The continuing story of the house Joe and Mary Ann Scott lived in for over 50 years and the families that have lived here since.*
Now it is one of those remarkable things that I know all of those who lived here which I suppose is not such a great claim since there have been only four families in the entire history of the house.
That said I have to admit to never meeting Joe and Mary Ann but know many who did and over the years have managed to piece together much about them.
They moved into the house after it was built and lived here for the rest of their lives.
Joe died in 1968 and Mary Ann in 1973.
After her death the property was bought by John Mike and Lois who I had gone to college with and in the winter of 1976 I joined them briefly before buying a house round the corner.
John did much to the house ripping out fireplaces, taking down picture rails and papering the throughout in woodchip.
At the time it seemed the right thing to do, all Habitat and neutral colours in what had been a dark old fashioned place.
We were after all that generation which were seduced by the stylish consumer products and clean design of the later 1950s and 60s and wanted nothing less in the first houses we called our own after graduating.
All of which made it perfect for Mr and Mrs Hunter who bought it from John in 1979 before leaving it empty to work abroad and then selling it on to me in 1982.
I doubt at the time I thought I would still be here thirty two years later or that we would be the first family to have children in the house.
And so the house really has four distinct periods, starting with Joe and Mary Ann who were here the longest, but never had children, the Hunters who barely left their mark, John Mike and Lois whose woodchip still survives in some rooms and us.
It is a story partly pieced together from memory and from talking to friends but also from the deeds which have supplied those little extras, like the fact that the Scott’s left the property to the PDSA and the names of all the occupants of the six houses in the block back in 1915.
Added to this there are a growing number of other documents from telephone books to street directories, as well as pictures of the house in the 1970s and records of Joe as a builder and landlord.
It may not rank with the archives of our “great houses” but continues to offer up a rich history of one house over a century.
Pictures; the house in the 1920s from the collection of Andrew Simpson and in the 1970s courtesy of Lois Elsden
*The story of house,
http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house
 |
| The cooper in the cellar ... washing day 1930 |
That said I have to admit to never meeting Joe and Mary Ann but know many who did and over the years have managed to piece together much about them.
They moved into the house after it was built and lived here for the rest of their lives.
Joe died in 1968 and Mary Ann in 1973.
After her death the property was bought by John Mike and Lois who I had gone to college with and in the winter of 1976 I joined them briefly before buying a house round the corner.
John did much to the house ripping out fireplaces, taking down picture rails and papering the throughout in woodchip.
At the time it seemed the right thing to do, all Habitat and neutral colours in what had been a dark old fashioned place.
 |
| Christmas dinner, 1977 |
All of which made it perfect for Mr and Mrs Hunter who bought it from John in 1979 before leaving it empty to work abroad and then selling it on to me in 1982.
I doubt at the time I thought I would still be here thirty two years later or that we would be the first family to have children in the house.
And so the house really has four distinct periods, starting with Joe and Mary Ann who were here the longest, but never had children, the Hunters who barely left their mark, John Mike and Lois whose woodchip still survives in some rooms and us.
 |
| The dining room, 2011 |
Added to this there are a growing number of other documents from telephone books to street directories, as well as pictures of the house in the 1970s and records of Joe as a builder and landlord.
It may not rank with the archives of our “great houses” but continues to offer up a rich history of one house over a century.
Pictures; the house in the 1920s from the collection of Andrew Simpson and in the 1970s courtesy of Lois Elsden
*The story of house,
http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20story%20of%20a%20house
No comments:
Post a Comment