The Beauty of a Crispy House
When the Cross House was built in 1894 it was crispy. Its details were all crisp and distinct. (Walter Anderson Collection – ESU Archives)
But over time, with each passing decade, and with even a century passing, the house wholly lost its crispness. (Click images to hugely enlarge.)
The house had grown shabby. It looked more slum house than elegant mansion.
The exterior was caked with old paint.
But…time has been reversed. Crispiness has been restored.
All the wood sashes were as far from crisp as could be.
But…time has been reversed. Crispiness has been restored.
The Great North Wall, 1999. A ghetto house.
The Great North Wall, today. A crispy house.
Again, the main facade, 2005.
The main facade, 2017.
There is great pleasure in making the Cross House pretty again. But, even more satisfying, is making the house crispy again. This effort, to me, makes an enormous difference in how the house is perceived. What had been, well, cruddy for many decades is ever increasingly crisp. Elegant. The ghetto crack house look is ever vanishing.
This effort is more than just restoring cruddy windows and scraping off cruddy paint. Bringing back the mostly lost porch columns hugely helps makes the house look not just crisp, but right. So, too, with recreating lost diamond-paned sashes (like with the main facade dormer) and the lost square-paned windows high up on the north gable. The railings on the porches are slowly being recreated. Holes punched through siding for various electrical fixtures over the decades have been infilled with new siding. And even minute efforts matter. On the gorgeous double entry doors, one small beveled glass pane had been badly cracked for many decades. This beveled pane has been renewed. The threshold of the entry had been painted gray. Today, it is varnished oak. It is crispy again.
The glory of the house is its 42 stained-glass windows. Time had eroded their beauty. The many small glass pieces sagged. Dirt encrusted the glass. Holes abounded. And all were covered by dirty Plexiglass panels.
Bit by bit though, the stained-glass is being made crisp again, thanks to the Kansas Heritage Trust Fund and Hoefer Stained Glass.
Glorious crispness.
Astonishing crispness.
Wondrous crispness.
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When I saw the title of this post, I thought about your post regarding the air conditioning and thought, “Oh god, Ross as the AC set to 30 degrees, doesn’t he!”
It’s really a miracle that someone came along (you) and was willing to take on such a project. I’m sure it sent most potential buyers running for the hills.
Have you saved any of the broken pieces of the house? I can imagine some of it making for an interesting display. You certainly have pictures, but it would be neat I think to save a piece so years from now you can appreciate the difference. Obviously not all of the broken pieces of the house would be good candidates for this, but surely something could.
I knew on some level you appreciated this “crispness” but I never knew we used the same word!
Crisp Cross House a la Ross! Beyond beautiful & wondrous thanks to your hard work!
I drove by last Friday, and it’s looking beautiful. It’s slowly revealing its beauty again. It took your vision and energy to make it happen.
Ross, Your meticulous attention to detail and thorough cleaning is truly what makes the Cross House look crisp. Well done! (Or need I say well ‘doing’ since you are not yet done?)
I am constantly shocked and amazed when I see these BEFORE and AFTER pictures of the house.
You inspire me,
Thanks Ross!
You can see your old house smile again and have a sparkle in all 42 of her dazzling eyes, well done thus far well done 🙂
I’ve silently wondered, why not just paint over it and move on, especially the waaay high up there parts. Thus the reason why you were called to own this house, crispness! All the painstaking time really does make a difference. The house is smiling, all crispy and proud, because you are it’s plastic surgeon.
You’re doing a wonderful job. It must be such a pleasure for your neighbors to see the house steadily improving.
Just wondering, is the previous owner, Bob, still in the area to witness this marvelous transformation? It is beautiful, Ross.
When I see the ‘before’ pictures and the after, it makes my heart happy. Houses were meant to be homes, indwelt, loved, cared for and maintained. I’m glad you are doing all of that with the Cross Mansion. For any house treated like that IS a mansion.
Before and after pictures like these should be an ever-convincing story of why heritage grants are so necessary and so incredibly valuable!
Speaking of the heritage grant, have you heard anything about the funds being set aside in the state budget? There was a delay in the approval last time and I’ve wondered if it is a problem this year too.
Ross, have you heard anything on the $80K+ you applied for? Did I miss it?
The post you missed.
Ross, I’m going just a little off topic here, but is it safe to assume that you are not going to cover your beautiful crispy window sashes with storm windows? I am meeting again with an FHA fellow tomorrow concerning a 203K loan I am doing to get a leg up on my restoration, and he is saying that I have to put storm windows back on once I am done with my windows. The windows that I have already done have very little heat loss, and I HATE storm windows…I’m hoping that he will let me slide on this…it would totally mess up the exterior…
I too worry about the stained glass without some kind of protection, but then again I’m in the Pacific Northwest where nine straight months of moisture cause all kinds of damage. Mike, are you talking wood storm sashes or those awful aluminum slider ones? The former can look quite nice on a historic home, and there are a million tutorials on how to make them. As a sidenote, I’m a Realtor and 203k loans can be a paperwork nightmare, it’s worth shopping lenders to do a conventional refi, if condition allows.
I live in an area where a lot of historic homes are rotting down, and the lenders don’t like to mess with any of them. I found a large regional bank, and they not only recommended the 203K, but have been very helpful. This is the FHA/HUD person. The house has the awful aluminum storms now, and as part of the project, I am removing them and then restoring all of the original wooden windows. I don’t have the skill to build wooden storms from scratch, and if I hired them done, there goes my new central AC, LOL…So, if he insists, I would have no other choice but to put the 60’s aluminums back. I can take them down and repair the screw holes later, but I have 42 windows, and half of them are 17′ off the ground, LOL…
I will not be putting on storm windows.
The house does not appear to have ever had storms.
More important than storms in terms of heating/cooling is that I will be sealing almost all my windows shut with peel-away caulk.
Stopping air leakage is the #1 most important thing in keeping an old house comfortable and affordable. This is far more important than insulation and storm windows. The department of Federal Standards even states this.
Oh the horror! But, to each his/her own. If I were to ever live in the Cross House, I would immediately peel away the caulk seals (thank you for that) because I love fresh air. Even today, I sit with all the windows open. After that string of days/weeks with 100° temps, 84° is pleasant.
Grace, my darling, you missed the operative words: Peel-away.
The caulk is removable! Caulk in the late fall; peel away early spring!
OH! I thought you meant that it would stay year-round while you live there, but that it could be peeled away by future owners. I thought you were a fan of Air-conditioning.
[Ross: I am a big AC fan! And during my tenure the caulk will remain resolutely in place! Also, and this is vital due to the Cross House being against a highway, the sealed windows hugely reduce the traffic noise.]
No storm windows on gorgeous windows all 42!! Yay Ross! The before & after of crisp Cross House post pix are wondrous–especially stained glass!!
It’s Crispilicious! And stunningly beautiful. Your work is exquisite.
Crispilicoous indeed!! Love the crispy & delicious combo description Eric U!!! Ross is genius personified with his craftsmanship & artistry! I echo your sentiments & agree wholeheartedly the results are stunning & fresh!!
Huh. So essentially, a house is a potato chip. Crisp good. Soggy, not so good.
I LOVE It! I live out in Carlsbad CA by the beach. Its Great Here but we don’t have any of the Beautiful Victorians like you do there. My Goal is to buy my first Victorian and tackle it as well. I have no experience but I am highly driven. Your house reminds me of a Really Super Rare Serpentine Rosewood 9 Foot 1893 Restored Steinway! Your house is more than a house it is a fine living instrument!