The Antique Victorian Furniture Blog

The Press-Enterprise ran an article this past Saturday about a home in Riverside, CA that will be featured in an 8-page spread in the February issue of Victorian Homes magazine. The home, purchased four years ago in ramshackle condition by Tony and Wilma Burton, now “looks like it’s out of a fairy tale,” says Merrie Destefano, editor of Victorian Homes.

The home was built in 1893 by Civil War veteran David Gilson Mitchell, a founding father of Riverside County. The Burtons didn’t know its story when they bought the house, but they studied their history and then put over $100,000 into the restoration of the home. They purchased 19th century furnishings in antique stores, at estate sales, and on eBay.

The Burtons now live upstairs and “keep the first floor as a museum.” A photo of the dining room would suggest that this delightful “museum” is quite full of antique Victorian furniture. The music room features a period fainting couch, called by Victorian Homes an “ode in oak to Eastlake.”

We’ll have to wait for the February issue of Victorian Homes to get the full story. In the meantime, here’s the article from The Press-Enterprise.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Couch, Eastlake, Furniture, History, Home, Homes, Oak, Restoration, Victorian

There are a lot of articles coming out these days announcing holiday home tours. It’s interesting how many of the homes in these tours are Victorian. But then, as yesterday’s post discusses, the Victorian era taught us how to celebrate Christmas, right down to the Christmas tree.

Here’s one article from the York News-Times about a woman in York, Nebraska named Vina Mody, who for 20 years has been decorating her Victorian mansion for the annual Holiday Tour of Homes. She sets up over 100 Christmas trees in her home! It takes her a month to get ready for the tour and another month to break it all back down. She says this will be her last year though. She can’t handle it anymore. So if you’re in the York area this coming Sunday, you’ll want to catch Vina’s final display.

Here’s another article, this one from the Tyler Paper in Tyler, Texas. This weekend’s tour in Tyler features a number of homes, one of which is an 1891 Victorian known as “The Judge Parker Home,” owned by David and Alva Kesler. If you only have a couple minutes, scroll down to the description of this home. It tells us that the Keslers have painstakingly worked to restore the house to its “Victorian splendor.” Indeed. Wait until you read this.

Just a taste here. The “judge’s den” has been converted into the master bedroom, complete with a four poster bed in brown silk, sitting in the center of the room on an antique rug. In the corner is a mahogany dresser with cheval mirror, circa 1890.

The article takes you room by room, and although there are no photos, the writing is good enough to allow you to visualize it yourself.

Maybe won’t be able to make it to York, NE or Tyler, TX this weekend. But is there a holiday tour of Victorian homes in your area? You never know. It could be your opportunity to see some splendid pieces of antique Victorian furniture while you’re getting into the Christmas spirit.

Technorati Tags: Bed, Christmas, Dresser, Homes, Mahogany, Tours, Trees, Victorian

I had the fortune of stumbling onto an absolutely breathtaking post on the Cote de Texas blog. Joni, the blog’s author, begins by describing the Great Storm of 1900 that destroyed the city of Galveston, Texas. As Joni tells it, Galveston was actually a major city at the time, bigger than Houston. But it has never really recovered from the storm. The photo she shows of Galveston the day after the storm is startling. Total devastation.

Joni then goes on to talk about the revitalization that’s going on in Galveston’s historical neighborhoods, which are full of Victorian homes that survived the storm or were constructed soon after it but later suffered through many years of neglect and deterioration.

She treats us to a stunning gallery of photos of these homes. I cannot do them justice in words. You’re going to have to take a look at them. They’re jaw-dropping, and there are lots of them. The houses that survived the storm wear a special plaque. The picture of the plaque alone gave me goose-bumps.

Take your time with this one and be sure to read Joni’s excellent and well-written commentary on the photos. As a bonus for us, she has some very good shots of the antique Victorian furniture contained in some of the houses. A word of warning: Joni herself doesn’t like Victorian furniture. I do concede, though, that I agree with her when she says a house at the beach needs beachy furniture. Her negative remarks on the furniture also start a lively discussion in the comment area that’s worth a read.

This is a high-quality post on a high-quality blog. Thanks, Joni!

You’ll find the post here.

Technorati Tags: Antique, Furniture, Homes, Restoration, Victorian