hi everyone my name is ken welcome to this house
today we are in the fox park neighborhood exploring an 1886 italian eight
we were invited out here to check out this private residence by a lovely couple on r
st louis on reddit let's take a moment to see the outside before we go inside and explore
we've just walked inside of this house and one of the first things that really catches us
is the historic front door so we can notice how there are nine panels laid out below the
window and above that is a transom window that is encased by ornate millwork directly in front of us
is a staircase that winds up to the side to the second floor landing and we'll go explore that in
just a little while shifting our focus back down there's a very elaborate new post here
we can see that it's rounded on top and then it has rosettes on all four faces
and then fluting that goes down the center of it
as we explore this house we're going to see some other really unique features and that's because
this house was designed and lived in by thomas f marley an architect who designed residential
homes in st louis in the late 1800s so this house was built in 1886 and he actually lived
here so to show off to his clientele he included some details that were not so common in this era
just to showcase what he could do so if we take a closer look at this banister we can actually see
how it curves and wraps down towards the noodle post and we can also see how it was constructed
because here we can clearly see the segmented piece of wood showing that the banister would
have been built in the house and sanded down in several blocks until it finally met the shape
and of course these spindles are also fairly elaborate as well
we can see their different shapes as they go all the way up the staircase
and to add to all of the different architectural elements in this house
at the end of the stair hall is a rounded arch and the arch that we're about to pass through to go to
the parlor is a segmented arch so let's walk on in here and immediately this space starts to open up
we can see that it has two windows in the front both with millwork that matches the millwork
around the front door and then there's only one on the side of the fireplace
now crossing to the opposite side of the room is a very special fireplace so this is iconic
of the italianate style we can see that it has tapered legs that come down to the floor
as well as a rounded archway opening where the original cast iron inset would have been
now this fireplace is solid cast iron so it would be considered period accurate
to have it painted as it would have always been intended to be painted
in earth tones such as terracottas blues greens or even whites or browns
moving along from the parlor we're now going to cross into the dining room
underneath this grandiose trefoil arch so come on through here
now walking into the dining room there are some details worth pointing out
so of course the architect who designed this place wanted to maximize ventilation
while also increasing aesthetics so once again we see another window
just on one side of where the fireplace would have been now directly across from the arch where we
entered is another really large window once again the millwork matches the millwork that we saw
in the first two rooms and this would allow for cross ventilation as it goes into the living room
and the window appears to be centered to the space now something really interesting is there is a
cutout that comes out at an angle on this side of the room and this allows for there to be a back
entryway and if you were to continue around here you would get to the kitchen we've seen everything
that we're now going to see on the first floor at the owner's request we're going to skip the
kitchen which is right behind me and we're going to head upstairs so let's go on up here
as we make our way up these stairs we can pause as it starts to turn towards the stair landing
the rounded mill work is seamless as it comes up here so let's just take a moment to see this
and before we arrive at the top of the stair landing there's one more incredible detail to
point out of course this house was designed by an architect and not just your average craftsman
so the classical principles of architecture were applied to the design of this home
if we look at the trim piece here it lines up with the center point
of the spindle and that's just not something that we see a lot in old italianate homes
as they would have just been designed by lay people and then decorated as they saw fit this
one actually applies geometrical principles so let's come on up the stairs and continue exploring
arriving at the top of the stair hall landing we can now take a moment to look at the secondary
newel posts that are present here so of course the banister comes out at a right
angle and connects to the wall allowing for there to be a more open void here in the stair hall to
make the space feel a lot larger and where the banister meets the wall if we look down below
we can see how the baseboard also curves to start going from horizontal to vertically oriented
in looking around we can see that the mill work up here still matches the mill work that we saw
on the first floor and of course this house was a show house so it would have been very uncommon
for the layperson's house to have had millwork that was this extravagant on the second floor
because usually guests would not have seen this now as we pass into the owner's bedroom we're
going to see more examples of this come on through here and as we look around this bedroom we can see
a former encasement for a fireplace that would have been here originally and of course that's
no longer in existence however the window that's on the side of the bed lines up with the window
next to the fireplace below once again speaking to the architectural character of this house now as
we look at the front-facing part of the bedroom we can see that instead of there being a large space
between the windows now they are closer together and this will allow for more natural light to
come in in the same angle centered to this side of the room is an opening for a dressing room
so let's go ahead and peek on in here there are these double french doors that are rounded at the
top which conceal a rounded window so if you were to close these you can see that there is privacy
glass to allow for a little bit more modesty while using the dressing room for its intended purpose
david and brooke i want to thank you both so much for opening up the doors to your house for us
can you tell us a little bit about what first drew you to this house you were the first one
to see it i was funny story this was the only house we looked at that we didn't
we weren't both there for the tour david was out of town but um when i came into the house
it just had a really good feeling and i loved the details of the archway and the natural light
in most of the rooms and the yard in the back is really nice as well for me it was a few specific
elements that really showed that there's a lot of stories to be told from this house the archways
the front windows upstairs very unique features that you don't often see in a lot of modern
construction so what is it like for you both to live in a house that's from 1886 in the year 2022
there are some things that you have to kind of work around definitely the construction's a
little bit different these are thick plaster walls versus a lot of sheetrock that's used nowadays
i would say overall though i really enjoyed it does seem like a very solid construction
it's quiet it insulates well yeah i think any house will have its quirks so it's just learning
to work with the materials that you have like the plaster walls and knowing that you know the
stone foundation and everything is pretty solid it's been here a long time so it'll stand the
test of time wonderful well i wish you both many happy years in this house and thank you again for
welcoming us here thank you everybody for watching i really hope that you enjoyed this tour
please make sure to like comment share and subscribe i'll see you next time on this house