to mention quite thick."
Then there's that big red Roofing Contractor sign by the sidewalk...
I just discovered Norman has a hobbit hole at the north end of town. I now make it a point to drive a bit out of the way going north/south so I can enjoy it rom afar.
That tree is rotten...unless my eyes are screwed up, the trunk is full of fungi.
A giveaway on the slate, cutting a slate to bridge the peak of a roof ridge is extremely hard to do. It would be overlap with flashing in a traditional slate roof.
acairfearann,
The orange stuff? That's the remains of some vines that had been pulled off it.
This discussion has uncovered an odd emotional self-discovery.
I used to like to look at other houses.
But now after the relocation thing and the heart-rending homesickness than took me completely by surprise I suddenly have discovered I'm not all that interested in looking at other houses.
I feel very blessed because things came into place to allow us to move back.
The first four months of 2012 taught me things I didn't know about myself such as having put down roots I was unaware of and that the wanderlust of my youth has faded.
Apologies for navel gazing on your blog, Tam, but this discussion brought it to mind for some reason.
Its a nice design, though id rather have it in the countryside, and logs rather than brick, still its a nice house.
Very nice - but my next house will be a cabin or farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.
If everyone I hear moves to the middle of nowhere to build a house the middle of nowhere wont be there any more.
Somehow that kind of calls for some kind of rhyme.....
Having no direct experience, I speculate that a significant upside to slate (or tile, or cedar shakes, as my favorite house in our neighborhood has), is that you don't have to replace the whole durn thing at once (as we just did this summer to our conventional roof). As long as you're paying attention, maintenance should be quite manageable.
Lot like a plank-on-frame wood boat in that regard. :-)
Looks nice, get it! But check the plumbing. The Mountain Redoubt has easy access, if you don't mind a ladder...and the neighbors are at a distance.
Property tax: $1856 semi-annual?
Here in CA, that would be $6000+, at least!
Real slate will last 300 years or more. In f(GB) slate roofing tiles were removed from old houses and recycled onto new ones Waaaaaaaay back in the 18th century.
Are you sure the windows are all leaded with real lead? There are both fiberglass shingles that look like slate, and window mullions that look like lead.
the tree's a good eight or ten feet from the door..
Given that the roots grow out at least as far as the canopy ..... that there is a fount of foundation and plumbing issues.
What idjit planted that that close?
Believe it or not, that house in a fairly good suburb in Sydney Australia and within 10 miles from the city centre would cost over 2 million USD. House prices here are out of this world. The median house price in Sydney Australia is about the price of that house.
Mike in Oz
Anon,
The "Great Oak of E 58th Street" predates the house by more than a hundred years.
Are the walls plaster & lathe?
Is the wiring insulated with asphalt-soaked fabric?
Are the pipes in the foundation, inaccessible without jackhammers, or in the plaster & lathe walls?
Expensive to keep status quo in a house like that, but the elegance makes it worthwhile, if you can affort it.
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