The Wilson - Baldauf House – Part 2

Courtesy of the book Avon by Nora O. Howard

Here’s Part 2 of the article written by Journal Staff Writer Hermaine Speigle about the historic Wilson - Baldauf House on State Route 83 at Kinzel. The article continues with comments by John Bernard, who along with his wife Susan were the owners at the time the story appeared in the Journal back on Sunday, January 24, 1971. 

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The House That Ebenezer Built – Part 2

By HERMAINE SPEIGLE

All the original random plank floors have been covered with parquet-fitted oak flooring.

“There isn’t a squeak or a sag anywhere,” says Bernard. “If you drove a tractor through, nothing would budge – not even the plaster, which was mixed with horsehair, and is hard as iron!”

The kitchen, behind the parlor, has another chimney, where a coal-burning Franklin stove once served for cooking and heating. The same chimney gave warmth to the birthing room, generally unused except for confinements.

There’s a steep, twisting staircase which “hired hands” once climbed to get to their attic lofts. Behind the stairway, there’s a walk-in pantry.

The buttery is now a modern bathroom.

The summer kitchen and porch, enclosed and remodeled, is the new kitchen. The old one, with the coal burner, removed, is used as a family room.

Four upstairs rooms are spacious. “Probably used only for sleeping,” says Bernard, pointing out the original, one coat of wallpaper still in good condition, though it has discolored with age.

In addition to his newel post discovery, Bernard found other architectural surprises. The entire upstairs, a smaller rectangle than the main floor, is supported on the south by a 24 inch square walnut beam. The front chimneys, he says, take an unusual jog in the attic, join, and come out of the roof at one central point.

Ebenezer Wilson didn’t build a pretty house, but he did build a comfortable one, for his day as well as ours.

Bernard, who is advertising manager with American Greetings, Cleveland, plans to refurbish the house in Victorian style. His wife made her contribution to the old tradition “when their third child, Melissa, was born at home a little over a year ago.

“We didn’t plan it that way, but we’re glad it happened. She’s the 14th child born here, and we like to think that the old house just wouldn’t let us go. But the ghosts of Ebenezer and his wife, Ann, must have laughed at our bungled pioneering. We didn’t make it to the birthing room.”

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The Library of Congress website included three photos of the Wilson-Baldauf House. They are identified as being taken on June 25, 1936. 

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Here are a few more photos of the house.

Courtesy Lorain County Auditor website

Courtesy Google Maps

The view on Saturday, January 29, 2022

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