Welcome to A Classic Baltimore Brownstone,
Where Jill and I Lived for 15 Years
Our house is three levels, plus a full basement. All have the same footprint: 20 feet wide by 70 long. Each floor has a side and rear bay and the tower bay; the bays add a lot of extra space and light. Because this was the “builder’s house,” a display model, it is wider by two feet than the others on the block. Also, most unusual, it has oak parquet throughout the first floor–all the way back to the kitchen.
To get oriented to the floorplan, take a look at the first level. The red dot represents the position from which the photo above was taken (from the main stairs landing down to the entryway). The blue dot represents the position from which the second photo was taken, offering a straight view from the front of the first-floor bay through the living room, the music room, then through the pocket doors into the dining room.
Click the floorplan for an enlargement
Click the photo (above) for an enlargement
Entry before and after. Our first floor has oak parquet all the way back to the kitchen. This was a special feature of the “builder’s house.”
From this
To this:
Almost all of our fireplace mantels were gone when we got the house. This one is slate and would have been painted to look like marble in a middle-class home. The big mirror was not typical of houses in our neighborhood but of much finer houses down town.
Our house has three bays on every floor. Notice we installed a stained glass in the transoms. The bays really make a difference, adding light and space to a narrow house. We have 33 windows, all of them are huge–the size of doors. The Victorians believed in lots of ventilation. Our ceilings on the first floor are 12′ high.
