A Very Progressive Year

Peter Stuhr House December 2015

At the end of last year, progress had been made on two sides of the Peter Stuhr house, with repairs to the window and door openings and new, freshly painted siding and trim sprucing up the north and west sides of the house. As we moved into winter, progress came to a halt as the realities of harsh winter weather set in and the need for museum staff to focus on the many things that needed to be accomplished in order to be ready for the grand reopening of the Leo Stuhr building after over a year and a half of being closed for renovation. In July of 2015, the Stuhr building was reopened to great celebration, and attention could once again return to the Peter Stuhr house and the two remaining sides needing attention and siding.

South Side Back Section

By the end of July the windows on the south side of the house were being restored or reconstructed depending on the degree of degradation they had suffered.  The back half of the house was in relatively fair shape, and the refitting of the windows progressed rather quickly. Since this side originally had a door out of the kitchen area, a door was once again set in place of one of the windows. This is the side that will have a ramp access to the house, and a good solid door was needed, but did not want to loose the light from a window, so a proper sized period door with a window opening was found and restored for use in the house. Once the door and windows were re-installed, the siding went back up rather quickly.

Damage Detail

South side Front Section

As easily as the back section of the house went back together, the front portion of the south side would prove to be the most challenging. Since this section had faced the north for around eighty years, it bore the brunt of the weather damage. At one point vinyl siding was installed over the wood siding. I realize that many people view this kind of siding as a way to protect a house, but more often than not, it contributes to deterioration and hides problems that should be immediately addressed. As Brian Roberts removed more and more of the siding, more and more very distressing problems were revealed.  This is the section that was lined with original adobe bricks as described in the Egge Diary. In areas that had been compromised and exposed to weather, the bricks were affected and large portions washed away. Wood rot was very evident, and the original construction showed minimal support for the window openings. The challenge was to repair or restore as much as possible, while saving as much of the original as we could. What Brian found were windows that were not the same size or even set at the same level. As he moved higher up on this side, the original adobe had been replaced with red bricks above the windows.

The good news was that the higher he got on this side, the more good original vertical siding he found that he was able to leave in place. This section took the most amount of time to restore, but the end result was well worth the time.  By the end of September of this year, the south side was finished. Only one side left to go.

Flask Bottle from the house

Brian did not waste any time and moved around quickly to the East side in early October. It was here that we saw the best example of the vertical siding described in the Egge diary description of the original settlers cabins. Very little damage was evident on this side and the resetting of the windows went quickly. The exposure of the original siding allowed us the opportunity to photograph a good deal of the original construction evidence. There were cut nails everywhere!

On the 7th of October Brian stopped in the office with something that had fallen out near the top of the east wall close to the eave. It was a flask shaped glass bottle! Quick research dated the flask to the 1845 to 1860 period. The cork was still intact and residue of the contents – quite likely alcohol – was still inside. It was very lucky that the bottle enjoyed a soft landing when it fell to the ground and is a lucky treasure to have as a part of the houses history.

Detail of an east window opening

The reconstruction of the east side went rather quickly when compared to the amount of time spent on the south side. By November 3rd, the east side was mostly completed. Windows installed, siding and trim up and painted. The good fall weather we enjoyed allowed Brian to complete not only the siding, but also the front porch as well as the stoop off the north side.

A great deal was accomplished in five months time in 2015. In the spring I am sure that the final porch on the south will be completed in a very timely manner. From there it will be on to chimney reconstruction and a new roof. I am sure we will have some very exciting progress to report in 2016!