A series of entries designed to capture the ongoing adventures of NINA! See how we came to be where we are today, and follow along as we enter the new century of social media!
Page: 48We’ve added a new interior staircase into the basement at 115 Sigourney Street. This was mostly for our convenience right now, but we expect it will be super convenient for the future homeowner. While we were at it, we also framed out the new half bath that will go here. For your visual reference, this is looking into the northwest corner of the house, where the office kitchen used to be.
As part of ConnDOT’s effort to prepare for a possible project to fix or replace the Interstate 84 Viaduct through Hartford, ConnDOT has been assembling a federally required Environmental Impact Study. This study includes a cultural impact component; not surprisingly, that component covers the very real possibility of losing historic structures near the viaduct, but it also covers the possible existence of archaeological sites. And who knew, but 80 Hawthorn has been determined to have a very slight potential to be an archaeological site!
It turns out that 80 Hawthorn sits within the historical flood plain of the Park River, and as such it was fertile agricultural land that was used by the Suckiaug before either Thomas Hooker or Jacob van Curler laid claim to land along the Park. The Suckiag used the flood plain seasonally: following the spring floods, they would farm the land, and then they would move to higher ground following the growing season.
In all likelihood, any artifacts left behind would have been washed away by the seasonal floods, but it’s very important that we investigate the possibility thoroughly. To that end, ConnDOT’s archaeological consultants came out today to assess the site and to determine the best points at which to drill test bores deep into the soil beneath the old parking lot.
The consultants will be back in a week or so to drill the test bores. We’re really looking forward to the results!
The final touches: a view of the newly finished study, and a view of the newly installed front walk. In case you're wondering, no grass: the homeowner plans a small urban farm (or a large home garden) that will include crops in the front yard as well as the back.
It's not really all that dramatic, but it is one of the last things we need to install before we can declare "House!"
This was very cool to come across today. We believe Lime Bikes is a terrific program, and we take this bike here at 207 Garden Street as a positive sign that the program is working as intended.
This view looks eastward from the dining area into the kitchen. You can see where everything will go now: the unpainted areas represent where cabinets and appliances will go. And you can now see what the hardwood floors look like, as they've been stained according to the homeowner's request.
We were down at SINA today, and while we were there we dropped by their latest project on Wolcott Street. This two-family is part of a multi-property project on Wolcott Street that includes both new construction and historic restorations.
For more information on SINA, check them out here.
Full disclosure: the blogger here is a proud resident of Frog Hollow.
As we’re starting to get toward the end of the line on 52 Huntington Street, we’ve started preparing to enshrine 52 Huntington Street both here on our web site on its dedicated project page and also there on presentations and reports we’ll make for current and future funders. This is always a fun process as we go through the photos, see how the project progressed, and assemble the best of them here and there.
Our houses on Huntington Street, however, don’t really have great before shots, since “before” they were just a vacant lot. Before that, though, they were a very large building of condominiums, and what do you know, we found a picture of that! If you look closely, you can match up the driveway in this picture with the current driveway for 52 Huntington Street – that’s the best landmark, because we used the existing curb cut for our driveway.
But that tree with the yellow leaves is much, much more interesting – it marks the northern boundary of what is now 54 Huntington Street, and if you go back and look at some of the photos of 54 Huntington we’ve put online, not only is the tree still there, but so is the right angle in the tree!
As for the condos, there was a fire, which led to the condition of the buidling seen in this photo, and then the building was demolished by the City. After that, it was bought by a local non-profit, Broad-Park Development Corporation, which planned to develop it but ultimately sold it to the Asylum Hill Congregational Church. AHCC then donated it to NINA, but we've already covered that!
We poked up on a Saturday to get you an update on how the painting is going. The homeowner has selected more interior colors, and we've also started to construct the front porch. And, we included a view of the seldom seen rear of the house!
A quick peek inside -- more paint, and we also opened up the study on the first floor to let more sunlight in.
