Well what is it?

It is a 2 story 2034 square feet home with a 26,550 square foot lot. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths with a partial stone basement. It has what they are calling a detached 1 car garage. I call it a shed with a drive thru, he calls it a man cave.


The sign on the front suggests it's an 1853 home, although we bought it as an 1860 home. I haven't gotten the answer yet on which one is correct.


I have done a lot of research on the style of home it is though. Keeping it as period specific as I can is very important to me. This is what I've found.


Greek Revival houses usually have these features:

* Pedimented gable
* Symmetrical shape
* Heavy cornice
* Wide, plain frieze
* Bold, simple moldings

Many Greek Revival houses also have these features:

* Entry porch with columns
* Decorative pilasters
* Narrow windows around front door

The windows lined up represent columns. Greek Revival was coming to an end in the 1850s and moving toward its cornice-heavy younger cousin, the Italianate. I think that's why it's hard for me to figure out what my house is. I do believe it's Greek Revival though. Of course there were a lot more elaborate Greek revivals.

This is an example of a greek revival home. Ours is very similar.

In this picture, you can see the cornice above the window, and you can also see where they removed the wide plain frieze.  The wide plain frieze is still intact on one of the upper windows. Some of the windows were obviously replaced. There are no storm windows or screens anywhere in the house. We plan on building our own wooden screens :)

You can see the pedimented gable over the portico. It's hard to say if it had any pilasters or not, but I could imagine them being there around the doorway, and may just put some in.


It seems the shutters are optional. After we replace the frieze and paint the cornice, frieze and windows a COLOR, then we can decide if we want them or not.

I still don't know whom the house was built for or it's history, I just need more research time. But it sure is fun!