907 JACKSON
The house at 907 Jackson Street (the southeast corner of Jackson and Buchanan) is another of West End's small Victorian houses built in the early 20th century, characterized by a generous front porch and sawnwork details. 
I noticed a few months ago that the house had been foreclosed upon, and it went on the market for $37,000. It was bought fairly quickly, and I watched over the summer for signs that it might be gutted/vinylized. As work started on the house, I was optimistic, as it looked like they were taking pains to preserve the detail.
907 Jackson in August, 2006.
And they appear to have done a fine job with the restoration of the house (although it never would have had a railing like this, particularly unpainted.)
It's now back on the market for a pretty astounding $149,000. Considering that a house twice this size around the corner sat on the market for nearly a year at about that price, I don't think they'll get it.
Update: The property sold after ~3 weeks on the market.
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8 comments:
Are you familiar with 201 E. Trinity? My wife and I looked at it a few weeks ago. Pretty magnificent, and very interestingly restored/preserved.
Eric
Do you mean the big Victorian on the corner of Trinity and Roxboro? Neat house; they started out way too high on the price in my opinion (?$369,000) given the location on a busy corner, but they've come down to $279,000 now. I think they'll get taker in that range. I love the tower - as you can tell by quite a few of the pictures on here, it used to be relatively common on the large Victorian-era houses, but it's rare to find one in Durham now. (That one and the one on Watts are the only two I can think of).
GK
What's wrong with the railing (other than being unpainted)? I don't know enough about these things to see the problem.
My insurance company wanted me to put railings on my 1910 Victorian; I couldn't see any evidence that they had been there before, so I refused (finally settled with State Farm, who appears not to care).
It's pretty atypical for this box post/brick pillar setup to have railings, but if they do, they are pretty hefty to match the bulk of the post. You'd never see turned spindles combined with box posts - only with turned posts. If someone really felt the urge to put on a railing, squared, thicker spindles would be in order. (Interestingly, though, it seems likely that this support system may be a replacement. Turned posts would be what you would expect with a Victorian that has the other details it has.)
GK
OK, I get it. Since my house has turned (round?) posts, turned spindles would be OK.
Feel free to have a look and offer your opinion:
911 W. Club
Mostly I didn't want to put in a railing because I'm lazy and cheap, but if it's not out of place historically I don't mind doing it as part of our tax credit plan.
Dave
I think it would be out of place on your house (nice, by the way). Those columns look original, and if it had ever had a railing, the bottom (~1/3) of the column would have been squared to allow the railing to butt against a flat surface rather than the round surface. Your house is more minimalist in the exterior detail than those houses overall (I've walked by it before when checking out the plight of the DC May house and the stuff being built in its place.) The lack of a railing is in keeping with that.
Funny to see Albee's and Stecker's names on your site - it's been a long time since I've heard of those guys.
GK
I believe this house has already sold for just below asking price (approx. $145K). It is on the boundary of Morehead Hills and the West End. Also the new Habitat houses are appraising around $120K.
I've been living on Buchanan Blvd Since the Emily K. Center was a Don's Dog Hut and a small Dirt Lot. I always had a gut feeling some things were going to change even before the bulldozers. Parking in the area is tight at times but it's nice to be able to be in walking distance to a good amount of things and close to the highway and ballpark. I know i will be getting my investment worth when i make maoves.
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