the internet can be a wonderful place
and a person from r st louis on reddit
reached out to me and invited me to come
look at his amazing victorian house in
the benton park neighborhood this house
has four bedrooms three baths and over 3
500 square feet and was built in 1889.
let's go see what's inside
[Music]
so
[Music]
we've just walked inside and one of the
first things that really catches us is
this leaded stained glass window now
this is believed to have been original
to the house
and we can also see the original
hardware here and let's actually take a
closer look at this we can see a floral
motif there's also a cross that's hidden
in there as well and that might have
been something that the original owner
would have requested of the designer
because they might have had significance
to them now above here is a transom
window and we can see that it is
reinforced by cast iron and this is also
leaded stained glass
and the ceilings in here are about 12
foot tall now as we start to move
through the stair hall we come to a
giant newel post
and this has a daisy motif on the top of
it it also has columns going down on
either side there are shingles on top of
the roof line here it's almost like a
little building so that's something that
we haven't really seen yet as we've been
exploring these homes
now as we look up there are these
corbels supporting an archway and the
archway is actually finished on the
underside and scored so that it's fluted
which is another detail we haven't seen
yet while we were exploring the greece
lake family home
we saw that it was just plaster work
above so there weren't ornate details
that were kind of encapsulating the
space let's continue now into the parlor
and we will pass through this passageway
now above me is fretwork that is
believed to be original to the house it
has a fleur-de-lis motif
and this would have originally had a
pocket door on it though that has been
since removed and closed off so come on
in here
as we start to explore the space we
start to see these really amazing
details there's a semi-circular dual
hung window up here and that is leaded
stained glass also original to the house
and then it does not still have its
shutters but it does still have the
encasements for them
the next detail that really catches our
eye is this fireplace so this is also
original to the house it's cast iron
we can see that the marble has been
updated but it looks like it still has
the original mosaic tile rug that
borders around the fireplace around so
let's really take a look at this here
and as we look up
it has the original plaster medallion
and that most likely would have had a
chandelier suspended from it at one
point however it looks like it has been
closed off in more recent years
and before we leave the space there's
another detail that surrounds this room
so we have trim that delineates the top
of the ceiling and more than likely
there would have been wallpaper or
stenciling between the two trim pieces
on the wall at one point whenever the
house was originally built
and then we can also see that the theme
of floating continues if we look up the
very top piece of trim that's actually
on the ceiling we can see that it is
fluted all the way until the stoppers
where it turns and rounds corners so
that's something that we're going to be
seeing throughout this house is this
theme of fluting so come on through here
and we are now going to pass into the
dining room before we even pass into the
dining room i want to take a moment to
point out the pocket doors so these are
original to the house and we can see
that it has these old growth rings and
ripples that kind of go throughout the
grain of the wood
and this is just not something that can
really be replicated if you do this with
new wood it's just not going to have
this kind of spacing on it so i'm going
to go ahead and tuck this back into the
wall here and let's start exploring the
rest of the dining room
[Music]
over on this side of the room we have
another fireplace this is very similar
in style to the one that we just saw in
the parlor
now as we can see this is actually in a
bay window but this is not at 45 degrees
like most of the homes we've seen this
is opened up a little bit more a little
more flat a little bit more intimate
because it kind of hugs to the side of
the room here
now if we look up and we saw this in
caleb's house when the second empire
strikes back
we can see that it has very similar
molding as it caps up above the rest of
the encasement now up on the ceiling is
another plaster medallion it's very
ornate also believed to have been
original to the house suspended from it
is a chandelier that has been added in
more recent years and of course let's
not forget to look down so this house
does have its original hardwood floors
on the first level and then it also has
these amazing grates and this is not
really something we've been seeing yet
either are grates in the floor so i'm
not sure if this was added at a later
date or if this could have been original
to the house if you know please just let
me know down in the comments i'm very
curious about this so come on around
here there is another entry and this
probably would have been the entry that
was used by the servants to bring food
out because the main staircase is
actually right around the corner here
and we will get to that in a moment but
first let's go explore the rest of this
house now now off to my side here is an
entryway that's going to take us out to
the side of the yard and we'll explore
that in just a moment now come on
through here this is the first time
we're now seeing a swivel door so this
could be used to shut off the room to
maintain heat and that's something that
would have been done back when the house
was originally built so as we walk
through here the space has been
converted this is where the kitchen is
now we can actually see on the floor
where an old wall would have been and
this would not have been load bearing so
back when this house was built if a wall
wasn't load bearing you could just put
it directly over the hardwood so we can
actually see the outline right here
we can see where maybe an ornate column
would have been or some sort of boxed
archway
and then we can see exactly where you
would have walked through
to get to the actual kitchen space so
this is the modern kitchen
[Music]
there are a few things i want to focus
on so even though it has been updated it
has its original french doors it has a
transom above and if we take a really
close look the hardware is really unique
it's pointed with a ball top so let's
just zoom in on that and see the
hardware here
walking on now we can see the maid
staircase and this is really ornate
actually for a main staircase we can see
that it now has another noodle post and
this does not match the newer posts that
we saw in the front of the house that's
a really curious detail
though it is still fairly ornate
a lot of thought was put into this
design even though this would have been
hidden away from guests so it's
it's very very curious why it is so
decorative and not simple
[Music]
now we've seen the entire first floor so
let's start to make our way upstairs but
before we get there there's one more
just amazing detail to point out in the
stair hall and i did not catch this
earlier there's this rounded piece of
woodwork here and we've seen rounded
pieces before and we know just how
expensive this would have been and how
much work would have been involved
in making something curved like this and
i've got a special treat for everybody
as we go upstairs we're going to really
look at the banister because we've never
seen anything quite like this the way
that the wood has been bent and grooved
is just
phenomenal craftsmanship let's go see
what's upstairs
[Music]
before we even get to the top of the
stairs we start to see how the molding
transitions to the landing now in a
modern house this would obviously be
angled
but we can see here that it curves and
we can actually see kind of how they
made this
because there are these grooves here
where we can see that they've been
stacked together in the same way that
you might make a keystone arch the
segments of wood have all been lined up
and placed together to create this arc
so that's just amazing
now this is part of the banister i was
talking about we can see that it's been
grooved and sanded smooth but then it
also rounds out and it has a post
centered on it off to the side of the
landing is another amazing detail we
have this angled wall piece
and above it is this old gasoline
hardware so we can actually pull this
out now originally a flame would have
come out of the top here so it would
have been like a candle and to turn it
on you just would have twisted this knob
it would have shot gas through and
ignited the flame
and voila you have light as we now make
our way through this stair hall we are
going to look at a few more details in
this space so here is that curved
banister that i was talking about the
amount of craftsmanship that goes into
this is just mind-boggling
if any of you watching have any idea how
this could have possibly been made
please let me know i have my suspicions
that maybe it was soaked and warped
into this but here's the part that's
really curious is once again it has this
grooving so it's not flat here it's all
rounded out and of course this is
actually in a couple sections so there
is a line right here that shows us that
this piece is separate from this piece
but still how to get this curve in one
piece of wood
i'm a little mind-boggled so please if
you know anything about this let me know
down below in the comments because i am
very very curious about how this could
have possibly been crafted
[Music]
off to this side of the stair hall is
the entrance to the master now above
this it does have a really interesting
transom there are carved flowers and
petals
that kind of dance around in the light
here so let's just take a moment to
really see this detail
[Music]
walking into the master bedroom there
are some details that immediately catch
us now we saw this directly below us in
the living room or the parlor
the windows are the same basically so
they're both double hung they have the
let it stain glass above them on this
side it's absolutely original to the
house on this side it looks like it
might have been replaced or it could
just be in better condition i'm not
completely sure
so that's not really a known thing and
then of course it has the same cubbies
here to hide the shutters
now over on this side it does have the
original fireplace and mantel they've
both been painted over but we can see
right here something really special it
has its original cast iron inset and
this continues with that daisy theme
that we've been seeing throughout this
entire house
passing out of the master there's this
amazing
old pocket door and we can see that it
still has its original hardware this is
really fairly intricate
and come on over here i want to show you
this so there's a button that we can
press and that opens and closes the
latch here and that's super convenient
that's a lot better than trying to dig
it out with your nails
as we've seen in some of the other
houses so the fact that it actually has
this mechanism to release it
really ingenious and fantastic i'll go
ahead and just kind of finish tucking
this into the wall now there are two
closets one on either side here just
kind of framing out the space it makes
it feel extra grand right here so we can
go ahead and start walking this way and
this is going to take us into kind of a
pass-through area which is not original
to the home well this area is original
to the home but the closet that's off to
this side would have probably originally
been a pass over to the mains hall and
then there's a smoking porch right here
so we can go ahead and go out here and
just see out here from the other side of
the door we can see that it used to have
a transom that's been boarded up but we
can see that it still has the original
archway in brick above it so that's a
really awesome feature that's been
preserved even though it's no longer
functional passing through this space we
now come to the master bathroom and of
course this would have originally most
likely been a bedroom that's been
retrofitted into a bathroom
and the owner has told me that they have
plans to completely redo this space so
there's really not much in here that's
original to point out so let's just kind
of keep moving through here
passing out of the bathroom i'm now
going to show you what would have
originally been the bathroom so right
now this is set up as a laundry room but
back when the house was constructed this
most likely would have been an actual
bathroom in this house and we are
actually in the maids portion of the
house right now so we can see once again
that other new post that we saw down by
the kitchen
and then this very ornate banister and
up here is a double paned window there
is stained glass on the far side and
it's clear on this side and that's going
to offer a lot of insulation both of
these are original and this is just some
of that really curious and very
ingenuous detailing that we've seen
now i had mentioned over on the master
closet that that probably was not
original so this is the framework that
proves that there is a newer wall that
has been put right here but this most
likely would have originally gone
straight through to that smoking porsche
that we saw and up this flight of stairs
is the main staircase once again going
to the third floor and that would have
originally been the maids hall but we're
not going to go up there and see that
today instead i'll show you the old real
estate photos from before the owner
acquired this house speaking of let's go
meet him and talk to him about his
experiences with this house
[Music]
peter it has been such a pleasure to
tour your home thank you so much for
opening up the doors for us it's
actually a pleasure to show the house
off it's it's
it's truly a much more glorious house
than i thought i was going to get when i
was moving back to st louis it's really
really beautiful and very happy in it
so when you were moving back here what
drew you to this exact house um well it
was a combination of um well it was a
combination of how beautiful house was
and the fact that i could get a good
deal on it i had a motivated seller that
we actually met with and not his real
estate agent and i made a a price that
was about 90 of what he was asking and
he just said yes at that time so
otherwise i would have still been in
this particular part of town um i was
looking
at lafayette square was was really the
ideal area but uh but this house would
have cost about 50 more there as i've
mentioned uh fox park uh tower grove
east or other areas i was looking
because i wanted this kind of house and
that's amazing that you were able to
find this because there are so many
original details in here so what is it
like living in a house like this um if
you're all by yourself it's too much
house
um i've got a daughter she'll be moving
out soon but i am
engaged to be remarried to my ex-wife
and she's gonna be moving in uh so that
makes it a lot more homey i mean one
thing about a house like this
is it's extremely grand
but it's not cozy uh so
if you're all by yourself in a house
that's this big
you wind up in very few rooms and the
rest of the house is kind of like it's
beautiful and if i'm gonna throw a
dinner party or or something like that
it'd be great but but uh
but another thing is obviously
neighborhood i mean the neighborhood is
really terrific and
it's got so many
great restaurants that are in well
depending on you turn your your ver your
idea of walking distances uh my
daughter's idea of walking distance is
one block is too far but uh but i mean
if you want to do breakfast you've got
egg that's right here you've got
shameless grounds you've got mud house
um if you're gonna go out in the evening
peacemaker is right back there truman's
unfortunately closed you've got soulard
right over there yamanja brazil cherokee
is close by it's really a wonderful
neighborhood it's the kind of place that
um that you don't see in more spread out
american cities uh so and it's it's one
of the features of st louis that i think
is terrific and i mean i think blue city
deli is right up the block
you know which is st louis's favorite
sandwich restaurant with good reason but
then there's a lot of other places that
are that are close by that are also good
so the neighborhood is really good it's
really convenient neighborhood walking
dog in lafayette park is really easy
it's just a really good location
well i'm so happy for you that you have
this magnificent house in such a
walkable and very densely populated
neighborhood with so many amazing
restaurants and amenities just in
walking distance
this is not something that we see in a
lot of newer cities and newer planned
communities so whenever we find this in
these older neighborhoods it's something
to really cherish and to really kind of
put your interest back into
because this is not something that can
just be replicated out in the suburbs
this is something that was designed to
be walkable from the very beginning
and the fact that people are still
enjoying it almost 200 years later
just speaks volumes to the design and
the quality of these homes and
neighborhoods so peter i want to thank
you so much again for allowing us into
your house and it was my pleasure
power of reddit peter is also a
filmmaker and director make sure to
check out his short film the dryad tree
here on youtube we'll put the link down
in the description when you're over
there leave a comment and let them know
that this house sent you
thank you everyone again for watching
please make sure to like comment share
and subscribe i'll see you next time on
this house
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so
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you