This old ark

The Milliken-Crosby house was built in 1903 by a local architect for the Milliken family. He was a stock broker. She had the old money from Maine. It was built with servants in mind—a third floor with cheaper materials, a buzzer system, and a stove in the basement.

By the time we moved in, several families had raised their families here. The only servants were here when the house was first built. The house, still owned by the Millikens, was rented to “the mayor of Shanghai” and his daughter. There were four Irish servants-—a cook, a housecleaner, a butler, and a coachman, who lived in the carriage house next door.

The next family to move in were the Crosbys, hence the name. They lived here for about 40 years and had six daughters! The family after them also had six children. And so it went. The formality may have left but the place was bursting with life and love. Over the years, some of the original architectural features were replaced or removed. Oak woodwork was painted over in an effort to brighten the place up. The hanging storm windows were all tossed in favor of metal compression storms. The original wooden gutters were replaced with aluminum.

I changed all that.

I scraped paint, replaced broken plaster, reinstalled the wooden storms windows, replaced the ridiculous cement porch with my best guess at what the original looked like. There are way too many details to mention here. My goal was circa 1903, and suffice it to say I did more than any owner in the building’s history.

I believe in the idea that a house can have a spirit. Perhaps it’s the sound of decades of love and joy and how they resonate with the wooden fibers of an old building. I don’t know. But I can attest that when I walk down into the basement of this old ark, I feel a warm embrace, as if one of those early servants is tipping his or her hat to me.

We’ll be selling the old place in a few months and moving into an apartment. The kids are moving on and this is not the kind of house for two people. She wants to bestow her charms on another big family, to give them a big Victorian hug. I’m happy to have served as a steward of the place for a decade or so.