This is an intriguing block of the Lewis Place neighborhood. It’s in relatively good shape, and by all means should command prices equal to that in the Central West End (a major leagues pitcher’s throw away from here), but yet, there’s that street, Delmar, in between.
Those funky rounded porches look to be original.
The boarded up house in the 2nd and third pictures: I wonder if there is anyone alive who remembers being a kid – playing on the third floor in that “turret”. Can someone give me a rough idea of the minimum amount of money it would take to make a house like this one just livable?
Including the purchase price, probably $100,000 at the very least, only if you do a good deal of work yourself. Given the size of the house, I am probably underestimating the cost by a good bit. It needs a new roof and some rebuilding to the fascia on the turret. The windows need reglazing (I do not believe vinyl windows should ever be put in a historic house), but the original, high quality windows are still in place, and you can repair them yourself or pay someone a chunk of change to do it for you. The electrical systems likely need to be brought up to code. HVAC is likely not functioning or so old that repair is difficult, so all that will have to be installed/replaced, preferably by a company experienced in historic houses that can run narrow ductwork in the walls. If the house has been vacant for any length of time, the plumbing has been ripped out of the walls and needs to be replaced. That leads to the bathrooms and kitchen, which are both likely disasters. Hopefully, there are some historic bathroom fixtures you can save some money on by reusing, but I would not count on that. Bathrooms and kitchens are ridiculously expensive, in my opinion. Hopefully, there are no water leaks from the roof (or ripped out plumbing), but if there are, that requires some repairing or replacing of flooring, subflooring, roof decking, etc. The plaster likely needs various areas of repair (again I am not a gut renovation type person and never rip out plaster and lath walls), but, unless there is lots of decorative detailing, you can learn how to do that and save yourself some money there. Thankfully, Chris’s photographs do not show any foundation or masonry issues, but budget some money for some repointing anyway; there are probably some areas that need it.
Unfortunately, there are no inexpensive historic houses, even ones that do not cost much to buy. But restoring a great house like this is always worth the cost and effort, no matter how much of either of those is required.
I seriously considered buying the house on the right of your first picture a few years ago. The brickwork on the back needs a lot of work and it’s only getting worse.
Also, the house with the turret had the back wall collapse in the last 6 months.
A man named Spencer owns a few houses on the block, and he’s doing an incredible job keeping it going, but it may not be enough. That block has an amazing community. When I was there looking at the house, a woman from the middle of the block came out to show me pictures of when she met Mother Theresa during her visit to St. Louis.