Staff Writer
HOULTON — Around every corner, some other feature catches your eye — tiger maple paneling, built-in cabinets, decorative tin ceilings, ornate light fixtures and old-fashioned wall paper with flowery flourishes. And that’s just for starters.
Pioneer Times Photo/Sarah Berthiaume
RENOVATION PROJECT — Sue Waite-York holds the sign that used to hang out front of the Court Street home she is working to restore.
But it wasn’t any of these inside features that initially piqued Sue Waite-York’s interest.
“For years, I’d driven by this house and there was always something about it that I liked, something intriguing,” she explained. “So, on a whim, I talked to the owners.”
Then-owners Richard and Nancy Corey said they’d keep Sue in mind if they ever decided to sell the Court Street home, and roughly a year later, they called, wondering if she was still interested and asking if she’d like to look at the long-vacant home.
Pioneer Times Photo/Sarah Berthiaume
TLC — This Court Street home is believed to have been built in the late 1860s or early 1870s by Boardman Stevens, a relative of Houlton’s Frisbee family. The home also belonged to the Richards family for many years and served as a boarding house.
“When I walked in, I was amazed,” said Waite-York. “There was still so much original work here.”
The ornate front door opens into a hallway mostly dominated by an L-shaped stairway and swirling banister. Tin ceilings are mostly all intact and accented by crown molding of the same style. A dining room is down the hall and a kitchen-pantry area reside at the back. A sitting room spans one side of the home, accented by another series of intricate light fixtures, ornate brick fireplace and windows with stained glass edging.
A marble fireplace occupies another corner at the base of the stairway, and, on the second floor, are bedrooms, what appears to be maid’s quarters and a bathroom complete with old-style fixtures, tiger maple paneling and built-in cabinetry. The third floor tops everything off with more bedrooms and tall windows.
Waite-York had bought the house in September 2007 and started restoration this spring.
Without light or heat for a decade, plenty of serious TLC was on tap, but, from her perspective, the home was too interesting to pass up.
“Honestly, for me, it was purely an emotional buy,” she admits candidly.
Pioneer Times Photo/Sarah Berthiaume
OLD-TIME FEATURES — From the top, ornate brick work top one of the first floor fireplaces in Sue Waite-York’s Court Street home; tin ceilings and moulding add a decorative touch; bottom, curly-cues adorn some old-style lighting in the front entry way.
Besides its endearing qualities, pieces of the home’s history have also started to emerge. With initial research revealed the home was most likely built in the late 1860s or early 1870s. Its original owner was a Boardman J. Stevens. Stevens, a leather and boot manufacturer and cousin to the local Frisbee family, operated a store in Market Square and is believed to be one of the town’s early settlers, according to information from Cora Putnam’s History of Houlton.
Also known as the Richards house, the stately green structure was, at one time, called “The Elms.” In more recent years, served as a boarding house and, when Waite-York bought it, plenty of evidences of its past remained. Numbers are still nailed to the doors upstairs and many rooms still included aged beds and appliances. Other left-behind finds were more interesting, like old pictures and letters.
“It’s been a lot of fun to go through all this,” said Waite-York. “There’s a lot of history here.”
Sorting through all that history and finding a way to preserve it will take some time, but Waite-York is pacing herself. This year, she said she’s hoping to get the roof restored and, if possible, add running water, a heating system and insulated windows.
Meanwhile, there’s plenty of other work to keep busy. Just sorting through the home’s contents, to start. The home is still packed with various pieces of furniture and miscellaneous contents, and Waite-York said she’s hoping to have an estate sale sometime this summer that would also give people the chance to see what looks like one of Houlton’s hidden gems.
“The house was very neglected and it’s going to take some time to restore it,” she said. “But there’s enough quality here that’s really worth saving.”
Waite-York said she’s not quite sure what she’ll end up doing with the house once its completed, but she is in the process of registering the home the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and is hoping to uncover more about its past as the restoration unfolds.
“I’m open to any information anyone might have about the history,” she added.
