As of September 1, here’s the look at 1910 North 3rd. Our mason has completed the reconstruction of the two original chimneys. In recent years only one chimney has extended through the roof, but the column of brick existed for both, plus photographic evidence of the chimneys’ look. Next will be the shingles, going on this week.
J.D. Magee house from southeast, July 22, 2010, showing cypress columns removed in foreground.
The framer has really moved fast, and as you can see from yesterday’s photos, the roof is on–at least the felt part. The wraparound porch has been removed and will be reconstructed to be more like the original. The four majestic columns have been taken down for restoration and the capitals are safely inside the house. We’re currently getting prices on the painting. The new lead paint rules are something we’ll need to learn about. Shingles should be coming before too long.
J.D. Magee house from front, July 22, 2010
This morning took a tour with Blake Riley of Jeff Luther Construction of the fast-moving progress at the J.D. Magee home. The framers are going to town on the roof framing, and by next week the decking will be going on. Here’s some photos of the way it looked this morning. I remember when one of the rooms had 5 feet of debris in it.
We’re finally underway on the stabilization of Rosetyme. We had to remove the back 25% of the house because of the fire damage. When we did, we exposed an interior foundation that wasn’t the strongest, so things started moving around.
Blake Riley (left) and Charles Fowler, P.E. looked at the back wall foundation on March 23.
This will delay the framers starting on the roof for a while, while the engineer designs a foundation wall to go under the back wall (below) that will stabilize the rear of the house.
Now it will be necessary for our engineer to design a foundation wall to replace these pilings along the north side of the house, so the roof plate will be straight.
If you would like more information about this project of the Abilene Preservation League, or would like to know how you can help, please email us.
Here’s a photo of the J.D. Magee home at 1910 North 3rd St as of this morning. The damaged portion of the roof has been removed and the rooms have all been cleaned up. We had to remove the rear section of the house because of structural concerns, but the rest of it is sturdy. The framers will start soon putting a new “plate” around the top of the house to which the roof framing will attach. We’ll be putting some signs up before too long. Already the neighbors are excited about this stabilization… on its way to being a neighborhood anchor again.
