The Plans

Yesterday I went to the house to meet with Don from Royson's Flooring. Bill and Mary gave us permission to have Don take some measurements for when we tear up the wall-to-wall carpeting and refinish the White Oak hardwood floors (mostly White Oak - Don found some other types of hardwood in a couple spots). While there Bill presented me with the original architect's plan to the house. For being as old as they are, they are in pretty good shape. There are 7 drawings in the portfolio all of which we'll have framed and displayed in the house. They will make great conversation pieces.  Here  are a few of them:

This is the west side of the house which faces Prospect Ave.

This is a detail of the stone pillars and gates. The pillars are still there but the gates rusted away a long time ago. However this image will allow us to reproduce them if we decide to bring them back.

This is the north side of the house that faces the valley.

This is the south side of the house. There is now an extension added between the main house and the barn along with a deck and in-ground pool added to this side. This side of the barn is where the dog kennels are now located. Percy Margeson (the original owner) married Eulalie Arlene Margeson (nee. Davis) of Lincoln, Maine. She was a very well known dog breeder and internationally known show dog judge. It was she who named this property Cedar Crest Kennels.

This is a floor plan of the main floor showing the barn, carriage house and main house. The wall between the hall and the bedroom (next to the kitchen) was removed along with the wall between the bedroom and the kitchen and that bedroom was converted into a den. The door leading outdoors (from the hall) was changed into a window. A laundry room was added about where you see the wood room. A addition was built in 1991 and extends out from about where you see the carriage house and wood room.

This is the second story of the main house. The linen closet and part of the hall were converted into an upstairs bathroom. The rest remains exactly as shown here.

This is the cellar of the main house. It too remains almost exactly as it's shown here. The boiler room is now the furnace room, the coal room has been converted to two cold rooms and the laundry room is now located upstairs however the old laundry sinks are still in the cellar. There is also an original laundry shoot but it is not longer used except as a conduit for electrical and plumping connections.

We were fortunate to find the name of the architect. This will hopefully allow us to determine exactly how old the house is. We had assumed it was built around the turn of the century but we recently discovered that Percy A. Margeson - the original owner - was only born in 1891 so it is unlikely he built the house when he was nine years old. We'll keep investigating that part. We were able to find his obituary which I'll post later.

Original Owner