An Annunciator Announcement!!!!!!!!
Drum roll, please…after many many decades, and after many years of searching, an annunciator is back in the 1894 Cross House.
And in its original location. The paint sample to the right is also original, and this is the color the kitchen will be painted. The trim to the far right has a section restored to its original finish (amber shellac over pine) and this, too, is how all the trim/doors will be restored.
When a person presses a button in, say, the East Chamber, a bell on the annunciator will ding, and an arrow will point up, letting a servant know which room needs attention. I will have most of the lettering redone to reflect the Cross House rooms. Most importantly, the annunciator will be restored to full working order!!!!!!!! But, of course, dahlink!
And this is not, mind you, just any old annunciator. No, this is a ROSS annunciator, and from 1894. I still cannot get over the miracle of this. Zounds. Golly. Wow. Geez.
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This is so exciting! I am so happy for you!
I love the paint color and the tantalizing bit of restored trim. Are you going to have the bell rechromed or polished or whatever too?
How fun. Now who is going to play servant when the annunciator is finally restored and working?
The pictures don’t load for me. Any idea, why? (All older images load perfectly.)
Didn’t load for me either. Are you using an iPad too?
No, I used a laptop (Firefox) and an Android tablet.
My email app will sometimes not display Ross’s images, but if you view the email in a browser, it should show them.
You may need to clear your cookies on your browser to get them to display again.
Tried all that and also used 3 different devices. When I click to open the pic in a new tab I get “We cannot complete this request, remote server returned an unexpected status code (400)”
Also I noticed that the older photos (up to a few days ago) were located at “i1.wp.com” and the recent ones (that I can’t see) are located at “i2.wp.com” – so it looks like the wordpress-server does not like my browser(s). I just wonder, which ones I could try (so far: firefox, chrome both on desktop and laptop pc and android tablet)
And an update: I can see the pictures, if I use a VPN to access the site (so I have an US IP address instead of an Austrian one. Strange. Either they have a security problem at WordPress and temporarily blocked foreign IP addresses or the have just fucked up the server settings.
I can’t see pictures too. I’m in France, and i can’t help find solutions because i’m not good with technology, sorry. I’m using my phone.
If your phone is an Android device, you can try the App “Planet VPN” and chose “USA – free” as location. It helps me access the pictures.
Addition: I tried several VPN Apps but they wanted me to register and give them my credit card number even for a free trial. “Planet VPN” did neither and works quite well.
Pictures are back for me (also from Austria)!
Pictures aren’t showing for me either for this post and the next one. Viewing from an android phone. Pictures from previous posts are showing. First time commenting but I’m an addicted follower in the UK.
Nice to meet you, Anne!
Hey Ross, that’s awesome!
Remember that in parlors and dining areas there could be floor buttons that could be stepped on to call the servants to clear or serve the room.
I recently stayed at an air BnB that was a former steel company owner’s mansion that had floor buttons. Of course I had to step on it and I heard a faint buzzing down the hall. I walked into the huge pantry and above the door was the annunciation panel with the pointer for the “Receiving room” pointing at the name.
I pulled the reset knob on the bottom of the panel and it reset the pointer.
Of course I had to do it again then search for the other call buttons in the house.
There was even an annunciator panel in the basement near the boiler and laundry room!
Wow. This is so cool! I’m really, really excited that you can restore this feature to the house.
So cool. Congrats!
That’s exciting!! Not everybody can have an annunciator. Lucky You.
Hi everybody!
I confused by images not showing up. I will contact my web master on Monday.
An easy fix…I hope…is when a new post arrives in your inbox, don’t look at the post IN your inbox. Rather, touch the title (An Annunciator Announcement!!!!!!!!) and you will be taken directly to my blog. The images should be visible.
Let me know if this works!
I am also traveling in the UK. The Planet vpn fix worked for me on my android phone. Cannot see photos on the iPad the last few days! Even when I go to the site from my browser. The annunciation is a treasure!
How awesome that the annunciator and your trim are such a close match! It is going to look great!