My House Is Older than Your House (Possibly)

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so Dave B's house is 150 years old today. How old is your house? Who has the oldest house on ilx?

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 17 October 2003 08:55 (twenty-two years ago)

My house isn't old at all. It's some post-war big block monstrosity. I mean, the block is just unlucky. All the houses along the other side of the road are Victorian. Our block was bombed during WWII, destroying buildings which were built to replace buildings which were destroyed by a Zeppelin raid in WWI, destroying buildings which were replaced after the Gordon Riots destroyed the original house on the property.

And now the flock of bats needs a second roof replacement in 5 years! Unlucky I tell ya, UNLUCKY!!!

― kate (kate), Friday, 17 October 2003 09:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to live in a house that was something like 500 years old (well, half of it was, the other half was built in the 60s). It had a wonky floor and no windows in in the front room ~~and the skeleton of a fugitive Catholic priest in the wall.~~

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 17 October 2003 09:09 (twenty-two years ago)

HSA's mum's house in Wiltshire was, like, built in the 17th or 18th Century or so. At least, she thinks the earliest bits were - it was built in several layers wrapped around each other. (Which makes the attics a really interesting semi-spiral mess!

― kate (kate), Friday, 17 October 2003 09:12 (twenty-two years ago)

the house where i live in, according to my landlord, was built by the arabs and then rebuilt by the christians (actually the walls look have the same architecture as the gothic church at the other side of the street).
i don't know if i have to believe him, but that would mean 14th or 15th century. i'd say 18th, but this is only a guess.

― joan vich (joan vich), Friday, 17 October 2003 09:36 (twenty-two years ago)

1862. And £2,800 worth of rising damp to be forked out for between now and Christmas. Bah!

I had to chase off a gaggle of teen girls last night - they were sitting on my doorstep swigging Lambrini!

― Madchen (Madchen), Friday, 17 October 2003 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

There has been a pub on this site since before the Great Fire, I think, but the extension we are in is circa turn of C19/C20.

I once stayed in a 14th Century house in Burgundy which had proper certification and HUGE front door keys.

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 17 October 2003 09:42 (twenty-two years ago)

1883. The houses on the other side of the street are older.

when did they start building houses with bathrooms? After 1883, obviously, as one of the original 3 bedrooms is now a bathroom. In maby houses in the street the bathroom is in an extension at the back.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 17 October 2003 10:17 (twenty-two years ago)

1923, which doesnt sound very old, but remember that 20 years earlier i was all sod huts.

― anthony easton (anthony), Friday, 17 October 2003 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

either 99yrs or 101, i forget which, so i lose.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 17 October 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

well, this isn't exactly fair to americans, canadians, or the anzacs now is it? unless one of us lives in a pueblo or one of the maya pyramids or something.

anyway, my parents' home is 120 years old

― Little Big Macher (llamasfur), Friday, 17 October 2003 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Ours is a 1920s bungalow-It still has an actual icebox!!

― adaml (adaml), Friday, 17 October 2003 15:03 (twenty-two years ago)

As of sometime this last spring, the house I grew up in is 260 years old.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 17 October 2003 15:03 (twenty-two years ago)

well actually i forgot my lovely holiday cottage, so perhaps i win after all!!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 17 October 2003 15:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno how old my house is, but it is grade 2 listed.

― Matt (Matt), Friday, 17 October 2003 15:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Less than 4 months old. Have I got the youngest house (OK, appartment) on ILX?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 17 October 2003 15:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I live around the corner from the oldest apartment building in Brooklyn (it says so on it). I'm not sure how old my house is, though.

― hstencil, Friday, 17 October 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

my house went up in 1796.

― mohammed abba (dubplatestyle), Friday, 17 October 2003 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

My house is probably from c. 1910 (hm, and I wonder if there's any way to find out beyond a title search -- the landlord didn't seem to know), which is when a lot of the houses in my neighborhood were put up, but I could be off by 20 years in either direction and not be totally shocked.

Three bedrooms, one bathroom; how could they stand it?!

― Chris P (Chris P), Friday, 17 October 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

1649 owned by the Quakers

― kayT (kaytee), Friday, 17 October 2003 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Yup, your house probably is older than my house. Exception is Dom's house, which is jaw-droppingly young.

My house was completed in 1968. Ergo, for the math challenged, Casa Deanna is 35 years old. It's practically a newborn compared to a great many houses mentioned in this thread, but not a brand new house.

― Many Coloured Halo (Dee the Lurker), Friday, 17 October 2003 19:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Mine's from, 1911, which is hella old for California. No icebox but it does have flour/sugar bins in the kithen (where cabinets would normally be) and natural gas outlets (plain iron pipes) in the living room and back bedroom.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 17 October 2003 21:26 (twenty-two years ago)

1953, which indeed is pretty young compared to many British and European residences.

― j.lu (j.lu), Friday, 17 October 2003 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

1918 which is actually pretty old in Colorado, all the mechanical stuff has been replaced but I still notice new cracks in the plaster on a weekly basis.

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Friday, 17 October 2003 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

1896 (107 years, pretty good for san francisco - survived both earthquakes and the fire)

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 17 October 2003 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Most of the stone three-flats on my street are from 1904-1907, but this is a wooden house, probably built to match the rest much later. It's not too creaky and not too drafty. I can't imagine how unpleasantly "quirky" a 200 yr old house must be.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Saturday, 18 October 2003 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

leopold of kate & leopold to thread!

― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 18 October 2003 01:15 (twenty-two years ago)

1929. My parents were mortified when we bought it, but given what passes for 'construction' these days, I've never had any regrets.

We still have the boiler/radiators (way inefficient but still the most comfortable heating method around), put in (ductless) central A/C this past summer. Old houses roXor, generally speaking.

― Jeff Wright, Saturday, 18 October 2003 02:49 (twenty-two years ago)

My house is all redwood framing, and the floor joists are as true as when it was built. It'll probably outlast the crappy pine houses being built today. Which is not to say I don't have a lot of maintenance work I need to do.

― nickn (nickn), Saturday, 18 October 2003 05:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Just over a hundred years old, but I mostly grew up in what had started as a 17th Century coaching inn, over 350 years old.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 18 October 2003 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Our house was built around 1950 and we're only the second family to live in it.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Saturday, 18 October 2003 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

This house = circa 1910.

Last house = circa 1870.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 18 October 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Last house (in NYC) was c. 80 years old, and is still standing, assuming the present tenants haven't blown it down.

Mum's current house is an embryo (built within the last year)

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Saturday, 18 October 2003 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

My neighborhood was settled by mobsters in the 1920s. The house dates to 1922 and has lots of secret compartments - I think the original owner may have been a bootlegger!

― Kerry (dymaxia), Saturday, 18 October 2003 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

1915 - Definately the oldest house in our suburban Detroit neighborhood (Ferndale). Icebox, steam heat, and a ton of maintenance.

― BrianB, Sunday, 19 October 2003 02:12 (twenty-two years ago)

1920s I think, that's pretty old for New Zealand.

― Elisabeth (Elisabeth), Sunday, 19 October 2003 06:31 (twenty-two years ago)

house is from 1902
its the only house in the street thats not renovated.
you can recognise it from miles ahead.

i still have the plaster ceilling with small ornaments.

very small.

― eriik, Sunday, 19 October 2003 09:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I can outdo yall: 16th/17th century. HURRAH! :-) It's actually my parents' house which still needs to be renovated.

― nathalie (nathalie), Sunday, 19 October 2003 10:49 (twenty-two years ago)

My last house was built around 1880 and it used to be an orphanage and had an impish 19th-century ghost who used to turn my lights on and off and play with the volume on my record player. It was all sooty stone with a turret and a stained-glass window and carved lion heads. The place I live in now is a horrible, ugly white apartment building with a stinky elevator and no history at all. I hate it so much.

― kirsten (kirsten), Monday, 20 October 2003 02:01 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

[ADMIN - spambot-generated nonsense deleted - please do not waste your time responding to spambots!]

― µØ°å, Sunday, 2 April 2006 13:42 (nineteen years ago)

What are those, hieroglyphics? You win!

― StanM (StanM), Sunday, 2 April 2006 16:52 (nineteen years ago)

Our house was built in 1957. pretty old for these parts. I'd love to have something built in the 16th century.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Sunday, 2 April 2006 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

six years pass...

Ours was built in 1929. I'm losing it though, because my family offered to help cover repairs but won't because of the "embarrassment".

My brother said if I want it, get a job that pays more and stop embarrassing him. He says this about my own father.

My mother is useless, she always the house. I said to my brother I worked really hard studying historic homes but when I got sick I couldn't do it anymore, and he said, "who gives a shit about ugly dirty historic homes."

I had plans for fixing it up, but I have to accept that my cultural values don't predominate.

― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Italo Night at Some Gay Club (Mount Cleaners), Thursday, 29 November 2012 13:55 (thirteen years ago)

The house I'm renting is an orphanage from 1850. There are old paintings of downtown Toronto with the house in it. It is not of Heritage designation and is frankly falling down. The basement looks like the end of "The Pianist". I had to get a floor fixed and asked the contractors what they'd do if they owned the house, and they unanimously said "tear it down and rebuild".

― a funny thing happened on the way to the forum (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 29 November 2012 14:50 (thirteen years ago)

I got that response from contractors about my house too. It's a 1940 beach cottage with numerous structurally and architecturally dubious add-ons by the previous owner. I spent some time in the crawlspace yesterday, insulating some ductwork. I also checked out the new support pillars that we had put in. About a year ago, a contractor was under there for a completely different reason and noticed that one of our pillars was just an old piece of driftwood.

― how's life, Thursday, 29 November 2012 15:06 (thirteen years ago)

I don't know why they didn't bring that to our attention during the goddamned inspection.

― how's life, Thursday, 29 November 2012 15:07 (thirteen years ago)

1916!

It is like taking care of a 100 year old baby, but we love it, it is so little and cozy and has *character*.

― quincie, Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:14 (thirteen years ago)

The house I grew up in dates to 1903, not "old" for anywhere but most of America. I wonder when my current apartment building is from and how I would find out....

― grossly incorrect register (in orbit), Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:18 (thirteen years ago)

Did anyone else get good stuff when you bought (or moved into) your old-ass house? I got this amp as well as a box full of these ball jars, among other things.

― how's life, Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:25 (thirteen years ago)

over 100 years old, i think.

― Heterocyclic ring ring (LocalGarda), Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:27 (thirteen years ago)

A neat old hexagonal tin full of old keys, some with those little metal-rimmed labels attached to them but many with nothing.

Several patent medicine bottles and silver spoons found buried in the gardens. Also, gallons and gallons of little collected polished stones, tumbled by a previous old lady owner and used to line the flower beds and then turned under years of soil.

A walking cane, red lacquer.

I can't remember what else...several pieces of artwork with the house in them incl a water color painting, and a model of the facade constructed in a bottle, like an old ship.

― grossly incorrect register (in orbit), Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:31 (thirteen years ago)

A model of the facade of the building?

― how's life, Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:35 (thirteen years ago)

Yep! it's not the whole building, it's like embedded into the side of the square bottle and only shows the front exposure and some gardens/yard around it with a painted backdrop. But it's p neat.

― grossly incorrect register (in orbit), Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:36 (thirteen years ago)

That's so cool!

― how's life, Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:37 (thirteen years ago)

The house belonged to a big estate, it's not very fancy really compared to other old houses but it was on a lot of land and the two different families of owners were key figures in developing the area & making the scene in these parts. We've lived there for 30 years and it's still "the McMurray house," just for instance.

― grossly incorrect register (in orbit), Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:39 (thirteen years ago)

There is some old graffiti in the basement of my place. It says: "Richard is a nutball!"

― a funny thing happened on the way to the forum (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:48 (thirteen years ago)

so, 12th century?

― Shane Richie Junior (Merdeyeux), Thursday, 29 November 2012 17:51 (thirteen years ago)

ours is 1913 - 100 years old next year!

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 29 November 2012 18:40 (thirteen years ago)

this thread makes my 1948 house seem like a little baby house

― i dream of booze pinata (jjjusten), Thursday, 29 November 2012 18:47 (thirteen years ago)

how's life, what did you do with the amp?

― fun loving and xtremely tolrant (Billy Dods), Thursday, 29 November 2012 18:52 (thirteen years ago)

I decided to keep it. However, one of my wife's chihuahua's chewed through the power cord and I haven't had time/money to go get that fixed yet. : /

― how's life, Thursday, 29 November 2012 18:56 (thirteen years ago)

chihuahuas

― how's life, Thursday, 29 November 2012 18:57 (thirteen years ago)

My house is really weird. It was custom-built in 2000 and it has PHONE JACKS in almost every room.

http://i1204.photobucket.com/albums/bb417/mikepl92/jags.gif

― pplains, Thursday, 29 November 2012 19:23 (thirteen years ago)

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