I could happily move into this house tomorrow. The millwork is gorgeous! I didn't see a price on the web site. Do you know and would you share?

I think this is mostly pretty good. I think the kitchen is a serious misstep and the bathrooms are kind of meh...

There's a big difference between 1880 and 1810 though when it comes to sourcing and availability.

Having been through two smallish renovations of apartments in 1830s buildings I can tell you that it's not for the faint hearted. I got lead poisoning in the first renovation, and in the second I ended up duplicating some of the millwork rather than stripping and patching (there was much more damage). The simple plaster cornice in the second reno was billed out by the Inch. I would not have been able to afford to duplicate the missing section of cornice in the first apartment. Simplified versions of the original doors (which had a panel layout and scale close to nothing off the rack) were $1000 a pop.

I extrapolate from my somewhat limited experience that a full renovation of a really distressed Single Room of the Federal period could easily top $100,000 even if it's not that elaborate. And this is to get a painted, correct-looking shell, no heavy décor. I can understand why, in the other thread it was probably less expensive to have even a high profile firm like Jacobsen do what they do with their expensive minimalist details.

I do hope this was a labour of love without the goal of getting his money out of the restoration work that he did.

I have to admit I don't appreciate the quality of the woodwork and the value of it in an historic context. That may come from my own desire to not want or have that type of detail in my own home. However, if I were to make an offer it would include the area rugs. Those are stunning.

Most he salvaged from nearby homes of nearly the same era being torn down for infill

It makes restoration much easier ... in DC there are few 1810 Federal pieces available as salvage. It all becomes 100% custom woodworking and plaster work.

I'm in a smaller version of that dilemma now ... I can either pay someone to come from 3 hours away to repair the original plaster at a rate of $$/sq ft or I can pay local craftsmen to do a modern materials look-alike for a lot less.

I could certainly liver there happily. The wood trim is spectacular (*drools over the baseboards* - why are the casings in my house so simple???? Come on 1930's mill-workers homes!!!)

I think the kitchen is fine. A little cottage-y. But nice. The big thing for me, though, is that the floors don't look original. That kills me.

Just out of curiosity--pardon my ignorance--What is infill?

Infill housing is when you take an existing piece of property and rearrange it so that you now have two family units on it. For example - in this case there was a single family dwelling already on the property and another dwelling (coach house in this case) was added at the back of the property for another family unit.

Municipalities vary in the zoning by-laws for this type of housing and can be quite strict as one of the goals is to maintain the feeling of a SF neighbourhood.

Rezoning property from single-family to multi-family does not generally count.

I thought it was a lovely house. The only things I didn't like were the kitchen backsplash (made me dizzy) and some of the bedroom furnishings were too heavy and large for the rooms. I loved the baseboard and crown. The stair case in the DR area - beautiful!

Fun2behere - it is listed at just under $1.3M I think.

Agree it isn't perfect (nor finished, as he opted not to bother updating the kitchen), but he's done a pretty great job imo, and significantly increased the value of the property. Definitely a labour of love though.

I'm certain this is much easier to do than an 1810 house. Or an old European house. Perhaps that is why you see so many old European villas and homes updated in a very modern way - there is virtually no way to keep it true to period.

"Infill" can also be defined as using existing vacant land within a city or town as a building site. For example, on a street lined with Italianate houses, one or two may have burned or been otherwise destroyed. Someone wants to live in that area. They buy the vacant land and build a house on it. The key is to build a house that harmonizes with the existing structures.