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Old house in West Roxbury makes PBS
By adamg on Fri, 02/04/2022 - 11:01am
PBS's "This Old House yesterday started a new season focusing on Derek Rubinoff and Robyn Marder's 1894 home on a side street off Lagrange.
The ten-episode series follow as Rubinoff - himself an architect - and Marder and the show crew try to turn a 19th-century Victorian that had its last major upgrade in World War II into a 21st-century home while maintaining its Victorian charm.
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Comments
TOH
That show is no longer relatable. Most of the stuff that they do is really over the top and not within reach of a regular common person.
I like seeing the high end stuff
I can't afford it but I like seeing how the fancy new things fit into old houses.
There's no shortage of "How to" repair videos on YouTube for when you need usable instructions.
I think my issue is they don
I think my issue is they don't really fit new stuff into old houses anymore. They rip the old houses down to the point that by the time it's built back up you'd never know there was an old house to begin with. every project they do now just looks like a brand new million dollar home and that's not what I want from this *old* house
What regular common person
What regular common person can afford any house in the greater Boston area?
I agree
They lost the charm years ago.
This old house
Should be renamed to "remodeling most could never afford."
One episode had them in England choosing handmade wallpaper because that is most likely how the original walls were treated. Handy tip....lol
The triple decker one was good
A recent series had a retired woman where there was a fire in her Dorchester triple decker (due to neighbors lighting fireworks) and it was a very different type of reno for the show. She was on a limited income and they brought in someone who was able to help get as much covered from the insurance as they could. It was also neat that there was a bunch of original (1905) features that they were able to show and explain how they functioned when the house was built. They also did one where there was a major fire out in California and it was a very middle class home.
Otherwise, yes they are usually out of reach homes & renovations for most people but I mostly like watching it for the details on the materials & construction. What I find funny is when the construction is moving along and what they're doing is amazing and then when they get to the final touches (e.g cabinet styles, light fixtures and furnishings) it's revealed that the couple has awful taste and (for me at least) ruins the final product.
That sounds like a good one
When it first started out they were always concerned with the budget, not so much anymore.
recent seasons
Over the more recent seasons, they have done one high end project and one modest or charitable type project (homes for veterans, etc.)
i get that some of the high end stuff is over the top (looking at you, Manchester by the Sea house which probably had a 2MM renovation budget), but they are beholden to sponsors and donors to fund the show, and the sponsors want to showcase higher end projects.
Thanks for posting this Adam
There are so many of those kind of houses around here. Someone told me that this was all farmland around here until the 1890s when it was decided to build the commuter rail. So the developers came in. This kind of single family Victorian seems to have been the most common.
Going into them is like going into time capsules of the different decades they were renovated. 1920s bathroom or 1950s or 1970s etc. Same with the kitchen.
But this one has the oldest kitchen I've seen and ... a claw foot tub! Those are wonderful! so big and deep! Oh to have soaking hot bath in one of those tonight!
When we lived in Hyde Park (Chicago)...
... eons ago, we had one of those claw-foot high tubs. I loved it so much. Our house here in Roslindale-but-practically-Hyde-Park is only one year newer ((1908 vs 1907), but had its bathroom remodeled in the 1950s. So that tub is gone, replaced by a dinky little thing good only for showers (and baths for children and pets). Last time we came back from Japan, I decided to see if it was possible for me to use this as a bath tub. It wasn't.
Shit, time to walk over there
Shit, time to walk over there and dumpster dive. Since all they do on that show nowadays is rip out gorgeous, well made, antique items and materials that've lived a 100 years and would survive 100 more and throw them away for modern flipper-gray garbage.