Ready To Cook

The restored 1952 O'Keefe & Merritt is finally inside and hooked up. At 350 pounds it's a real beast! It has 4 cooktop burners, a center griddle, oven, and "Grillevator" broiler. All the pilots work, so no matches needed. Can't wait to cook on this blast from the past!

The O'Keefe & Merritt "Grillevator"

The Halkett Mansion

A discussion on the Ridley Park Online discussion forum got me agitated once again by some of the neglect that still occurs in town. There are still some amazing mansions in Ridley Park that have not been torn down. Sadly, the best ones are suffering from severe neglect. Even worse, they have the same owner who doesn't even care and the borough seems powerless to do anything to change the situation. The first one is the Halkett mansion at 100 Swarthmore Ave. Built in 1907 by Price & McLanahan architects on the site of the old Ridely Park Hotel, it is heavily influenced by the arts & crafts movement. The back wall has 2 stories of divided light panes which I assume is the main staircase. There is a stained glass vine pattern that works it's way up through these panes. At night you can really see it good. The carriage house in the back used to feature a glass solarium roof. It has been verified that there is even a pool in the basement! Eventually it was divided up into at least 8-9 apartments from looking at the meterboard outside. Now it sits pretty much empty for as long as I have been fascinated by it.

I even have some postcards from this amazing house.

Floor Is Finally Done!

It was a long week of working, Subaru buying, and even ghost hunting at Fort Delaware... but I managed to get the floor finished. I'm still trying to get the glue off my hands though! It looks really nice. There's some spots where the tile joints aren't as smooth as I would like. But considering the mess I started out with and combining three different floors into one room, I can't complain too much. The toe moulding is installed too, so next is caulking and some final paint for that. Then I can go about cleaning up the glue residue with mineral spirits and start to apply the wax coat.

Tomorrow I bring in the restored O'Keefe & Merritt....

Overdue Kitchen Update

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel finally! I'm happy to report that all the painting is finished in the kitchen. I'm really happy with the green.  I've also started hanginf some of my kitchen collectibles including a milk bottle collection and pie tins that my friend gave me... thanks Roger!

I installed a 52 inch Hunter ceiling fan. This one is their "original" model based on one of their early designs. It is cast iron and includes an oiler for the bearing, and weighs in around 45 pounds... you don't mess around when hanging this fan, you better find some good wood to anchor it!

The steps leading to the butler stairs are finished too. Remember, I made these using sheathing from the back of the house I removed since the originals were long gone!

And finally... the floor is being installed now. It's Armstrong linoleum, 12 inch squares. I held my breath picking the green since I didn't have an example to go by and had to order from online pics. It turned out to be exactly what I wanted. Hopefully this will be done in the next day or so, then by the weekend I can get the stoveout of the garage and in the house.

FRAGILE.... It Must be Italian!

A BIG box arrived today at the old Hall house!

What could be inside?? How about a restored O'Keefe & Merritt stove for the new kitchen...

Cooking will take on a whole new level of fun soon!

I Must Be Dreaming?!

After almost 5 years now... the entire kitchen is in primer and ready for final paint! Today I finally finished the ceiling. It's far from perfect, but pretty good for what I had to work with.