The Mystery of the Missing House
When I first considered buying the Cross House in March of 2013, I stood on the sidewalk and looked just to the south, to 524 Union Street. This house was very close to the Cross House, and it was also, oddly, set WAY back on the lot. I also knew that the 524 lot had once been attached to the Cross lots.
In addition, 524 looked like the Cross House, just a smaller version.
So naturally I assumed that 524 was the original carriage house to the Cross House but that it had been sold off many decades previously.
However, “no” was the answer I received about my assumption. I was told that 524 had been built decades after the Cross House.
“But why”, I asked, “does it look like the Cross House?”
“The guy who built it loved the Cross House, so he hired the same builder to create a smaller version.”
Well, I guess that was possible.
“But why”, I asked, “is it set so far back?”
“There was a historic tree on the front portion of the lot, the Centennial Tree.”
Well, I guess that was possible.
So, I shook my head, and stopped thinking about the mysteries of 524.
In December, after I reached an agreement to buy the Cross House, I realized that I had to buy 524, too, which I needed like eighteen holes in my head. But, it was sooooooo close to the Cross House, and many interior rooms of the Cross House overlooked 524. It seemed that if I was going to undertake a titanic-scaled restoration of the Cross House that it might be prudent to also control what happened RIGHT NEXT DOOR.
It was also significant that the owner of the Cross House, Bob Rodak, also owned 524. He had purchased it about ten years previously, reuniting two properties which had been separated for almost a century. It seemed, I dunno, cruel to separate them again.
So, I purchased a HUGE house needing a ton of work and a LARGE house needing a lot of work.
Yep, pretty insane.
524 is really cool, though. The main level interior has a subtle Mission-style thing going on. The living room is unexpectedly large and has a drop-dead gorgeous tile fireplace.
Going upstairs though offered an expected phenomenon. At the top of the steps it seemed as if a fracture existed in the time/space continuum, because I always had the oddest sensation that I had just walked through…a time portal. I am not kidding. The upstairs felt older than the main level.
I could never explain this odd sensation but others commented on the same thing. “It feels older up here.”
See, it was not just me.
One day, I was walking down those crazy time/space steps when a thought popped into my head: The reason the upstairs feels older than the downstairs is because it IS older.
In a flash I understod.
Number 524 was the missing carriage house.
Number 524 was built in 1894, and not decades later.
THE PUZZLE REVEALED
The Cross House was built on three lots. The house straddles two of the lots. The third lot, to the south, was the location of the garden, and right against the alley was the carriage house.
The carriage house sat right on the ground, and likely had a dirt floor (it was used for the Cross family carriages and horses). It may have also contained the boilers for the Cross House, and coal storage. There is also the possibility that there was an electrical plant (the CRoss House might have been the first house in Emporia to have electricity). The main structure was one-story with a huge roof (for storing hay?) and second-level turret (it is not known what the turret was used for). There was also a one-story wing to the north (called “barn” on 1894 drawings) with a huge ventilator on the roof. The only known image of the whole structure shows, faintly, the barn.
About 1920, a basement was built right in front of the main structure. The barn wing was separated, the main block was lifted up, and moved a bit west and onto the new basement. The front (west) facade received a massive full-width one-story L-shaped porch, and a plethora of dormers sprouted on the roof. The interior of the main level, likely barn-like originally, was finished to a high standard and in the then fashionable Mission-style. Upstairs, the former attic (or hay loft) was transformed into livable space via plaster on lath.
Then the lot was separated from the two Cross House lots and the “new” house sold off. As such, 524 showed up as a legal entity for the first time, and thus its seeming creation twenty-five years after the Cross House was built.
THE PUZZLE NOT QUITE REVEALED
But what happened to the barn wing?
It crossed the lot line so it could not have remained in place.
I assumed it had been moved a bit north, to become the garage to the Cross House. But research disproved this.
I then assumed it had been moved to a nearby property to became a garage. I drove up/down numerous alleys but could find no conclusive evidence to support this theory.
Because people back then did not routinely discard stuff, including structures but a few decades old, I deeply believed that the missing north wing was somewhere.
But where? Maybe it had been moved, and I could not find it, or it had been moved and demolished decades later.
Quite vexing!
THE PUZZLE REVEALED. REALLY.
One day, while not at all thinking about The Missing Wing, a thought popped into my head. This happens often to me.
I suddenly got a shiver of excitement though my whole body when I realized that the north wing HAD been moved. Just a tiny bit. And it had been right in front of me — and everybody else — the whole time.
After the main block had been moved a bit west and upon a proper basement, the basement had then been extended to the east, and a kitchen wing constructed on it.
Not quite. Yes, the new basement had been immediately extended east. But, no, a kitchen wing had not been built on top. Instead, the new kitchen wing WAS the original barn. Zounds!
After the main block had been moved onto its new basement, the barn was turned ninety degrees, lifted up, pushed a bit to the south, and atop its new basement.
I would kill for images of this adventure.
This is a 1905 Sanborn map, showing the Cross House to the left (north) and its carriage house to the right (south). To its left is the north barn wing. The main block is listed as two-stories (2) but it seems that the huge attic was only lighted by the three turret windows. In the NW corner of the main block was a 1-story porch (the dotted lines).
The Cross House. Thrillingly, to the far right is the barn wing of the carriage house, and its huge cupola/ventilator.
2002. This is the 1894 carriage house by Charles W. Squires. The image was taken shortly after Bob Rodak purchased it. The house looks grim, grim, grim. The over-powering circa-1920 front porch is obvious. The remarkable thing about the porch is that SOME of its railings appear to be from the 1894 carriage house porches. These railing are to the lower right.
2007. Bob has much improved the carriage house. Note the two new porch columns. Note also the lower front railings; these perhaps date from the 1894 carriage house porches.
2014. The circa-1920 porch, even after all Bob’s work, was a termite- and water-damaged structural disaster. I ruthlessly smashed the whole to the ground. The original carriage house porch filled in the corner to the left, as seen in the Sanborn map image, above. Save for the dormers, the whole second floor in the image is from 1894. All that you see on the first floor is from the circa-1920 renovation, when the main block was moved a bit to the west, placed on a full basement, and rebuilt as a proper home.
2014. You are looking at the north wall of the kitchen wing. Except, this used to be the west wall of the north barn wing before the wing was moved. I know, confusing! The original cupola/ventilator was removed (sigh) and a sun porch built (a great room actually).
2014. These two shabby windows light the basement of the carriage house. There are numerous such windows, and they THRILL me. Why? Because they might be the original first-floor windows of the 1894 structure. When the structure was lifted onto a full basement, and the first floor rebuilt into a proper house, these window sashes were perhaps reused in the basement. Well, this possibility just thrills me!
The living room has a stunning circa-1920 tiled fireplace. Who made the tiles?
All the second-floor doors have transom windows. Yummy. Each will be restored to working order.
This delightful room will be the new master bath, and with a claw-foot tub sitting in the bay. This was likely the only finished second-floor room in the 1894 structure.
The circa-1920 upstairs is rich with quirky details, odd angles, and charming rooms.
There are a lot of these under-the-eave storage closets. I am dying to haul the paint stripper out.
Inside the many closets are tongue & grove boards.
UPDATE: In a much later post, I detail numerous new discoveries about the carriage house, negating some of what I wrote here in 2014. I have revised this post to reflect the new information.
11 Comments
Leave a Comment
Your email address will NEVER be made public or shared, and you may use a screen name if you wish.
Very interesting! I remember when we traveled HWY 50 in the ’40’s and ’50’s it was a “tourist” house. We didn’t have motels back then. Highway 50 was 6th Avenue at that time. I think it was the Chi Omega house in 1961. Good luck with the restoration. I am going to share your site with my “old friends”. We love to think back.
Why was the carriage house moved at all?! Ross, is it possible to move to its original location? Have you thought about it? I know it costs boo coo $$$$ to move buildings/houses.
The carriage house originally sat on the ground. In order to transform the carriage house to a proper house, it needed a basement. So, a basement was created just in front of the structure, then the whole was lifted up and moved onto the new basement. Then the whole was sold off as a separate lot.
The carriage house COULD be moved back, and I would love to do so. After winning the lottery!
Your passion for restoration is infectious! I’m raising my glass of wine now and toasting for both of us- Here’s to winning the lottery!!
I’m loving this whole mystery-solving detective thing you’ve got going on! Wish you’d filmed it all. Would make a great HGTV Special.
The 1904 house I grew up in is rumored to be the raised carriage house of the house next door. I always thought that sounded pretty unlikely but I guess it could be true, after reading your account!
Love the carriage house. It’s so my style as I’m a big fan of the 20’s. Wish I could be there and partake in the work. What a thrill that would be!!
I’ve lived in Emporia my entire life and lived just a few blocks south east of this house. I’ve always loved it and had always dreamed of living in it. I’m now studying residential design so reading about the renovation of this house is absolutely fascinating! I would kill to be able to walk through and see the interior of the cross house. Good luck!
Is it wrong to be turned on by the excitement of putting all these history pieces together, and seeing pics of original pieces of the carriage house? The stories it could tell!
I am restoring a 1895 Queen Anne in Pekin IL. It was never as grand(and not nearly as large) as the Cross House and much of its life had as many as 3 other families living as borders with the owners. The upstairs was gutted in the 1960s and reconfigured leaving only original windows, the floors(but covered in shag carpeting) and the built in bed board linen closet…which has the same lock and hinges as your picture of the closet above.
I owned a house in Minneapolis that had a detached garage that opened to side, not to the alley. This meant there was a huge concrete pad off the alley, so one would drive from the alley uphill onto the concrete pad / driveway, then turn into the garage. Lots of concrete, broken in several places and hard to keep clear of snow, and what a waste of land on a city lot. I had the garage detached from its foundation and moved aside temporarily, dug out the footprint so we could drive directly from the alley into the garage, laid concrete, built a new foundation, then got the crane back to turn and move the garage on top of the new foundation. I gained lots of storage and hauled all the old concrete away, built a retaining wall, and gained a beautiful garden space. Your garage story reminds me of that project.