Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The Vanishing House at 32990 Lake Road in Avon Lake Part 2

It turns out that I wasn't the only person who felt that it was important to get a few photos of this house before it was entirely gone. While getting my shots, I noticed another person with a camera walking along Lake Road down at the west end of the property.

The friendly Avon Lake resident felt the same way as I did. She was sorry that it was being torn down and felt the urge to document it. She also knew a few of the people who had lived on the property.

Actually, I had met of the residents of the house being demolished. While I was photographing the Peter Miller house a few years ago, a gentleman had ridden up on his bike and chit-chatted with me about old houses. He remarked that he lived in the old house down Lake Road to the east with the black iron fence in front of it. He was a nice, gregarious guy and apparently is well-known around town.

The woman with the camera also pointed out that there had been several old houses on the huge property at the same time, and that all had been torn down except the one remaining. She also noted that most, but not all, of the trees had been selectively cut down.

You can see the other houses, as well as a few other small buildings, in this Bing Maps aerial shot (below).

The large, distinctive red house just to the east of the house currently being demolished was already torn down. It had an address of 32972 Lake Road, and was sold to the same buyer. According to the website, the red house's date of construction was 1898.

Anyway, here are some of my shots from Sunday afternoon.

It will be interesting to see what is eventually built on this property. At least it seems that some of the old trees will provide some shade and beauty for the new residence.
If any readers have any knowledge of this property (the houses, the residents, etc.) be sure to leave a comment.

3 comments:

Wireless.Phil said...

That red house look more like a garage or old car barn, or maybe an old stable.
I just can't see it as a house, unless they lived on the upper floors?

Dan Brady said...

Sorry for the confusion. The red 'house-like' structure in one of my shots is the garage apparently. The actual house by the lake (seen in the aerial shot) was already torn down when I did my shoot.

Amy said...

I came across this post while researching the former owners of my home. The Pfahl family who lived here in the 1940s were owners of my house in Cleveland. As a lover of old houses, it hurts to see this one got demolished. My house also has a hipped roof. Maybe that was a style that the Pfahl family liked.