TOPIC: Historic 1860 Carriage House

I LOVE doing inspections on old, historic homes in Alexandria, Virginia.

The city is so full of history, virtually everywhere you go.

Over the years I have done many inspections on many historic homes there.

Yesterday was no exception.

This is a carriage house to a mansion directly behind.  It was built in 1860.  While nobody could tell me who the owner(s) of the mansion were over the years, it was fun nonetheless to have a look at the place.

While a bit hard to see in this photo, there have been many repairs to the brick work over the decades.  There has been settling.

There were serious repairs evident in the crawl space below.  Everything appeared to have been done very well.

While there were a few things to bring up on the report, nothing too severe to be easily fixed.

The buyer wants to do remodeling too, so some of the things can be done when that is underway.

Next to this house there is one of the two original cobblestone streets preserved by the city.  It is fun to walk on them and know they have been there a long time.

Doing the inspection was a pleasure.

This is what you see looking out a rear bedroom window.

The house on the left is the historic mansion for which this is the carriage house.  It is located on a famous thoroughfare in Alexandria.

The house on the right, I was told, is Robert E. Lee's childhood home.  His front door faces the mansion. You can see that when his house was built, they had duplexes!

From this angle you cannot see how pretty the back yard is.  It is narrow and long and a little park.

The walls surrounding it are eight feet high.

They have been there a while too.

This is the view of the side of the house.  It shows the pathway between the two houses, all the way to the mansion seen behind, about 50 yards away.

Question:

Look carefully and you can see four stars.

WHAT ARE THEY FOR?

Home inspectors probably will know what they do.

Hint:  The stars are NOT decorative!

Hint: There are four more stars on the other side directly opposite these.

Hint:  You will not find them on new structures.

You can pick this little puppy up for just under $1 million!  Well, that is, if the new buyer is willing to sell.  Likely he is not.  But who knows?  Maybe you can cut him a deal.

My recommendation:  When you purchase an old, historic property, try to find out the history.  That will make the whole experience come alive.  Who knows who slept in your bedroom!

That's incredible Jay!  I love that area, I've been there twice when I was a kid.  Dad took me out to Antietam, early one morning, there was a heavy fog...and we just stood there, thinking about that battle.  Even for me at 13 years old, it was easy to grasp the gravity of what happened there.  Very moving...
I'm not sure about the stars...drainage?

Old homes are great. There are very few homes around me more than 50 years old , let alone 150!

Does it have anything to do with the stars placement? It looks like they are perfectly between the two floors. Looks like something is sticking out of them too.

The stars are stuctural.  They are attached to rods, and called various things, but mostly wall washers (also referred to as: wall anchors, brick anchors, tie plates, iron tie-rod plates, earthquake bolts, pattress plates, or gib plates).  They actually hold the house together to prevent lateral movement and bulging as the structure wants to spread over time.  They can go side to side or back to front.  I see all types.

Here is a link to a blacksmith in Baltimore who produces authentic reconstruction materials to replace these types of things if they should rust or wear out.

thecasthouse.com/About%20Cast%20House%20...l%20Forge%20page.htm

At the bottom of the page click on wall washers and you will see various styles.  I have seen many types from acorns to diamonds to squares to flowers to initials to florets.  They were used primarily in the 1700's and 1800's.  Very historical and representative of those eras.

What got me that inspection is a previous post I did about a very old historical Alexandria row house, 1808.  I have a photo of it in my gallery too.  It is an interesting photo, check it out.  A realtor found it, who has never used me before, and called.  He didn't trust his home inspector to do the house.  I have long experience with historical homes.  His search found my site!  I get a bunch every week from my website.  I no longer go around to pass out brochures at realty offices.  Almost no need to do that.  Such a time user!

Very cool Jay!  Structure was what I was going to go with, but it looked from your picture that the star was hollowed, so I thought maybe some kind of plumbing drain or drain for the brick.  Looked at the blacksmith's site as well, things you don't see around here.  Sure, we've got 100+ year old homes, but most of them are dilapidated and hardly worth fixing up.