THE HYDE PARK HOMES TOUR, part 1

On Saturday, Mom left us dogs and cats all alone in the house for several hours while she went to the Hyde Park Historic Homes Tour.  Every year they have this tour of historic homes in the historic neighborhood of Hyde Park, and it's interesting to see how people have fixed up their historic houses, so that's why Mom goes.  Dogs aren't allowed to go, and that's the reason I stayed home.  Not to mention that I would not want to do all that walking from one house to the next.

The first house Mom looked at is on a street called Janssen Place, where there are a lot of really big, old houses that were built in the early 1900s.  Except for a few that look like they were built in maybe 1960, and those look totally out of place.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the Janssen Place house that was on the tour.  It was built in 1912, and it has 6,500 square feet of space inside.  Which seems like plenty of room for at least 20 dogs and cats, and maybe one of those miniature horses, too.

Mom didn't take any pictures inside the first house because she wasn't sure if it was okay to do that, and also she was sort of shy about taking pictures of people's personal, private rooms where they live.  After the first house, she got less shy, but she only took outside pictures of the house on Janssen Place.

This house has 3 stories, 23 rooms, and 4 fireplaces.  The design is neo-classical and colonial revival.  I don't actually know anything about architecture because I am just a dog, but Mom brought home a tour booklet with this information in it.  The house cost $70,000 to build back in 1912, but in today's money, that would be $1.6 million.  Mrs. A.H. Glasner, the first lady that owned the house, was the heir to a company that made whiskey, which lots of people liked to buy until the Prohibition thing started.

Anyway, later owners changed some things, such as making the carriage house into a garage and remodeling the apartment upstairs.

Also, there is now a swimming pool.

The second house Mom looked at was lots smaller than the first one.  It was so small that it was what is called a bungalow.  These smaller houses at the west edge of Hyde Park were built in the 1920s, so they are the youngest homes in the area.  This bungalow still has its original Craftsman design details, including hardwood floors, built-in cabinets, and a tub with claw feet.  

The woman who lives in this house is a textile designer, and the man is an ER nurse.  You can tell that she does textiles because she has a little spinning wheel and also a small loom.

And here are a couple of interesting ideas.  You can use cardboard to make a lamp fixture, and old lockers make good cabinets in the kitchen.

I have lots more photos to show you from Hyde Park because, as usual, Mom got carried away with her camera.  But I'm tired of writing now, so you'll have to wait until another day to see them.