We recently bought an old house, and like any old house, she needs a little bit of work. She was built around 1905, and is a fairly traditional four-square design located in north Central Ohio. There are many wonderful examples of this architecture in the area, and I feel that this particular home is a wonderful blend of traditional four-square design, with some unique Craftsman and even Georgian details.
The roof has a decorative metal cap along the hip ridges; it is beautiful and strange, and it almost reminds me of a pagoda house. The home is covered in clapboard siding that is white and in need of sanding and painting very soon! There are columnar details on the corners of the front siding - these extend nearly up to the roofline. The front and back porch support columns are built of rock-face concrete blocks and concrete pillars, and the porch railings; although not original, are a fair match to the styling of the rest of the home.
The interior of the home is really what took my breath away... she has spectacular woodwork. Stately columns, 10" tall baseboards, paneled doors with their original hardware, pocket doors that are absolute show-stoppers... I don't think I've seen more lovely finishing details in a home of any price!
We (mostly me, but also the husband) determined that our new home needed a name, since she is a grand old lady and well-deserving of an equally grand moniker. I don't like names for homes like "manor" or "place", and I wanted to stick with a name that might have belonged to a woman of the era in which our home was built. We went through a list of names of relatives, and couldn't quite find the right fit... I asked friends for help in naming and received many wonderful suggestions, but still they didn't seem fitting.
Last night I was in the house for the first time (other than with our realtor or inspector). I was cleaning the kitchen, and decided to take a break from that task - note: I hate cleaning kitchens - to explore a little. I went into the living room and pulled up a corner of the worn-out carpet to check the condition of the wood floors.. they seemed ok, so I whipped out my hooked carpet knife and proceeded to take up the living room, dining room, and nook carpet and pad to reveal a lovely hardwood floor laid in a laced-corner design, and the wood was in a very good condition - I was THRILLED, to say the least! As I was sitting there on the floor, grimy and dirty and sweaty and positively exhausted, I started pulling up staples and tack strips. Tired as I was, I may have just been absolutely delirious, but I swear I was hit with an inspiration for a name as if it were spoken in my ear. I thought about it for a few minutes, then I asked my husband if he thought it was a fitting name... yes, he liked it a lot and felt that it was right for our grand lady.
And so... I proudly invite you to meet Virginia.
