Saturday Spotlight- Circa 1779 Adamesque in Langhorne

This week's Saturday Spotlight house is a stone Adam-Style in Langhorne, PA.

I always really enjoy walking down historic "Main Streets" such as Maple Avenue in Langhorne, especially when there has been a concerted effort to celebrate that history with coordinated "date of construction" plaques displayed on the front facades of each house. This 2-1/2 story side-gabled house is approximately 3,300 square feet and exhibits an architectural style known as the "Adam" Style, or Adamesque (after the influential Robert Adam and his brothers, all Scottish architects practicing in England)-- also colloquially referred to as "Federal" style due to its emergence upon our nation's birth in 1776.

Around this time period, many American homes and architecture began to incorporate more refinement and classically-influenced flourishes, popular in Europe, into the early Georgian-period style. Like that earlier style, this home is a symmetrical box with a five-ranked facade, wood-paneled shutters, and double-hung sash windows. What makes it Adamesque is, most significantly, the elliptical portico and fanlight above the front entry. These elaborations as well as the sidelights were very common in this style, and further distinctions from a Georgian include the 6-over-6 window sashes (which used larger panes of glass then pre-Revolution windows) and the arched windows in the roof dormers.  One oddity, is the "center" window above the main entrance-- it is rare for windows to break from the strict symmetry in this style. The one-story portion to the left-side of the house was likely built after 1891.

Origins to 1890

I will allow that the 1779 date displayed on the historic plaque is almost certainly based on more extensive research than I have performed here, thus I will go with that date as opposed to the circa 1800 I would likely otherwise have prepared. The Bucks County tax assessor lists a date of 1770, which is unlikely, as the Adam Style did not begin to dominate until around 1780. The earliest map I was able to locate of this area is from 1876, when the name of this town was changed from Attleboro to Langhorne. This house would have been built a few decades after early settlement, with what is now the Langhorne Hotel being built around 1700, and the Richardson House across the street dating to 1738.

Clip from an 1876 map of the block, with Ms. Eastburn's Adam Style house shown at the corner of Maple and Green Streets.

In 1876, the Adamesque house was owned by a Rachel Eastburn, a housekeeper listed as a 70-year-old single woman (not widowed) in the 1880 US Census. She was the sole occupant at that time. There appear to be 3 different Rachel Eastburns of similar ages living in Bucks County in the second half of the 19th century (with 2 of them living next door to each other in 1850, almost certainly related), and furthermore most of the residents on Maple Avenue appear to have been Friends (Quakers), many of which were related through several marriages. Both of these facts have made tracking the correct Rachel Eastburn a difficult exercise, short of developing a robust family pedigree chart. However, I am fairly certain that Ms. Eastburn arrived in Langhorne between 1870-1876, settling near some Quaker relatives after passing through Solebury Township and Yardley in previous decades. She appears to have remained as a single lady throughout her days, having at one point lived with her niece, Rachel E. Shaw, who eventually joined her in Langhorne at the Second Empire home next door. Rachel Eastburn owned the house through at least 1886, presumably through her passing away circa 1890. She is buried at the Solebury Friends Burying Grounds.

Ms. Eastburn's Adamesque home in foreground; her niece Rachel Shaw occupied the Second Empire home in 1886.

1890 to Present

The next half-century of history at the Adam Style house saw a steady stream of ownership changes, according to a survey of available census records. In 1891, an "R. Ivins" is shown as the house's owner on an atlas map, and in the 1900 census it appears that a 60-year-old day laborer named Lewis Grant and his wife Harriet owned the home, living there with their daughter Ethel.

By 1910, a young family headed by 30-year-old bank teller Russell Clayton took up ownership. Mr. Clayton had a 24-year-old wife, Mabel, and a 3-year-old son, Horace. In addition, as the Claytons took on the mortgage for their new home, they took in boarders in a 28-year-old widow and her 8-year-old son. The 1920 census was not legible enough to confirm the address, but the Claytons still lived in Langhorne somewhere near this address. Similarly, this address is curiously skipped in the 1930 census schedule, however by this time the Claytons had relocated to Kingston, New York.

From at least 1935 through 1940, 71-year-old widow Grace Matthews and her single 50-year-old daughter, May, owned this home. May appears to have lived with her mother most of her life, as Grace and husband Joseph Matthews raised May in Philadelphia, before moving out to Langhorne by 1920. Grace Matthews passed away in Langhorne in 1945.

In 1957, this house at the corner of Maple and Green Streets in historic Langhorne was purchased by Kenneth and Mildred Hough, who owned it for five years until conveying ownership to another Mildred, Mildred Crown and her husband Richard. This couple, too, owned the home for a period of five years.

Finally, in 1967, the current owners, Chris and Mary Blaydon, purchased the house. Christopher Blaydon is of particular note, having served as Mayor of Langhorne for 20 years from 1993 to 2013. Mr. Blaydon is also a retired airline pilot, having served in the U.S. Air Force as an active duty officer. By all accounts and this article penned upon the end of his tenure, Blaydon was instrumental in preserving and improving the fine historic avenue that Maple Avenue is today.

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Attention All Recorders of Deeds-- Be Like Berks County!

Early on, I outlined how you can access online databases at some your local county government offices to help kick-start your house research, before heading there in person. Although I cautioned against assuming that all of your research questions can be answered online, there is one county nearby that has made incredible headway in the online frontier.

Welcome to the County of Berks

Although I do not live in Berks County, PA, a large percentage of my ancestry is rooted there, and the city of Reading, the county seat, is only about 70-80 minutes from my house. My grandmother grew up there. Thus, I've become familiar with searching records there, and I have to say that this county is doing alot of great things in terms of making records accessible to their constituency, researchers alike, and the public at large. The county's Register of Wills has some great searchable indexes for birth, marriage, and death records. Although that office's actual records are not available online (yet), they make it very easy for one to do alot of prep time ahead of visiting their office in person, by giving you all of that index information- the dates, volumes, and page numbers right there online. That makes it incredibly easy to get right to finding the actual records you need once you are there in person (or just as easy to request them by mail). The Register of Wills even gives a bit of his own personal genealogy on his bio page!

Deeds Online Galore!

But let's get back to houses, shall we? Berks County takes it to the next level over at the Recorder of Deeds office. The current Recorder, Fred Sheeler, has been leading his staff since 2008 in an incredible effort of records digitization. According to their website, essentially the entire collection of deeds recorded in the county since its founding in 1752 has been digitally scanned and is available for residents and researchers to access online. Although not all of the images are indexed by name and searchable as of yet, it appears to me that a great number are. The Recorder's office states that their goal is to have all of their documents back to 1752 indexed by name and searchable, making it even easier for researchers to find what they are looking for.
(Update: Fred Sheeler provided this clarification to me regarding online searchability: "All the documents are searchable just not by the modern name search capability.  All older documents that we have not fully indexed are still searchable by our online electronic version of our index books.  When you are on the search site just choose Index Books as the search criteria,  you enter the party’s last name and the first initial of their given name and all the index books will display.  You can choose from the deed grantor and grantee indexes or the miscellaneous or mortgage indexes.  They are actually better than a regular modern name search since the index books group similar sounding names together so if you had an ancestor with the name Snyder and it formerly was spelled as Snider you would still come across it."
Thanks Fred for the clarification: this is useful to know and sounds similar to the way I search for deeds in person at the computer station at Montgomery County, whereas Berks has it online. Although a fully indexed database is often easier to use for those unfamiliar with these record types, researchers should be familiar with searching records using index books as well, as it is not difficult and can yield persons of the same surname, who could possibly be related, or with similar spellings as Mr. Sheeler suggests.)

Also available are mortgage documents and even subdivision plans. Yes, I repeat, these document images are all online! If you live in Berks County, the process of chaining the title for your house history research could be complete within an hour or so without even going to the county offices. The images can be printed or saved for $1 per page. (Update: Sheeler informs me that images are 50 cents per page, plus $1 when using a credit card in order to cover processing fees. Below, I was looking at a 2-page document, which would be ($0.50 x 2) + $1 = $2.00). Note that, as of now, the image viewing capabilities are based on the outdated Java platform and only seems to work on Internet Explorer (for me at least), but supposedly this drawback is known and is actively being updated to an HTML platform.

Public Outreach

Sheeler is clearly interested in the public actually being able to use and understand these public records. The office now puts out a periodic e-newsletter to provide updates to Berks residents on its efforts to streamline the deed recording process, bringing it into the 21st century while maintaining the integrity and security required of this governmental recording process. Sheeler also makes himself available to give instructional lectures to local groups on how to access and use these databases. Last month, I received the latest newsletter and was extremely interested to learn of this 5-minute video, produced by the Recorder's office, discussing the evolution of deed recording in the county:

I Digress (By Trying It Myself)

With all of this great information out there, although it did not benefit my personal house history directly, I had to try some of this out to enhance my personal genealogy research. I accessed the online database, and did a general search for my great-great-grandfather, Henry F. Snyder. There were 61 hits in the search for "Henry Snyder", 5 of which I could immediately tell were my ancestor. I knew because they were associated with property in Reading, where Henry lived, included his known middle initial "F", and also listed his wife, my great-great-grandmother Maggie. I went to one of the document images:

Screenshot of a scanned document image for a property deed, involving my great-great grandparents Henry F. and Maggie Snyder as the grantors.

In this particular deed, I learn that Henry and Maggie Snyder, in 1946, were conveying their 2-1/2 story brick house to a Ms. Edna Long, for the consideration amount of $1 (clue to check for a corresponding mortgage!). The address of the house was 736 Thorn Street, in Reading, and the deed further states that this is the same premises which Henry acquired in 1922 from Michael and Elizabeth Hill. Sure enough, my great-great-grandparents are listed at this same address in both the 1930 and 1940 censuses.

Clip from the 1940 US Census schedule, showing Henry and Margaret Snyder. The address number "736" is listed in the first column, with the street name "Thorn St" listed in the margin.

I was curious to see if I could get a Google Maps Street View of this house, assuming the house still exists. It does, but unfortunately, it looks like the Google car hasn't made it to this street (I was surprised!). Next time I find myself in Reading, I'll have to try to take a swing by.

Google Maps image. The brick dwelling at 736 Thorn St appears to still exist, but the Street View car hasn't captured an image of it as of yet.

Other Recorders on Notice!

I personally think that what Mr. Sheeler has done with the historic records at the Berks County Recorder of Deeds is incredibly commendable in terms of government accessibility and transparency, as well as in the preservation of important legal and historic documents. This is by no means a political website, but in many areas, the Recorder of Deeds is an elected position. If the county where your home is located isn't working to digitize documents, find out if there are plans to do so in the future from your current Recorder. The reality is that something like this takes years to execute, and often budget constraints make such efforts difficult. However making your voice heard as a local constituent can go a long way towards the effort of bringing records preservation into the 21st Century. Perhaps there would even be an opportunity to volunteer. Tell them to learn from Berks County!

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"Husealogy": Genealogy for the House

Thirty posts into this blog, there is one thing I hope is clear to all of my readers-- there is information out there to be found about every house, if one knows where to look. What I am doing here isn't proprietary, it isn't a secret; yet at the same time each house's history is unique. It is is NOT all out there in one spot, ready for you to simply ask for it. We are sleuthing here-- searching, uncovering, and discovering all of these little bits from various sources to create a history of this dwelling. For these reasons as well as due to the nature of their similar content and source types, the best parallel I can draw to another genre of research is to the field of genealogy-- the history of one's family. If I were to provide an etymological name for the study of one's house, I'd call it "husealogy", from the Old English word hus, meaning a residential dwelling.

Genealogy of the House- "Husealogy"

On the face of it, many of the similarities to genealogy are pretty simple. In the study of family history, the researcher is generally looking backwards in time to learn about his/her roots, about those ancestors that came before him and who in some small way, collectively make the researcher who he is today. It is a study in sociology and cultural history, which provides context and gives depth to the life of an ancestor beyond the simple Birth/Marriage/Death facts.

When researching the history of the house, I am looking for this exact context. Sure, I am looking for the date that the house was constructed, but I am really searching for much more. You have seen and will continue to see me delve into three primary components in my house history research: physical materials, people, and neighborhood. In my mind, a high quality house history examines not just the basic "Birth" date of a house and its additions (the physical), but also those people who have come and gone, as well as some history of its surroundings.

People

You have seen me discuss many of the past owners and occupants of my home. Now, while a genealogist discovers new people in their family tree, or pedigree, by rooting out the descendants (mother, father, grandparents, etc.) of a known person, a house historian will do this differently. Since previous owners of the same physical house are very often not related to those who owned it before them, new subject people are discovered by a process called "chaining the title" by going backwards through the deed history of the property. I have outlined this process previously and have also shown some of the results of my particular searches.

However, once you know some of the past persons involved, the husealogist will use many of the same record types as the genealogist to learn more about those people. Census records are a foundational building block with which to learn more about previous owners. Birth records, death records, photographs, wills and other probate records, gravestones, and phone directories are all out there, up for grabs, and are familiar genealogical tools. As a good genealogist will tell you, nearly any record type has the potential to be a source, if credible and relevant. Personal interviews, as in genealogy, are incredibly important (I can't wait to share an extremely important interview I conducted in a future post!). Gathering information about the people involved will give you a truer sense of the history of your house.

Physical Materials

This is where a husealogist is more like an archaeologist than a genealogist. In my "Finding Physical Evidence" series of posts, you have seen me look for hard clues within the actual fabric of my house. These are things like remnants from previous renovations, as well as original materials which may have since been hidden. Once you find them, then you must either draw upon your existing knowledge of different house components and building materials, or you must seek out additional knowledge on these topics. For instance, although I already had a general historic timeframe for the prevalence of asbestos-cement shingles, I had to do additional research to understand the history of the material more and to narrow down their possible installation time period.

The genealogist will, however, take notice that there also are historical documents upon which further evidence is built in this realm. I have drawn upon historical maps quite heavily to investigate the physical existence of the house and addition, and I have sought out other documents such as photographs, and old permits at my local municipality to understand even more about the evolution of the home's construction.

Neighborhood

Even a residential neighborhood can have it's own genealogy so to speak, as it has certainly evolved over time. In this sense, the house historian becomes a local historian of sorts. In my own neighborhood, I have yet to discover an account of the history of my specific subdivision other than that which I have written, although some other research by others is likely out there waiting for me. The history of the subdivision leads you further back to the history of early landowners in the area, which should lead you to your local historical society to learn more. This earlier land research inevitably brings your research into the realm of probate records, early property deeds, and perhaps even land grants- all familiar territory for seasoned genealogists.

Conclusion

Conducting house history research should be relatively familiar territory for family history researchers, and is certainly achievable for those just beginning. Finding your house's history makes you simultaneously a genealogist, local historian, and in some ways an architectural historian and archealogist. In total, a husealogist. The physical thing that is the house, of course, has its own evolution. The people are an ingrained part of the homes in which they live, and an understanding of them gives you a richer house history. Carrying it beyond the house to the community at large (as well as placing it in larger nationwide historical context, by the way) brings the history home. What really compels me about researching my house is that no one has done this exact research before-- I am the first one to compile it all into one comprehensive study. Each house's story is completely unique-- find yours!

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Finding Physical Evidence: Original German Siding

With a 90-year-old house, even without all the historical research I have conducted, it would be clear to most anyone that the house has undergone physical and aesthetic changes over such a time period. Owners renovating historic and century-plus old homes find evidence of former floor plan configurations, old hardwood floors, and other old or original building materials all the time. One might think that the most likely time to find such physical evidence is during a significant renovation project. While that may indeed be true, sometimes finding a major score of an original building material is as simple as poking your head into an access panel in the attic...

The Current Asbestos Siding

As I have mentioned several times, my house is clad in asbestos-cement shingle siding. The word "asbestos" is a dirty word these days, as it should be since it is a well-known carcinogen. However, prior to this knowledge and up to the 1970s, asbestos fibers were used extensively in the 20th century as a major component in all sorts of building materials, touted for increasing durability and fire-resistance. In this type of exterior siding, asbestos fibers are embedded into a tile of portland cement. Since asbestos house siding is a non-friable ACM (asbestos-containing material), there is no great rush for homeowners to go to the expense of ripping old asbestos siding off of their homes. Left in tact, there is generally no hazard. Earlier asbestos siding can date back as early as the 1920s, with the material becoming more prevalent in the 1930s and hugely popular in the 1950s.

Asbestos-cement siding on the side of my house. At this area, a window had been covered over. The owner at the time mixed the wavy bottom style in, which is a mismatch to the earlier flat bottom shingles. This newer wavy bottom shingle may also be a more modern fiber cement product without asbestos.

Asbestos siding is also today seen by many as an unattractive siding material. It most often came in white or shades of grey (especially prior to WWII), with either a straight or wavy bottom profile, and many times has a faux wood-grain pattern on it. If painted to create a cohesive color scheme with the trim and other materials, asbestos siding can look just fine and even quite nice. I happen to think that the previous owners of my home did an admirable job with the previously-white siding, painting it an olive green and accenting with magenta shutters and a storm door.

Yet, I know for sure that this not the original siding to the house. Although asbestos siding was available in the 1920's when the house was built, wood siding still prevailed during that time period. My siding has the faux wood-grain pattern, which was not available until the late 1930's. This siding no doubt came sometime later on many years after the home's construction.

The Original Siding: Wood "German" Siding

Knowing that there was a major addition to this house, occurring no later than 1946 with the enclosure of a rear porch, it hit me like a lightning bolt one day a few months after moving in. Why not check the attic, in the unoccupied portion where the addition is? I have a walk-up attic housed above the original portion of the house, and there is an opening at the top of the attic steps, providing access above the ceiling at the addition. If I poke my head through the access opening and look back at the outside face of this wall, I would be looking at what was original the rear exterior facade of the house.

Looking up the attic steps, the exterior wall to the right was originally the backside of the house. The access opening is to the right of the window, sort of visible, with a board over it.

I grabbed my utility worklight and headed upstairs immediately, and found it:

Original German wood siding, on what used to be part of the exposed exterior rear wall of the house.

This is what is commonly known as German siding (also known as "cove lap" or "Dutch lap" siding). Whereas wood clapboards and beveled siding are installed by overlapping the upper course over a lower course and nailing through one or both boards, creating an angle to shed water, German siding is a type of "drop siding", milled from wood in a profile that gets nailed flat onto the exterior sheathing. German siding has a coved profile that creates an attractive relief pattern and locks adjacent courses together. It was widely popular in the late 19th-century, especially in the Northeast.

Diagram of German lap siding, courtesy of www.dictionaryofconstruction.com

Image of a building with German lap siding, courtesy of www.cranesiding.net

So now this has me excited. I now know what originally clad the exterior of the house. Don't forget, also, that the 1946 building permit for the rear porch enclosure indicated that this portion of the house too had German siding:

Clip from the 1946 permit application to enclose the rear porch-- notice the words "german siding" at bottom right under the section calling for building materials used.

Originally after making this discovery, but before I received the permit document, I assumed that the replacement to asbestos siding occurred on or around the time that the addition was built. However, the permit proves that this portion of the addition was also clad in German siding in 1946, and makes it highly probable that the earlier German siding was still extant at that time. Now it is more likely assumed that the asbestos was put on in the 1960s, giving it some temporal distance between the Cantlins' spending money on more new German siding in 1946. Asbestos began to become more regulated by the EPA in the 1970s, although sale of this type of siding did continue into that decade.

So, Is There More Underneath the Asbestos-Cement?

Short answer, I don't know, and won't unless I begin to take some of the asbestos siding off (safely and with proper precautions!) along with the building felt directly underneath it. I can, however, posit that it is likely that there is old wood siding there. First, removing an existing siding is an additional expense and was (and still is) often skipped when re-cladding a house. The Cantlin family probably did not go to this expense. Further, when vinyl siding is added over top of an existing siding, the additional depth it creates begins to cause window trim to become recessed within the vinyl trim (yuck). The same thing does not happen with asbestos-cement shingles, since they are only about 1/8" thick. Notice on pictures of my house that the original wood window trim still has a bit of dimension to it between the siding and the front face of the trim.

Window trim is not recessed as it is in vinyl cover-ups.

Diagram from Asphalt and Asbestos-Cement Shingle Residing, by James McCawley, published 1940.

Look also at this installation diagram above for this type of asbestos-cement siding from 1940. The likely method of installation included placing a building felt over top of existing wood siding, then nailing in the asbestos siding directly over that. Although this same method could easily be done over sheathing after wood siding is removed, it is quite possible that the wood siding remains. In areas on my house where asbestos siding has been chipped, cracked, or broken in a few areas, I see either black building felt or another asbestos shingle (i.e. at the bottom course). In a few areas, such as when i try to peek underneath the bottom course or look at gaps in these same locations, I do see wood, but this could easily be sheathing or a wood nailer.

Possibly some more older wood siding, exposed beneath the bottom course of asbestos shingle.

I THINK all or most of the original wood German siding lurks under there, but I can't be sure. Yet.

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Saturday Spotlight- Circa 1925 Bungalow in Glenside

This week's Saturday Spotlight is the bungalow right across the street from mine, in Glenside, PA.

View today, from the street.

View from better times, in 2007, included so you can see what it looks like without the trees!! Photo courtesy of Montgomery County.

I promise, the vegetation isn't swallowing the house, it just looks that way. This bungalow actually could clean up someday to be a standout on the block, but for now it sits awaiting a new owner, as it is currently bank-owned. At just over 1,000 square feet, it contains its primary living on one level, typical of most bungalows. That main floor is raised up from ground level, allowing itself a healthy set of concrete steps up to the front porch, which commands an elevated view of the surroundings. Although exhibiting fiberglass or composite posts and railings today, there likely would have been piers of stone or clad in wood shingle originally. The concrete steps probably were preceded by a wood set.

The porch and the main house itself are topped with a hipped roof, with a simple gabled dormer on the front facade. The dormer is repeated on the rear, and also on the back is a small area of low-sloped roof over what is likely a former back porch which was enclosed. The house is clad fully at its main level with cement asbestos shingles, whereas the foundation is stuccoed and painted.

View from the rear (from 2007, but very much the same today) with enclosed porch to the left. My house is peeking over from across the street in the background.

Origins

The house, along with mine, is one of the very first built on this block of Central Avenue in a new subdivision of land established in 1919 by Philadelphia jeweler Reginald Ferguson. It is at the extreme southwest border of what was formerly a 217-acre tract of land owned by the Spear family. By 1927, only five houses existed on the block. Maps from both 1927 and 1937 show that there was at one point a one-story outbuilding (probably either a shed or garage) behind the house, at approximately the location where the rear photo above was taken. This outbuilding no longer exists.

The earliest known homeowners were Thomas H. Hoy and his wife Ethel, who owned the house as early as 1930. Thomas was a 32-year-old milk salesman at the time, and the couple had two sons Thomas (6) and Donald (4). This family must have been fairly nomadic, with Thomas H. born in New Jersey, Ethel born in Delaware, and their two sons born in New York and Pennsylvania respectively. By 1940, they appear to have moved on, although to where it is not quite clear.

1940s to Present

In 1940, the house was owned by a divorced 33-year-old railroad signalman named Leslie Robinson. With two different branches of the railroad line passing through Glenside nearby, this may have been an ideal location for him to shack up with this occupation. He occupied the house along with his younger brother, Everett, who was an employee at a paper box company, as well as with a housekeeper named Jane Feusner. The two Robinson men had grown up in a family of at least 8 children in Philadelphia, and although they appear to have been bachelors during their time at this house, it is unclear if Ms. Feusner was anything more than a tenant housekeeper. There is a record of a Jane Robinson passing away in Philadelphia in 1988 with the right birth year to match Jane Feusner, but I do not know for sure if Jane became either Leslie or Everett's husband without further research.

By as earlier as 1956, a middle-aged couple named Robert and Anna "Genevieve" Johnstone had purchased the home. Robert was a waterproofer by trade, and although the couple had at least two children (a daughter Jean and a son Robert Jr), they may have grown to adulthood by the time the Johnstones took residence on Central Avenue.

A view of the bungalow likely from the 1990's, when it had metal railing and posts at the front porch. Photo courtesy of Montgomery County.

Genevieve Johnstone (born 1907) was very close in age to the widowed Catherine Cantlin (born 1906) living across the street in the other bungalow-- I like to think that they may have developed a close friendship, as both occupied their homes for the remainder of the 20th century, Mrs. Johnstone passing away in 2000.

Up until 2010, there was an adjacent parcel of land with no house upon it, which was part of this same property. In 1987, the Johnstones split this lot off and sold it to their neighbors on the other side of the open lot, Louis & Regina Giandomenico. Perhaps the Giandomenicos intended to add onto their home with this land, or to save it for one of their children. Either way, nothing was built and Mr. Giandomenico passed away in 2010, with the land sold again to another couple who shortly erected a new 2-story home.

The formerly vacant lot which used to be part of the bungalow's land. It presently houses a new two-story neo-colonial home.

As for the subject bungalow, it has had three different owners since 2001, including the Giandomenicos' son. Ever since we moved in across the street in the summer of 2014, it had rental tenants until recently, and it currently bank-owned.

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A Proper Tour of the House

As I approach three months and 30 posts (this is #27) since starting this blog in August, I do want to take a quick moment to thank everyone who has read any or all of my posts thus far. It has really been enjoyable to get my research down on virtual paper, as well as to get alot of positive feedback. I also want to welcome some new readers from the great online community of old house enthusiasts at The Historic District-- if you love old houses, and especially if you are in the process of renovating one, you should really check the forums out there as you will learn quite a bit.

This far in, I've made several types of posts: those about historic documents, those about physically lurking around the house looking for clues, those about the neighborhood, and those about other houses.

One thing I haven't done? I haven't given you a proper tour of the subject house! Well, wait no longer.

First off, some views of the house from the front yard near the street and as you pull into the driveway. The house is 1-1/2 stories, with a main living floor and unfinished attic and basement. It is a 1920's bungalow style, with a front gable along with a hipped roof front porch. The house at present is almost fully clad in asbestos shingle siding:

A projecting bay at the kitchen breaks up the long and low facade on the left side of the house. The windows are not original but are modern vinyl replacement windows, double-hung. Vinyl false shutters adorn four of the windows at the front of the house, and although shutters likely never existed I have always liked what they add to the color scheme and curb appeal of the house. The roof of the front porch is supported by three solid stone piers of Wissahickon schist, and the ceiling is finished with painted bead board:

As we walk in through the front door, I'll present here a hand sketch of the main living floor and basement, which I've shared once or twice before:

Entering the foyer, which was likely the original living room of the house, one looks ahead through a trimmed cased opening into the kitchen, greeted by modern chestnut hardwood floors. The more private half of the home, with all of the bedrooms, is off to the right side upon entrance.

Into the kitchen, where modern cabinetry I believe may be Ikea but is of a simple style with ceramic hardware in keeping with the quaintness of the pre-Depression bungalow itself. A bay of three adjacent windows anchors the kitchen at the eat-in dining area:

Proceeding further towards the back of the home, we pass through a short hallway with a full bathroom on the left, and a closet and the access to the unfinished basement on the right.

After a quick peek at the basement, we head back up to the main level and enter the rear addition, built in the 1940's, which now houses the primary living room of the house. Most of the living room is lined with windows across the entire length, a result of a former exterior porch being enclosed in 1946.

Heading through a single french door at the back right of the living room, we can actually begin a progression through a series of bedrooms towards the front of the house.

Once you pass through this rear bedroom back into the original house, there is a door leading to the walk-up attic (where I store a bunch of junk out of sight out of mind!):

Then through the second bedroom, into a hallway with another full bathroom, then the final bedroom before making your way back into the front foyer.

And lastly, a few photos of the backyard, rear deck, and the back of the home:

So there you have it-- it's quaint, it's cozy, it's home. I hope you've enjoyed the 90+ year history of this home presented thus far-- I have only just begun. If you are checking out the blog for the first time, take a spin through the archives, as well as the feature Saturday Spotlight posts where I examine the history of other local homes.

Believe me, there is much, much more I have already discovered but have yet to share here. There are more research methods and record types I will show you. There is more I have not even discovered yet myself. So stay tuned, and join me for the ride!

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Past Ownership and the House's Chain of Title- Part 3 (Adding Mortgages to the Mix)

This is Part 3 of a 3-part series which analyzes the chain of title completed by gathering old property deeds for our subject house. Parts 1 & 2 constructed a preliminary narrative for the house's ownership history, by analyzing old property deeds and adding biographical information gleaned from census and other records (Part 1 examined 1920-1924, while Part 2 covered 1925-present).

Here, Part 3 will add a new layer to the analysis by gathering historical mortgage records from the county's Recorder of Deeds office.

Mortgage Records Basics

I have yet to delve into the details of county mortgage records, as I have with property deeds, so here are a few basics. You are with little doubt familiar with the term "mortgage" as a debt or loan entered into by the purchaser or owner of real estate, using the property itself as the collateral for the loan. Since a mortgage is essentially a lien or claim on the property by the mortgagee, a record for it is created and housed in the same government office as property deeds. Somewhere, a lawyer is cringing at my explanation.

Here, I will attempt to shed some light on a few of the gaps or mysteries remaining after the collection of property deeds. So what information can be found in the county mortgage documents? At first glance, and even upon closer reading, they appear very similar to the deed documents already collected and provide much of the same information-- names of parties involved; legal description of the property; references to earlier deeds and survey documents. You may also find further detail about structures on the property in a mortgage record.

The mortgage record begins in an almost identical fashion as the property deed documents.

Mortgages also add a key piece of information: the amount of money obtained in the loan. In my earlier lists of the title chain for the property, you've probably noticed that a number of the transactions listed only $1 as the consideration amount. Certainly, that was not the sale price of the property. However, a $1 consideration amount can be a clue that the grantee (buyer) may have taken out a mortgage in order to buy the property. Here is the previously shown list, with only deed information shown:

With the mortgage amount added to the consideration amount listed in the deed, we now have a dollar figure which is likely much closer to the market value of the home at the time. Two cautions here, to prevent you from taking this "adjusted" value as gospel: First, the history of residential mortgage lending suggests that there may still be a missing component, as during the early 20th century an individual could not fully fund a house purchase with a mortgage alone. Even through a second, simultaneous mortgage, one still needed to put at least 20% down on a home, and more often mortgage loans were for 50% or less of the home's value. Secondly, although it is the most common use of mortgage proceeds, owners do use mortgages to fund ventures such as renovations or a personal business. Yet, if the mortgage was recorded on or very close to the date of the deed, involving the same individuals buying the property, then it is very likely that said particular mortgage was used to fund the real estate purchase. We can still add these mortgages to further inform our understanding.

Adding Mortgage Amounts to the Title Chain

The first step here was to search the Montgomery County Recorder of Deeds mortgage database for pertinent mortgage records. This was done by searching the mortgagor index for each of the property owners on my title chain list (in person, at the office's self-service computer stations; the online database available from the comfort of my house does not provide complete information or allow you to view document images).

Notes from searching in the Mortgagor Index

As an example, Andrew F. Gutekunst is listed as the mortgagor on 18 mortgage records in Montgomery County alone, with 8 occurring in the 1920's involving property in Abington Township, and the remaining 10 occurring in the 1950's (some involving Abington properties, some elsewhere). Although it is not a bad idea to examine all of these mortgage documents to gain a greater sense of Gutekunst's collective real estate dealings, at the present we are mostly concerned with those mortgages pertaining to the subject house only. Since Mr. Gutekunst owned this property from November 10, 1923 to October 2, 1924, we are likely to find some more information in the mortgages under his name within or around those dates. It just so happens that Andrew Gutekunst took out a $3,800 mortgage loan executed on the same date as the purchase on November 10, 1923. I can now place this amount in a separate column on the title chain spreadsheet for this transaction, and add it to the consideration amount listed on the deed ($650) for a total "adjusted value" of $4,450.

For my particular property, I was able to find the following mortgages recorded on or around the same date as the property deed. Locating the property description on the mortgage records confirm that each mortgage bound this property as the collateral:

November 10, 1923: Andrew F. Gutekunst ($3,800)
October 2, 1924: Francis J. & Anna L. Coogan ($4,500)
July 14, 1927: Eugene A. & Mary B. Stout ($3,800)
July 14, 1927: Eugene A. & Mary B. Stout ($1,200)
October 17, 1932: John J. & Catherine Cantlin ($1,000)

I can now update the chain of title chart to reflect these as part of the "adjusted" price in the transaction:

Further Analysis

Although Frederick & Bertha Brandes, as well as Jayson Stover, did obtain mortgages in the early 1920's for properties in Abington, none of them relate to our subject property, nor do they correspond with their respective dates of ownership. The $1 consideration amount listed in each of their transaction maintains some missing detail, further evidenced by the use of the clause "and other valuable consideration" in the deed. We may never know what the other consideration was. As alluded to in Part 1, there may have been some land being swapped here.

Jumping ahead to Andrew Gutekunst's purchase of the property in November 1923, we can now see that since he obtained a $3,800 mortgage in conjunction with the purchase itself, the property likely had a value of at least $4,450. This puts the theory set forth in Part 1 that there was no home here at this time into question, as $4,450 is much more in line with the value of a property with a house than one without. We must now consider the likelihood that either Harry Renninger or Jayson Stover before him had the house built. Although the language in the mortgage document is not definitive as to what structures exist, the fact that the lending institution (Glenside Trust Company) stipulated that fire insurance must be maintained on the property is a strong hint that the house did indeed exist. One's research must always be open to re-evaluation of previous assumptions based on new facts. Instead of a 1924 construction date, I now believe that either 1922 or 1923 is the correct year.

Clause in Andrew Gutekunst's mortgage, requiring him to carry fire insurance on the property.

Francis and Anna Coogan took out a mortgage of $4,500 simultaneous to their $5,500 purchase of the house in October 1924, giving us an "adjusted value" of $10,000. This seems high to me for a modest bungalow at this time, even with real estate values rising throughout the 1920's. I am not taking too much stock in this $10,000 adjusted figure, as I will need to investigate further the Coogans having gone through a foreclosure of this property within months of acquiring the home. My initial speculation is that perhaps they paid cash for the house ($4,500) and simultaneously lived in it while also leveraging its value to gain funds for another purpose. It is not immediately clear. However, the mortgage document tells us that Harry Renninger may have again had some involvement, as the mortgage loan was obtained from his Remlu Building and Loan Association.

Eugene & Mary Stout obtained two separate mortgages, totalling $5,000, upon their purchase of the home in 1927. One, for $1,200, was to good ol' Harry Renninger, the previous owner. The second, for $3,800, was to the Remlu Building & Loan Association, the owner of the house immediately after the Stouts, and being a corporation of which Harry Renninger was a director. So, this is interesting, and in fact the second mortgage involving Renninger as the named mortgagee even defers to the Remlu B&LA mortgage as the primary lien:

Certification in the Stout's mortgage to Harry Renninger, which states that the Stouts first mortgage to the Remlu Building and Loan Association takes precedence.

I am again speculating here: Since the Stouts conveyed the property to Remlu B&LA less than two years later for $1, in 1929, yet continued living in the house until at least 1930, I am theorizing that the Stouts were unable to meet their mortgage payment terms, yet were able to perhaps come to some agreement with Remlu to exchange title to the property willingly in order to avoid eviction. It is interesting to note that this property transfer occurred on October 9, 1929-- less than three weeks before the stock market collapse known as "Black Tuesday". Although the crash had not yet occurred, this conveyance did occur during the roughly month-long period of warning signs leading up to the impending crash.

After the Remlu Building and Loan Association held the property during the initial Depression years, as we've already seen the John and Catherine Cantlin came along in 1932 and may have rented the house for a time prior to buying. They obtained a mortgage loan from Remlu for $1,000 in conjunction with the sale, giving us an adjusted market value of the house of at least $2,400. We have a strong indication here that the home has lost essentially half of its pre-crash value by this time, which is in step with the historical trends during the Depression.

Final Thoughts and Next Steps

Although it may appear that the inroduction of mortgage records has provided less clarity and more questions, in reality this only demonstrates that deductions based on prices determined from the property deeds alone cannot be fully trusted. The next document can always provide a further clue, and even though I have now adjusted my construction date estimate (to 1922-1923), it remains just a theory until further evidence hopefully provides definitive proof in the future.

Note that I left open the possibility that either Harry Renninger or Jayson Stover built the house during one of their ownership periods. I did not present the mortgage history of Harry Renninger here, because his involvement in multiple real estate companies makes it a bit unclear as of this time whether his transactions for this property were personal or professional. A search for him in the mortgagor index does reveal about 30 mortgages related to Abington Township, all between 1926-28. The laborious process of breezing through all 30 has not yet been completed, but since he purchased the house for the second time in 1925, after the likely construction date, any mortgages which happen to be related to this house do not necessarily tell us anything about the home's change in value. Still, I will not be sure until this task is done. Furthermore, other institutions named in these various deeds and mortgages had officers with the last name Renninger, who may have been relatives. The Renninger name is all over this property, and fairly, this community, during the late 1920's and early 1930's.

One thing is clear: I need to find out ALOT more about our pal Harry Renninger.

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