“I grew up in San Francisco,” she explains, recalling the years among the city’s celebrated Victorians, but also Tudor and Arts & Crafts style homes. “In the back of my mind, I’ve always been an old-house fan.”
In 1996, Janis, her husband Terry Gahan, and their young daughter were living in a 1950s house in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Contrary to the popular concept of midcentury houses having airy, light-filled interiors, Janis’s experience was different. “It was the style of house that had a long, dark hallway that dead-ended in a bathroom,” she says. Even the iconic living room plate glass window left her cold. “People walking by would literally look at me through that window.”
MOVING FORWARD BY TURNING BACK
The couple’s chance for “upgrading” to an even older home came in 1996. Janis saw a real estate notice about an open house for a 1916 home, and arrived promptly at the scheduled starting time on a Sunday morning. “I walked in, and the place was packed,” she laughs. “Wall-to-wall people. We were all sort of eyeballing each other.” As she made her way through the house, she gathered that the sale was the result of a divorce, and that it was priced to sell fast.
By the time she made it to the main bathroom on the second floor, she was smitten. “I couldn’t believe that previous owners hadn’t trashed that original bathroom,” says Janis. “I really wanted this house.”
She called her husband and their real estate agent over to look at it. Janis and Terry settled on their maximum price and presented it to their agent. Janis remembers, “Our agent said, ‘Well, let’s add another two hundred bucks.’”
This story is from the Issue 99 Fall 2019 edition of American Bungalow Magazine.
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This story is from the Issue 99 Fall 2019 edition of American Bungalow Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Stickley, HARLEY-DAVIDSON, and The Road Taken
LONG-TIME READERS MIGHT remember an article about my family’s house in the Adirondacks in American Bungalow No. 58.
NATURAL WORLD, DIGITAL LENS: AT HOME WITH WILDFLOWER GRAPHICS
FROM A SMALL STUDIO in Greenwich, New York, Wildflower Graphics creates stunning botanical illustrations with little more than a pencil and a computer.
PERIOD PIECES
The Hanifan residence not only exemplifies how to expand a modest Craftsman, but is a treasure-trove of vintage and salvaged finds.
LOSE YOUR HEART
JANIS HALL LOVES OLD HOUSES.
AND A FEELING RUNS THROUGH IT
Old houses and old people, their histories and their mysteries, are inscribed deep inside their old bones.
Lose Your Heart
Janis hall loves old houses.
Stickley, Harley-Davidson, And The Road Taken
Long-time readers might remember an article about my family’s house in the Adirondacks in American Bungalow No. 58.
Period Pieces
The Hanifan residence not only exemplifies how to expand a modest Craftsman, but is a treasure-trove of vintage and salvaged finds.
Natural World, Digital Lens: At Home With Wildflower Graphics
From a small studio in Greenwich, New York, Wildflower Graphics creates stunning botanical illustrations with little more than a pencil and a computer.
And A Feeling Runs Through It
Old houses and old people, their histories and their mysteries, are inscribed deep inside their old bones.
