That Old House

Several faithful readers have asked about "that old house" shown in the recent "Weekend In Mansfield" post.

Here's the story:

Yes, the house really is in Mansfield. For years, it was known to me simply as "grandma's house", but its' history goes back to the 1870's, when it was built on South Main St. by the Russell family. My great-grandparents the Calverts purchased it around 1905, and it remained in our family for many decades. My grandmother Clara Calvert Woodard lived there until her death in 1971. My mother was born and raised in that house. As a child, I spent many pleasant hours there and I can still see it clearly, as it once was, in my mind's eye.

The black & white shot is from the 1930's, when the place was high and tight and looking good. Representative of the "Queen Ann" style of Victorian homes, it had an abundance of quirky, interesting features -- curved glass windows, stained glass windows, a "widow's walk", etc.

After grandma died, my mother hung onto the property for another thirty years but did nothing with it. (Don't ask.) It deteriorated horribly and was eventually sold (for a song) to a young couple with dreams of restoring it to its' long-gone glory. Obviously, they bit off way more than they could chew. Soon enough, the lender foreclosed, and again the house just sat and rotted.

The color shot is a year or so old. Its' condition is worse today. It's now completely boarded up and uninhabitable. Some local real estate LLC owns it, for what purpose I don't know. The Richland County auditor has the building valued at $0.

My grandma's once-beautiful old home has a date with the wrecking ball, and soon. All things must pass.