Recreating Missing Finials and Missing Muntins, Oh My!

 

PART ONE

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Previously, I did a post about the long lost finial atop the octagon tower. This is the only image I have of it, circa-1932. (Image Mouse family archives.)

 

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A close-up image.

 

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Today, I received a drawing from Mark at WF Norman. Cool. The lower part would also be covered with…

 

..fish scales. Very cool.

..fish scales. Very cool.

 

I told Mark to go ahead! I am hoping the octagon finial will be ready to pick up when the turret finial is ready.

And I am counting the days!!!!!!!!

 

PART II

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The great north all of the Cross House. See the main gable? See the pair of windows?

 

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In April I discovered that the upper sashes looked like this originally. But sometime after 1970, the muntins (the thin bars making the squares around the edges) were removed. Thus, the upper sashes looked just like the plain lower sashes. Well, there is a limit to what my delicate sensibilities can endure, so, at 7AM this morning, I met with Scott from Hoefer Stained Glass, at the gas station on the highway (Scott was passing by on his way to another job; I felt like we were doing a drug deal while passing things between our vehicles)), to drop off the upper sashes, so the missing muntins could be recreated.

 

 

 

12 Comments

  1. Cindi M on June 9, 2016 at 3:08 pm

    Exciting!

  2. Tony Bianchini on June 9, 2016 at 9:22 pm

    I’m on the edge of my seat with anticipation!

    • Ross on June 9, 2016 at 9:24 pm

      I know! But we have to wait about 8 weeks.

      Starting countdown…10…9…8…

  3. MikeE on June 9, 2016 at 10:13 pm

    I am curious, do you plan on painting your tree trunks white, as they were in the 1932 picture? That was a very common practice at one time; we have a picture of our house in 1902, and every trunk was white up to about 4′.

    • Tony on June 10, 2016 at 2:09 pm

      WHAT!?

      • MikeE on June 10, 2016 at 3:01 pm

        If you look at the tree in the 1932 picture, you can see that the bark has been white-washed up to about 5′ from the ground. In the Midwest, this was a common practice from the 1800s up until the mid-1900s. Painting the bark was supposed to protect the trees from bugs, boring worms, gophers, woodchucks, and even deer (Bambi loves to chew bark off of trees). My great-grandpa used to pay me to paint his trees every summer when I was a kid in the 70s, although the practice was fading out by then. I’m sure that Ross has no intention of painting his trees, but being as obsessed with accuracy as he is, I thought I would give him the idea and see what happens 🙂

        • Melody on June 10, 2016 at 11:58 pm

          Tree painting is still done in Ukraine, and I’m sure other places as well. I think it makes them look well cared for.

          • Tony on June 11, 2016 at 1:14 am

            I’ve never heard of such a thing! That is fascinating!!



          • Ragnar on January 12, 2017 at 5:50 am

            I’ve seen it done with very young (newly planted) trees in Europe but I don’t think it’s plain whitewash but rather something special to keep deer from chewing on the bark. I don’t think it’s white either, more like light grey with a yellowish hue.



    • Trace Madsen on June 14, 2016 at 3:55 am

      Where I live it’s still in the U.S.A it’s still a really small town and a lot of the trees are painted white I have been told it’s because they don’t want to buy raid or other brands of stuff to get rid of the bugs that attack trees.

      • djd_fr on January 15, 2017 at 2:47 pm

        This is often done to fruit trees. It is a lime wash.

  4. Chad on June 10, 2016 at 7:41 am

    Clearly fancy windows are drugs! Years ago I did a similar thing with my mortise locks. A co-worker took them for his uncle, and I left a check in my desk drawer and he came by after hours and took the check and left the locks, minus paint and plus keys.

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