#history

The Story of a House, a Family, and HistoryThis house in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston has quite a history, as related by Anne Magee Coughlin. It was home to four generations of her family, over a period of more than one hundred years. In that time, history was made, the city changed, and many family members were born and then died. The house itself is just a structure, but it endured as a connection between generations, a cupboard of memories, a place to feel safe, and a reflection of the people who called it home. You don't have to know the family to understand their ups and downs, and why this house, as personal as it is, is worthy of a tribute. Warning: you might need a hankie for parts of this story. #house #history #family #Boston

Bygone Features Still Found in Older HomesIf there's something you don't understand in an old house, there's probably a good reason for it being there, even though it no longer applies.Many of these features were conveniences of their time that no one could imagine would become obsolete in the future, but it's a testament to the builders that the homes lasted into an another era. One feature that might be jarring to viewers is the phone jack. An awful lot of people still use land lines. He should have shown us the old four-prong phone jacks that preceded the connections shown. My previous house had these, and we had to get adapters to use a more modern landline phone. There were once so many delivery doors, for coal, ice, milk, etc. We don't get those kind of deliveries anymore, but a concealed cabinet at the front of the house would be a great way to hide your Amazon packages from porch pirates. I once had a bathroom remodeled, and the torn-up wall was full of razor blades. The contractor brought out a magnet pickup tool to collect them, which impressed me so much that I bought my own magnet. A laundry chute, dumbwaiter, or intercom was much more useful for houses that were three stories tall, especially if the laundry was done in the basement. Laundry chutes are illegal to install today in a lot of states because in the event of a fire, they act as a chimney, drawing the fire to upper floors. Probably not all that safe for children, either. The Pittsburgh Potty had a dual purpose. Not only was it (or more precisely, the sink and/or shower beside it) a place to clean up after work, the toilet in the basement was also an emergency valve. If there was a sewer backup, the basement toilet would overflow first, keeping the upstairs toilet backup-free. Commenters added some more old house features they'd seen, like a floor drain in a closet where the icebox was once kept, specifically for melting ice. Some houses have an ironing board that folds out from the wall. A couple of people mentioned homes that had a central vacuum system built into the walls. California coolers and larders were ventilated areas architecturally situated for food storage before refrigeration. And there were coffin doors that were only opened to transfer a coffin to the parlor for a wake. Summer kitchens, sleeping porches, draw fans, and lightning rods were mentioned, too. If you have any of these things in your home, you have a bit of history.#architecture #vintage #history

What Makes a Perfect Castle?If you've ever had the fantasy of living in a castle, you have plenty of opportunities to build your own, or buy one on the market. But these modern castles are homes that look like castles, so you can live out your fantasies. Real castles from the medieval era were not just swanky homes for a king. They were all about war.

Missing Roman Mosaic From Caligula's Reign Turns Up as Coffee Table in New York ApartmentIn the 1960s, a woman named Helen Fioratti bought a table from an Italian noble family. The table was then shipped to America and then to Fioratti's apartment. There, she and her husband would used it as a coffee table. Unknown to Fioratti, the table was more than a coffee table.Fast forward to 2013. Dario Del Bufalo, an Italian marble expert and author, was signing books in New York when he overheard a couple (Fioratti and a “young guy with a strange hat") discussing how the mosaic featured in his book looked the same as the one they owned. It was then revealed that the coffee table that the couple used for over 45 years was a 2,000-year-old artifact. It was a part of the mosaic flooring from one of Caligula's ceremonial ships.So what happened to the "table" after the shocking revelation?Learn more about this marble-lous story over at KATU.(Image Credit: 60 Minutes via Twitter)#Caligula #Artifact #History #Mosaic #coffeetable