When we bought our home we knew that the porch, which we now know the Fenton Land and Building Company called a veranda, had rot problems that had to be addressed. The porch was fine, see the pics below, but the rot was not.
The previous owner had given us some photos – one from the late 1920s (I can date the image because of the girl sitting outside – she is either a young Mary or Nancy Munro born in 1924 and 1927 respectively) and another from Christmas 1970 which is dated on the back. Looking at the two photos we could see that the original top parts of the porch pillars had been removed sometime before 1970 but the original bases were still there although removed by 2014 when the house was sold to the couple who sold it to us.
I found another photograph care of the NB Provincial Archives ca. 1912 of Alexandra St. where we can see the pillars. The same pillar bases were used on 25 and 31 Alexandra although the column shapes seem different – I have blown up the 1912 photo below.
We decided to take the opportunity and have the original pillars recreated and restore the façade of the house to its 1910 glory. The late 1920s photo became the most important archaeological evidence – it provided the scale and details for everything we did including where the railings would be placed. We also painted the porch pillars as they had been. While this caused a couple of neighbours to let me know they did not approve of painting wood, I am going for historical accuracy so painted they are. See pics of pillars being recreated below by Seaside Woodworks.
In fixing the rot, we also discovered that one of the concrete bases holding up a pillar had split like a decayed molar. A little concerning.
Before we moved to Saint John, I scoured Facebook marketplace and came across amazing ca. 1901 – nine years older than our home – railings made by the same company that supplied the lumber and stained glass for our home – Murray and Gregory. The railings were from a home just down the street from ours – likely from a balcony not a porch. Imagine my luck! I bought these bad boys and months later, after arriving in Canada and getting through quarantine, we set out in the dead of night to pick them up carrying them home on my convertible flatbed/dolly (one of the best purchases ever).
The Old House Guy blog once again came in handy. I learned a lot from him about railing height and how it needs to fall below the window and how to meet modern code. As you can see, we had to have some additional work done below the railings to make them safe. I love that we repurposed 120+ year old architectural features. Sadly when painting them I had them painted entirely cream until I relooked at the 1920s photo and realized that the spindles were a dark colour so that part had to be redone.
I also learned a lot about porch skirting from the Old House Guy blog – https://www.oldhouseguy.com/porch-skirting/. We scoured the neighbourhood to look for other historically accurate examples to model ours on and came up with both the design and colour placement. See a sample of porch skirting from New Brunswick Museum Archives – Fenton Land & Building Company, Canadian, founded 1910 – J. Kenneth Gillies, Canadian, 1894 – 1966 – Murray & Gregory Limited ? – blueprint: Fenton Land & Building Company, DeMonts Street, No. 2B, Ground Floor, 1912-1914 – paper – overall: 34.5 × 29 cm – Purchase, 1964 – 1:48 – 1964.155.2.2
You will note that our steps correspond to the width and number of steps found in the 1920s photo. I stressed a lot about bullnosing the sides or not – I could not believe that this is what my life came to. We did a lot of snooping in the neighbourhood to decide how to proceed. We went with bullnosing the sides. See example above from the architectural plans for a Fenton home on Demonts St – bullnosing appears to be part of the original plan suggesting that would make sense for our home too. We found these plans after we made our decisions so this was a nice confirmation.
As you can see in this photo – there was a beam that was used to hold the weight of the porch and went in to the foundation of the house.
I did not figure this out myself but am right chuffed to learn about historical construction methods from Seaside Woodworks. This helped us figure out the space from the porch floor to the door.
Look at the porch ceiling. All of the tongue and groove wood had to be removed and cleaned up. Despite being told it was rotted (a small part of it was) and needed to be replaced in its entirety, I squirreled it away where we dried it out then it was cleaned up and reinstated.
No additional trees were harmed in replacing the porch ceiling. Much like Shaughnessy nailing in the last spike in the railroad, I captured the last restored ceiling board being installed.
Look at these chic beaded edges discovered around our magnificent front door. We had no idea they existed until the paint was removed.
Check out the doorbell. When we moved into the house our ca. 1970s doorbell was damaged by the movers. I was not upset at all because I told them they could break anything except my stained-glass window. They made the correct choice. Consequently, we took the opportunity to install a stunning period appropriate doorbell – check this beautiful solid brass deco beauty out. I had it connected to an original ca. 1930s school bell – so now my husband can never say he did not hear the doorbell. It is impossible to not hear this beast.
Our friend felt we needed a period appropriate doorplate so he installed this lovely deco solid brass beauty that has lines that echo our light switch plates inside the house.
Finally, we had copper gutters installed to prevent against future rot. The nails in them are incredible.
Now that the porch is restored to its 1910 glory it seems so much larger and more inviting despite not having grown in size. The people who designed and built our home expertly considered scale and when key details were changed to the façade of the house it made things look out of proportion. We have taken the opportunity presented to us by rot to build on the good work of the former owners and return the house to its 1910 look.
The Munro daughters who lived in this house from the 1920s used to have an after-supper drink on the porch that they called their “juice” – and I can assure you I love keeping with this “juice” tradition sitting on the porch steps with a beverage of a suspect nature while reflecting on the history of our home and its former inhabitants.
Congratulations! Thank you very much for doing the right thing; for the original architect, the neighborhood, and restoration at large!
I so appreciate your commitment to restoring our architectural heritage
Great job! I really enjoyed reading the journey and love to your home!
The doorbell is a dream.
thank-you!
Where did you get that doorbell at?
Thanks for commenting. I bought the doorbell from England.
Such a beautiful job and your commitment to restore the porch to the true original is commendable! Congratulations!
I appreciate your feedback, thank-you. I feel so lucky to be here!