March 9, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Vintage Remodeling
By MEREDITH SONDERSKOV

According to a turn-of-the-century home remodeling magazine, this house was transformed from the picture on the left, as it was a “typical Henry Houston” style home. The picture on the right shows the house after it had been remodeled to reflect the new Tudor style

As you drive or walk through Chestnut Hill’s tree-lined streets, you will see houses of many different types of architectural designs. Everything from 18th century colonial - one of the oldest houses in Chestnut Hill, dating to the 1840s, is located at 8220 Germantown Avenue - to designs by contemporary architects Louis Kahn and Robert Venturi, with many others in-between. A number of the houses built in the late 1890s and early 1900s have been remodeled, some quite extensively. A few very large homes have been demolished, especially during the Depression and World War II. Those houses required extensive, expensive maintenance and large staffs of servants - maids, cooks, butlers, chauffeurs, gardeners, nursemaids, etc.

While browsing through the archives at the Chestnut Hill Historical Society recently, I came across a copy of a magazine titled “The House Beautiful” dated October 1914. Like its present namesake, there are articles of interest to homeowners including: Town Planning on a Large Scale (Forest Hills Gardens, NY), Paneling (18th century style rooms), Planning a Bungalow Garden and A Venture in Remodeling. The latter article, by Charles Vaughn Boyd, is about a Chestnut Hill home on St. Martin’s Lane, and shows major changes to both the interior and exterior. There have been some additional changes to the house since then but nothing as major as the 1914 remodeling, as the photos show.

To quote from the article: “…the [original] house was uninteresting in composition and austere in effect; and, therefore, lacking in that hominess of appearance which we now deem desirable in house architecture…Although the exterior was anything but prepossessing, the internal arrangement of the house was of some merit…Now, in place of a “parlor”, that forlorn abode of family grandeur, no home is quite complete without a living-room, and, that it may radiate a wholesome spirit of hospitality, the living-room must be of proportions as generous as the size of the house will permit. It must possess a cheerful color scheme and thoroughly inviting furniture. The first step, therefore, in replanning was to unite the former parlor and dining-room into a splendid living-room, in dimensions twenty by thirty feet.”

If you are interested in looking up information about your Chestnut Hill home, possibly including old photos and permits for alterations over the years, contact Audrey Simpson at 215-247-0417 and make an appointment to come in and research the extensive files. Chestnut Hill has been designated as a National Historic District so lots of data is readily available. On the other hand, if you have photos of your house or your parents’ or grandparents’ home, bring them in so that they may be copied for the Historical Society’s archives.

Meredith Fuller Sonderskov was born and raised in Chestnut Hill, where she spent much of her youth riding her bike around Chestnut Hill. She is a graduate of Springside and Smith College, where she majored in American Studies. The mother of three sons and grandmother of one is currently serving on the Boards of the Historical Society and the Senior Center and on the Aesthetics Committee of the Chestnut Hill Community Association. In her spare time, Sonderskov loves promoting the uniqueness of Chestnut Hill, its rich history and promising future.