They'd been looking for a weekend house for over a year, viewing everything from old barns to bungalows, in three states. Lewis Remele and his husband James Danner wanted something uncommon, unique-and they wouldn't mind doing some work. Still, nothing fit the bill, until they heard about a vacant Victorian summer camp in Elka Park.
AT elka park Manhattan summers are hot and humid. During the 19th century, before air conditioning, those who could escaped the city. In 1889, several wealthy German immigrants formed a summer colony in the cool forest of New York's northern Catskill Mountains. They called it Elka Park, based on the letters L and K derived from their Liederkranz social club, a group supporting music and the arts that remains active today.
They purchased 115 acres of cleared land and between 1889 and 1896 built 22 Victorian summer homes. An elaborate Clubhouse was built for communal dining and events, with rooms for visitors; it was lost in a fire in 1949. The building that replaced it is still the social center today.
Elka Park's holdings grew to 1,100 acres, preserving its viewscapes, yet no additional houses were built for the next century, preserving it as a tucked-away summer colony in the mountains.
この記事は Old House Journal の July - August 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Old House Journal の July - August 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Navigating the Lumberyard - Here's some lumber lingo you should know before you venture into a lumberyard.
Here's some lumber lingo you should know before you venture into a lumberyard. Almost everyone fixing an old house will end up at a lumberyard-whether it's a local supplier or the organized aisles of a big-box home-improvement store.
a farmhouse renewed
Sensitive renovations and restoration work preserved a house that dates to 1799.
AN OVERVIEW OF METAL ROOFING
METAL ROOFS ARE RESURGENT, FOR GOOD REASONS.
ENDURING BEAUTY IN WALLS of STONE
Now back in the family who had been here since 1830, the old farmhouse is again ready for generations to come. Additions dating to 1840 and the 1950s were preserved.
ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS COME TO LIFE
Owners and their designer celebrate the unique features of a 1912 Arts & Crafts Tudor.
For a Wet Basement Wall
If there's problem common to old houses, it's a wet basement. I'm not talking about occasional flooding, but rather a basement that apparently seeps or leaks after even a rain shower or during snowmelt. Several approaches are available; sustainable solutions will get to the root of the problem.
Patching a Plaster Wall
Fix a hole in the wall with a few common tools and some drywall supplies. Practice your technique!
Roofing & Siding
Make note of these historical and unusual materials for the building envelope.
The Riddle of the water
When water incursion happens, the roof isn't necessarily the culprit. Maybe snaking a drain line, or clearing debris from a clogged gutter, temporarily will stem a leak. But a recurring problem usually means other forces are at work. It takes persistence-and a team with the right skills and patience—to identify the source and apply a solution.
Light-filled Craftsman Redo
For a dark kitchen in a 1914 Illinois house, the trick was anchoring white expanses with woodsy warmth.