It’s been over two weeks since I posted about a big old abandoned farmhouse that is destined to be demolished.  Jim and I have been salvaging interior woodwork, doors and windows for use in a future project.  The first floor has been salvaged, and we’re working on the second floor as time allows.  During the process, I became obsessed with the idea of uncovering the dining room’s bay window which had been covered up sometime in the 1960’s with a new — and surprisingly uninsulated — sheetrock partition containing a single double-hung window.  While I could envision what it had originally looked like, I wanted to actually see it.
The following photos show the demolition of the partition — and the drastic change that the re-emergence of the original bay made to the room’s character:
This is the wall before I began. Note that the baseboard is pieced together in sections… it was made from the baseboard inside the bay beyond the wall.
With the graphically-cool but damaged 1960’s curtains out of the way, the horizontality of the window is more evident. The proportions remind me of what happens when photographs sometimes are distorted and stretched on a computer. Â The woodwork was painted a brown similar to the graining of the original woodwork.
Woodwork removed!
Sheetrock savagely attacked and removed!
Window removed! The curious rolling screen temporarily remains in a defeated slump.
With some minor modifications, the double-hung sash can be repurposed as a more normal-looking casement window when hinged vertically somewhere in the future.
More framing removed, but I forgot to bring a sledgehammer. The tall 2×4’s have since been salvaged, but I have not photographed the window since then. I will make an effort to post a final photo of this later.
This view shows how the outer casings and corner blocks were removed prior to building the partition.
Detail of wallpaper… likely from the 1940’s.
The room feels like it can breathe now, even if still a wreck. It must have been a wonderful window a century ago…
Two final glimpses of the bay window before it is stripped of its finery….
With more of the remaining partition studs out of the way the bay window can be more fully appreciated.
Just for fun (or at least my idea of fun) I placed the baseboards back into their original positions. It just felt like the right thing to do.
What a strange thing to do to a bay window!
Truly! Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something even weirder appears!
That is very strange to have covered up that space! I wonder if it was part of an effort to make it feel smaller and “cozier” in the trends after WW2 with small homes being more fashionable?
Or perhaps a misguided effort to decrease heating costs? Similar to the not-uncommon lower ceilings installed in homes originally with 9′ and 10′ ceilings?
Our last house had a drop-grid ceiling installed over the stairwell to the second floor. It turned a tall ceiling into a low, sloped tunnel. It was very odd. It was also one of the very first things to go when we moved in and started restoration!
Originally I thought that this bizarre alteration was all about heat loss. But the partition wasn’t even insulated! Now I’m inclined to think that it was merely about modernization — and creating more wall space for furnishings.
Your former stairwell is surely grateful that you liberated it from an angular drop-ceiling, as am I. Good work!
I think you’re right… it’s a wall space issue. The room looks so much better with the bay window open for all to see!
It really does look better! It’s a shame that the house was allowed to deteriorate, and even more of a shame that it will be demolished. We’re very happy that we were asked to save the woodwork; at least some of it will live on, even if in a different place and form.
Amazing how much bigger the room feels! Glad you were overtaken with the need – fun to see the deconstruction under way.
It really is amazing… the bay window projects about two feet from the house, yet it makes the room feel absolutely enormous compared to how it felt after being altered. There will be more deconstruction photos in the future…
I’ve added two more photos to show the bay window without the wall studs obscuring it…
What a beautiful bay window. Thank you for setting it free!
I’m so glad that others enjoy this! The best part is that we are saving all of the bay window so that it can be reconstructed elsewhere in the future; it’s just too nice to not keep intact!
This truly is baffling why you would want to have less space, less light, and much less character, even if it is for more wall space. I am reminded of the dozens of unfortunate rowhouses in my Philly neighborhood where the owners “modernized” the front by installing windows as much as 40% smaller and then filling the the space with unmatched brick… Or, just bricking in former windows entirely. All because they are too cheap to replace (or more accurately, repair) old windows with the custom size needed and using whatever they can buy of the shelf at the big box store.
Examples from my “secret” IG highlighting the alterations to South Philly rowhouses
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoUwPdNjmu9/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmnrnE_hhau/
The second link is funny – not only is there a much smaller window in the infill, but much of that new window is consumed by an air conditioner!
Old windows are wrongly disparaged for a variety of reasons. There is a lot of brain-washing out there by the replacement window industry which has convinced many that wood windows are bad. The truth, however, is that wood windows – if maintained and kept painted on the exterior – will outlive vinyl products. Vinyl windows won’t last for centuries as wood windows will if allowed to.
Repairing and maintaining wood windows is not difficult, but fewer homeowners today possess basic DIY skills than did those in the past.
Wow, those are bad, but I’m still impressed the space was infilled with actual brick! Around these parts, the old opening just gets framed in with lumber and that space filled with vertical-grooved plywood siding.
BTW, I enjoyed some of the other photos on that instagram account. The one with the little awning over the in-wall AC unit is actually kind of cute!
The Philadelphia Awning Club is inspiring! Your photos are fascinating. Good job, Devyn… I hadn’t looked until Seth’s comment (plywood is the material of choice for callous infills in my area, too).
Sometimes when they want to get really fancy, they will fill in the space with wood framing, and cover it in aluminum or vinyl siding in a contrasting color to the brick. I’ll keep my eye peeled for one of those to add to my Philadelphia Awning Club IG. 😊😊
I would feel compelled to rebuild the bay window in a new location.