House History
As far as I can tell, this house was here in 1902. It was shown on a survey of that year. The shape of the house is different now, but the original foundation is still visible in the basement. The original part of the house is the current southeast corner, which is the east corner along Emerson Lane, closest to the Free Acres farm house, Frank Stephens Hall.
During the 1999 demolition and renovation, there were many small discoveries which start to peel back some 100 years of time. The dates mentioned are not exact, except where I note documentation.
The house was probably built around 1900. The original foundation is natural stone from the property. There were no footings, the topsoil was scraped off, there was less that 1 foot, and the stone and mortar foundation was laid. This would not be suitable in different soil conditions, but here on top of the Watchung range, the ground is mostly rock, with dense compact dirt. While digging in 1999, bedrock was hit only 4 feet below the surface. The wood framing was then built. The lumber was mostly salvaged (re-used) 4"x6" and 4"x8" fir, possibly from a local mill. We found evidence of other nails in the lumber indicating previous use. The house shown in the 1902 survey was a bungalow. One room with a small cape cod dormer bedroom upstairs. The main room had a large fireplace on the east wall. In the 1999 demolition, a large stone mantle was uncovered. The previous owner Harry Maslow, had covered most of it up and never used it. There was no plumbing or basement in the original house. Probably in the 1930's a bathroom with indoor plumbing and a septic system in back were added. This made the house "L" shaped. Parts of the old clay sewer pipe from the house to the septic system were still in use until the recent renovations. The septic system was discovered during the excavation for the back addition. This was abandoned when the sewer line was put in about 1940 (guess).
The house was owned by Armbruster as shown on this 1922 survey.
This document was updated officially in 1935, and then modified many times since.
In the 1940's a back bedroom was added filling in the L, making the house square-ish. In the 1950's there were 4 main events for the house. The exact order has yet to be determined. There was a significant fire, Harry Maslow became the owner of the leasehold, Maslow designed and built the east family room addition, and the fire damage was repaired or covered up. Hopefully we will learn more about this interesting time period. In 1960 Maslow added a carport in back. In 1999, we started our renovations including adding a story to the original house for 3 bedrooms and a bath, and a garage with a master suite above to replace the carport. The completion date is yet to be determined.
If you have any information on this house, please let me know. Stories about personal experience and old photographs would be especially interesting. I can be reached at bill@wdnichols.com