617 Congress
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FIND OUT WHICH FLOOR PLAN RECEIVED THE MOST VOTES FOR APARTMENT #3!!!
This is one of Flo-Mar's projects, 617 Congress. Check it out and tell us what you think!
617
Congress is located east of Normal Street near some other Flo-Mar properties and
just a little more than a block away from the College of Business for Eastern
Michigan University. It's previous owners neglected the house so it was
run down when we bought it, as you can see from some of the pictures. (click on
the pictures to enlarge them)
The pictures to the left show how the front porch looked before we began
construction on it and during construction.
The house at 617 Congress was built in 1896. Back
then, houses were built differently! We found during remodeling this
house that the house's framing was built of solid oak lumber. That would
be unheard of today because of the scarcity and high costs of hard wood.
Because of the way lumber was processed in 1902, we also found that some of the
beams holding up the floor (called joists) still had bark on them!
We gutted the house on the inside and totally rebuilt each apartment while
retaining the charm of an old house. Each apartment was designed with
personality and character. All apartments have a large porch or deck.
If you are interested in renting any of
these apartments, please visit our Contact Us page
to set up an appointment.
Apartment
#1 is a first floor two-bedroom apartment. It walks out to the large
Victorian front
porch, perfect for sipping lemonade on a hot summer's day. In this
picture, you are standing in the living room looking into the kitchen.
Click on the diagram to the right to see a layout of the apartment. Click
here to view more details about this apartment including rental information.
Apartment
#2 is a second floor two-bedroom apartment that has a huge deck that is shaded
by trees and perfect for a
barbecue (on a gas grill to comply with city
ordinances!). In the picture to the left, you are standing in the living room looking into the
kitchen. Click on the
diagram to see a layout of the apartment. Click
here to view more details about this apartment including rental information.
Using the plans below that were chosen unanimously by internet surfers like
yourself, we began construction on Apartment 3. It is a two floor, three-bedroom,
two full bath apartment which looks out over a
large wooded property. Cathedral ceilings over the living room and open
loft also help to add to the character of this very unique apartment. Check out the pictures below!
To
begin, the existing back part of the house that would be made into the three
bedroom apartment needed to be demolished to
be totally rebuilt. Sometimes, that can be the most fun part of a
project! Here's what it looked like after demolition.
We
believe that the rear part of 617 Congress was added on to the rest of the house
in 1939 based on the newspapers that were found inside. These were the
days before plywood so newspaper was used as an insulator to keep drafts out of
the house. These were also the days before lumber was neatly
processed! As you can see from the picture below, lumber was shaped by
workers that used ax-like tools shopping away to form a flat surface.
Sometimes bark was even left on the wood! Check out the picture below to
see the difference between lumber processed in the early 1900's and modern
processed lumber!
Here
is the diagram that YOU voted on! This is the layout of Apartment
#3.
The first floor walls are up and the ceiling is in
place.
Pictures taken 6/28/01.
The second floor outside walls have been raised and
rafters are now in place for the roof. In the picture below, you are
standing in the living room looking straight up to what will be a cathedral
ceiling with skylights.
Picture taken 7/3/01.
In the final stage of the rough carpentry work, the staircase
and second floor walls were built. Here, you are standing in
the living room looking up to the second level.
Pictures taken 7/9/01
Windows were installed throughout the house, the front porches
were painted and rough landscaping was done to promote proper drainage.
Pictures taken 7/20-7/31/01
(1)From outside (3)From living room up
to loft
Environmentally friendly insulation was blown into the walls.
Wallboard was installed, taped, mudded and sanded.
Pictures taken 8/20/01
The kitchen cabinets and tile backsplash were installed and banisters
were built for the staircase.
Pictures taken 10/08/01
Click here to see the
finished product!
