Sunday, April 4, 2010

A Little Local Real Estate

I drove out to Lincoln, Massachusetts on Saturday to go to a wonderful little art gallery there, about 15 miles northwest of Boston/Cambridge. Lincoln is an historic town near Lexington and Concord and played an important role in the American Revolution. As I neared the gallery, this gorgeous Colonial house appeared around a bend, almost in slow motion, with a sign in front "For Sale."
As you can imagine, I couldn't wait to get home and check out the details of my new country home. It was built in 1785--can you imagine?--and sadly it is under agreement. At least it saves me $2,295,000.

But I thought it would be fun to look at a little local real estate that's still available. To give appropriate credit to the sellers, I'll provide links for each of them in case anyone is interested. See if you can guess the prices before you look.
This gorgeous Mansard style Victorian found here couldn't be any more perfect. It's on a 1/2 acre too which is extremely rare.
Here's another extremely handsome Mansard found here that just about makes me drool. This image is going in my inspiration file because I love the color palette. I'm really starting to like houses with trim that's darker than the body color. It automatically feels historical.
Here's a newly renovated salt box house found here. This house lising also shows an old photo of the house which is cool.
The listing states the house was built in 1940 which I thought was wrong because the photo itself seems older but I checked public records and 1940 is correct. It reminds me a lot of Paul Revere's house in Boston (shown below) which was built in 1680.
And finally, if you'd like something you can add your own personal touches to, here's a Victorian that just went up for sale. This is on the street where I last lived and I walked past it many times envisioning what I would do to it. It's actually got a nice covered front porch that could be really sweet. They say it has a lot of the original architectural details so I'll have to get over and check it out when there's an open house. This one found here will go pretty quickly.
I want to get out and get more inspiration for color shemes--would it be wrong to take my Benjamin Moore fan deck so I can match the colors?--so sometime soon, I'll get over to "Tory Row" outside Harvard Square so you can those houses with me. Many of these Colonial era homes were owned by Loyalists--people loyal to the crown of England...and they're amazing! This home below...
...known as the (Henry Wadsworth) Longfellow House, was originally built in 1759 and after the Loyalist owner was chased out of town was used by George Washington for his home and headquarters during the American Revolution. How cool is that?

9 comments:

  1. Back in the summer of '06, my husband and I were visting Cambridge and strolling around the neighborhood near Harvard, admiring all the wonderful houses.

    We came upon an attractive old house with a "for sale" sign. On a post was one of those clear plastic boxes with listing sheets inside. Of course, I grabbed one.

    At first, I couldn't believe the low price: under $400,000 as I reacall.

    Then I read in more detail. That wasn't the price for the whole house. That was the price for a condo within the house.

    Then I continued reading. That was the price for a studio condo, not even a one bedroom.

    Then I read further. That was the price for a studio condo in the basement.

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  2. That's a funny story. When I bought my first condo, my family couldn't grasp the concept. "So you own part of the house and you'll be living with other people?" "Yeah, sort of."

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  3. Hi Steve,

    The first house pictured literally made me gasp. In my minds eye it is absolutely perfect. The others are gorgeous too but the first one, oh my!

    ~janet

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  4. Those houses are wonderful. Be nice, I come from good Loyalist stock and live on a Loyalist land grant from the king!

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  5. Wow! Thanks for the tour. It's nice to see some American houses again.

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  6. What a wonderful tour! I love the first colonial - its the quintessential American home to me. I sure wish builders today would go back to the early architecture. It's amazing that some of the homes are 200 years old and still just as glorious. Aren't they absolutely magnificent! I can just imagine the insides and all the original detail ~
    Maybe you could befriend a Realtor and go inside some of these for us ~ :)

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  7. Great collection of houses! The newly renovated saltbox is a Royal Barry Wills design, one of only two by him in Cambridge. I guess the car out front mustn't have been brand new.

    The last one you pictured did indeed sell very quickly. I made sure to get to the open house - it was a wonderful old, untouched house - the type that rings bells for me.

    Glad I stumbled upon your blog - it's right up my alley.

    Liz

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  8. Love the older homes. Victorians are my fav. Love all that gingerbreading. Ours is an 1890 farmhouse. I wish that the original woodwork was still here. Unfortunately it is not. The entire house was gutted and updated about 10 years before we bought it. It still has the hand hewn joists though. You can see them in the basement.

    I agree with you on the lighter house with the darker trim. Makes the house stand out more. I don't like the colors that they choose though. Too drab for such a pretty house. I also don't like the bright flashy colors either.

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  9. I want the first one. Of course I wouldn't mind the Longfellow House as I've always wanted to have a grand country estate to hold big lawn parties. Of course everyone is invited. ; ) Trina

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