One of the true lessons of old home ownership was the realization that few people really know what lies beneath when opening up floors, walls, or ceilings. You're equally as likely to find solid "bones" of a house as you are to fine the patchwork of projects gone bad. Those that are truly lucky find treasures or cash. But everyone finds a little piece of history that's been hidden away for decades or centuries. It's typically not glamorous, but in a way, it can be poetic or inspiring.

While we're in the midst of reminiscing about our siding project undertaking from a few years ago, I wanted to share something with you that I stumbled on this week in Old Town that I think is pretty cool.

Over the weekend Wendy and I decided to order a pizza for dinner and headed over to the newly opened store in north west Old Town to pick it up. While over in that neck of the Old Town woods I stumbled on an in progress renovation project that I felt I just had to share with all of you. But before I get into it, let me give you a little background on the area.

The part of Old Town I'm referring to is actually not the "Old & Historic Alexandria," but rather the "Parker-Gray" Historic District. Parker-Gray is a separate and recognized historic district that actually sits nestled up right along side the Historic Old Town section of town. While Parker-Gray doesn't have buildings that are quite as old as those in the oldest parts of Old Town, there are still a good number of 19th century buildings, and quite a few early 20th century places as well. In the years since we moved to Old Town we've seen the streets of Parker-Gray slowly transform, one renovation after another, and spring to life.

I still remember one home on North Alfred Street that was covered in asphalt fake brick shingles and had two cast iron cats affixed to the front of the house, looking like they were scaling the wall. Those cats are long gone now, the house fully renovated with wood siding, and I really regret not getting a photo of those cats before they were removed and the building before it was renovated. I was able to find this old photo of the group of houses where the cat house was. If you have any photos of these homes, please let me know, as I'd love to see them.

Anyhow, back to my original topic.

While picking up our pizza I came across a building in the midst of an absolutely major renovation. It was so major I actually had to do a double take to see exactly what it was I was looking at. The building in question is on the corner of Pendleton and North Patrick Streets right in the heart of the Parker-Gray Historic District. I've passed this building quite a few times and always thought it looked rather strange and out of place. Since I don't have a photo of the original building, I had to go grab a few from Google Street View.

As you can see, it's not covered in FormStone as that is far more of a fake looking concrete stone, but it's actually covered in flat and irregular stones with some sort of a concrete grouting between them.

I think this was the only building in the Old Town area that was completely covered in stone, and I always wondered what it looked like in a previous life. 

As you can see in the street view photo, the building was on the market and I believe someone bought it and launched a massive renovation. When we passed the structure this weekend (I'm calling it a structure now, because it's not really a building or home at this point) we got answers to the questions of what this place may have once looked like and what is under that horrible stone?

Can you believe that's the same place? Crazy!

The stone's been removed, as well as any other underlayment, and the original clapboards have been revealed. 

The detail above the front window is clearly visible and, with a little imagination, you might be able to picture what the front used to look like.

Obviously this structure is in some pretty tough shape. The siding probably hasn't seen the light of day in 60 or more years. There's no insulation to speak of, the place is heavily listing to one side, and there are portions where you could waltz right through the wall and into the place.

I'm very interested to watch how this comes together. I'm not deluded into thinking they will undertake a massive restoration of the building, no matter how much I think it's appropriate, but being in an historic district should at least require they make it look mostly correct.

This is just another example of old building renovations where you really have no idea of what lies beneath the facade until after you start to remove it, piece by piece. I'm just very happy we happened to pass it when we did, otherwise we might have missed this midway point, which I think is almost as cool as the finished project may be.

Are there any homes or projects in your neck of the woods that are undergoing a massive rehab? Were you surprised to get a glimpse into what they may have looked like back in the day? We'd love to hear if we're not the only old house snoopers lurking around corners with our smartphones.