History Update

If you’ve been following our blog, you’ll see various items about the history of our house, particularly from around the time when Carleton University owned our property and used it as the Student Union Building.

We’ve had some assistance with our historical research from the kind people at the Carleton Archives, and from the Office of Corporate Records at Carleton.  We were contacted by the Corporate Records staff recently and asked if we wanted a copy of a 1958 real estate appraisal of our house. 

For a mere $9 photocopying fee, we now have a very detailed review of the state of our house as of late 1958.  The appraisal report discusses the state of each room, including floor finishes, trim work, lighting fixtures, and condition of plaster/wall paper.

From this report, we now know that the rear outbuildings were in fact built by Carleton.  They are referred to as the recreation hall.  The three rooms contained in the buildings were at that time one room, with supporting pillars between the original coach house structure and the newer concrete structure.

We also know what renovations the previous owners undertook to the main house between when they bought it from Carleton and when we bought it from them.  The biggest changes were a second floor bathroom renovation and the installation of the PVC windows on the front of the house.

The report discusses yearly heating costs ($378.45), assessed taxes for 1958 ($508.58), contains a detailed neighbourhood description including transit, automobile routes, and nearby shopping, and has comparable house sales.

In case you’re wondering, our house was described as being in poor condition, and the appraiser recommended it be sold for use as a triplex.  The appraised value was $18,500.

Also of note is that the report contains appraisals of two other properties on our street (one two doors down, another across the street and 5 doors down).  They were owned by Carleton at the time, and were used for classes and department offices.  Carleton was in the process of moving from the old Women’s College building on our street to the present day campus and had the report done in preparation for selling all of their properties that were no longer needed.