The shaw shack redemption
OK, so it's not a shack, but we are trying to redeem the former home of Dr. Clayton Shaw, doctor to primitive painter Grandma Moses as well as probably three-quarters of the population of Hoosick Falls from the 1890s to the 1960s.
Originally built in 1864 for J. M. Rosebrooks, it became the home of Dr. Shaw and his wife around the turn of the last century. (She actually purchased the home, it was a surprise.) The Shaws remodeled and added to the house extensively.
A young Anna Mary Robertson (aka Grandma Moses) used to babysit little Clay, who grew up on a nearby farm, when he was three and she was eighteen. They remained friends and later he became her physician. After her death at age 101, the locals kidded Doc Shaw by saying, "Lost another one, hey Doc?".
Dr. Shaw himself lived into his 90s. After his death the house stood vacant for some 15 years. It became known as the haunted house. It was purchased in the mid-70s by a local man who was returning to town with his new bride. They fixed up the place but didn't make many improvements.
Remuddled
The next owners were a family from Long Island. They purchased the house and half the 3-acre lot. The previous owners retained half the property, relocated the large carriage house there, and restored it beautifully. The new owners proceeded to "modernize" the main house themselves. Routine maintenance was not kept up, most of the remodeling was not well thought out, the work was substandard and much didn't meet building code. Naturally, things didn't work out, the bank foreclosed and we purchased the house at auction.
When we took possession, there were substantial leaks in the roof; a load-bearing wall had been removed; main support beams were missing in the basement; rooms had openings in the walls and ceilings with half-finished wiring hanging out; a myriad of patchwork drywall had been installed throughout the house using 2" roofing nails; an in-ground pool and deck were installed in a swampy area which raised the grade above the foundation wall, carpenter ants then destroyed the sills. Basically we bought a fixer-upper that we had to "unfix" first. Fortunately, the house was exceptionally well built initially, and after removing all the "mistakes" we had a good canvass to work with.
I hope to create a Website dedicated solely to this ongoing project. In the meantime, I'll periodically post updates of specific projects here.
