|
|
The John and Elizabeth Dalton House, Ogden, Utah
John and Elizabeth Dalton built their brick home in Ogden, Utah in 1886. Since there was a new electrical power generating station at that time in nearby Weber Canyon, the rooms in the home were among the first in the area to be wired with a central electric ceiling fixture.
By 1995 when Jim adopted the house from the City of Ogden for $1.00, it had been converted into four apartments, abandoned and trashed by transients. To help preserve this excellent example of Second Empire style architecture, Ogden City and the Utah State Historical Society placed the home on the National Register of Historic Places. Jim was "selected" as the person to accomplish the restoration.
Note in the image above that windows were knocked out and plywood covered the openings.
Jim agreed to restore the home following guidelines for historic preservation and under the watchful eye of the local Landmarks Commission. Jim was later named a member of the Commission. The restoration took 9 years to complete.
This home is Listed in National Register of Historic Places. The home was also featured on the Utah segment of HGTVs program Restore America with Bob Vila.
|
Living Room in Jim's Restored House in Ogden, Utah
The photograph above shows a corner of the parlor. The stained wall-to-wall carpets were removed revealing an ox blood painted floor. Furnishing include an English cupboard, rocker with carved cameo, a yarn winder, and a Canadian production spinning wheel.
|
Curved Staircase in Dalton House
Jim's artist friend, Fred Hunger, selected the colors from flowers growing outside the front door for the gray-green and burgundy accents on the spindles. When Fred, an art teacher, was visiting the house he was asked if he would help in selecting stair trim colors. He walked out the front door, took a few steps, bent down and picked several flowers and handed them to Jim and said, "Use these colors." And we did.
Job Corps paint trainees provided hundreds of hours of both paid and donated hours to help paint the house. They worked for nearly a month in preparation and final detailed painting of the staircase. They also helped paint other exterior and interior surfaces. The Job Corps coordinator indicated to Jim that if the trainees could paint this house to both of our satisfaction, they could paint anything.
The lower or public section of the banister is mahogany, but the upper or private sections were made from pine stained to match the mahogany.
|
Flowers and Herbs Meet in Center of Walkway
The old concrete walkway to the front door was removed and a narrow two-foot walk more appropriate to the age of the home was installed. The three-foot wide beds on either side of the walk were planted with tricolor sage, three types of lavender, miniature roses, and heather. Elizabeth and one of Jim's Rockwell retirement buddies, Dale Milligan, installed the sidewalk, prepared and planted this bed while Jim was working out of town.
|
|
|
|
