Home of the Week: A lot of love, and hard work, went into this restored 1861 beauty
This Italianate home with a Mansard roof built in 1861 was one of the stops on Historic Newton’s annual Newton House Tour last year.
17 Paul St., Newton Centre
$1,769,000
Style: Italianate Mansard
Year built: 1861; renovated since
Square feet: 3,302
Bedrooms: 6
Baths: 4 full
Sewer: Public
Taxes: $10,554
Sometimes, a new coat of paint is all the polishing a house needs. Not so for the current owners of this Newton Centre home. They spent years (and no doubt lots of money) rebuilding, expanding, recovering, improving. But it worked so well that this Italianate home with a Mansard roof, built in 1861, was one of the stops on Historic Newton’s annual house tour last year.
“A series of renovations transformed the home to reveal its history as well as adapt it to the lifestyle of a modern family,’’ according to the history of the home prepared by Historic Newton.
An awful lot of the original remains, though, starting in the foyer with a gracefully curving stairwell and the so-called “coffin corner’’ along the stairwell and original newel posts. Also, as much as possible throughout the house, original or older floors were refinished, preserving the irregularly planked pine with open nail holes and richly aged fir. Original windows, 20 in all, are on the first and second floors.
To the right, the house flows into the large living room with a white marble fireplace mantel (featuring a cast iron decorative grill) and a white built-in bookshelf. A door leads to the spot in the home that most visibly mixes old and new: A breakfast/family room and the adjoining formal dining room – once full separated by a wall – now jointly flow into the fully updated kitchen. Here, there are stainless steel appliances built into an island hosting both the stove and a black gas cooktop. Cabinets are red birch Shaker-style and include spice drawers with small windows.
Historic Newton calls the second-floor bathroom “interesting.’’ It’s also like nothing I’ve seen before. Two full bathrooms are on the second floor — but they sit next to each other.
In one, there is a whirlpool bathtub, vanity and toilet. The other? A multihead shower, vanity and toilet. Separating the two – or joining the two – are pocket doors that can be opened for maximum use of all of the facilities, or closed for maximum privacy. This closed-door option is best for the showered bath, because it connects to a short hall and then to the master bedroom.
The master bedroom has a ceiling fan, large bedroom space, and two closets, including one with mirrored doors in the bathroom hallway.
Three bedrooms, ranging from 100 to 192 square feet, fill the rest of the floor.
The third floor is a family/media room with skylight, a small balcony, wet bar, and built-in bookshelves. The two final bedrooms are here, as is a full bath with half-moon shower stall.
The grounds are professionally, and beautifully, landscaped and lead to the backyard with a pool and Jacuzzi.
There is a separate two-car garage (with another Mansard roof) with a heated and wired upper level.
Judy Korzenowski of Century21 Commonwealth is the listing broker.
Follow John R. Ellement on Twitter @JREbosglobe. Send listings to [email protected]. Please note: We do not feature unfurnished homes and will not respond to submissions we won’t pursue. Subscribe to our newsletter at pages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com