Pike County Living - Page 12 of 18

November 9, 2011

Fun Rural Town Historic Storefront- 403 Georgia Street, Louisiana, MO FOR SALE

This is a fun opportunity to buy a historic storefront in the charming Mississippi river town of Louisiana. The building dates to 1879 and for many years was a saloon. In the 30’s the storefront was converted to be Maxfield’s Department Store. The exterior has original vitrolite facing from the 30’s and the Maxfield’s neon sign. The interior is fun, coffee-house chic. Pieces have been salvaged and repurposed throughout the structure. This space would be an ideal bar, coffee house, restaurant or retail space. There is ample living space above the storefront for the owner to live. New electrical systems and plumbing. Be different and adventurous!

$59,900

Listed by Ted Wight and Nancy Hereford, Dielmann Sotheby’s International Realty, 314-725-0009

November 6, 2011

Super Cool! 102 and 110 North Water Street, Louisiana, MO Buildings FOR SALE

110 N Water Street

Louisiana, MO 63353

Imagine living in a loft building right on the Mississippi….it really is in your front yard! High enough not to flood. This is an old city water treatment plant building. Cool and quirky! Wait until your friends and family see your fun loft. Rare opportunity to live stylishly in a unique structure. The space can also be used for a commercial space. Be different!

http://waterstreet.canbyours.com/

Listed by Ted Wight, Dielmann Sotheby’s International Realty, 314-607-5555, tedwight@aol.com

102 N Water Street

Louisiana, MO 63353

Right on the Mississippi….it really is in your front yard! High enough not to flood. This is an old city water treatment plant complex complete with two tanks and attached buildings. Cool and quirky! One metal tank has been configured as a dynamic retail/office space. The other tank is a fun outdoor space that feels like you are in the middle of a contemporary sculpture. Living and office space attached. The structure could be a cool bar/restaurant, retail space, office space or a lofty living space. This is a rare opportunity to own a unique building that has a “wow” impact. Be different!

http://waterstreet.canbyours.com/

Listed by Ted Wight, Dielmann Sotheby’s International Realty, 314-607-5555, tedwight@aol.com

November 5, 2011

Historic Pike County Hill-top Home

This week I was up in Pike County traveling up Highway D to Louisiana and saw this house from the distance. Now that the leaves are falling, you can see some of the grand historic homes of Pike County better. This home has lovely panoramic views of the countryside.

and there is something about driving down a gravel road in Pike County!

where I stumbled across this other historic home….

November 3, 2011

2005 Georgia Street, Louisiana, Missouri FOR SALE

Historic home built in 1895 by Frank Buffum of Lacrosse Lumber. Located on one the most lovely small-town streets in the Midwest, this home is perfect in every way. This home has had many updates, though retains all of its old-world elegance. The 33’ x 20’ main parlor is gorgeous with its extensive, hand-carved paneling suitable for a lumber baron. The large Dining Room is bright & gracious. Wait until you see the new, gourmet kitchen complete with granite counters, high-end stainless steel appliances & plenty of custom cabinets. The kitchen features a walk-in pantry & separate butler’s pantry with built-in Bird’s Eye maple cupboards. 3 lovely bedrooms are on the 1st floor & 2.5 baths. Large 1^st floor laundry room. 10’+ ceilings. Hardwood floors throughout the 1^st fl. Dramatic 2^nd floor with a large recreation area, upper loft, 2 bedrooms & a full bath. 2 car carriage house that features the original stables & an upper, unfinished living area. All new electrical & AC.

$325,000

http://2005georgia.canbyours.com/

Listed by Ted Wight, Dielmann Sothebys International Realty, 314-607-5555, tedwight@aol.com

October 31, 2011

A Weekend Gathering @ The Farmhouse

November is upon us and I always race this time of year to finish projects at our farmhouse. I have all of the porch floors painted and our staircase….maybe a little wood work will get painted before the house gets put to sleep for the winter.

I am happy with the outcome of pulling all of the yews and other bushes out of the front of the house. You will see that most houses of this period did not have heavy foundation planting. Foundation planting with yews became popular in the 50's….this is when foundations were made of poured concrete and people wanted to hide them. Older houses have lovely brick or stone foundations….why hide them!

I really do not entertain much at our farmhouse. It is just so much work to clean the house and get it in tip top shape for guests….city people do not understand a few spider webs and lady bugs all over the house. Though after it is all done….it is worth it. The best thing it does is to force me to finish projects. Earlier this Spring I had the house on tour for St. Louis' Landmark's Association Pike County Ramble Tour. This motivated me to redo a bedroom that was in pretty bad shape…complete with a wallpaper border coming down and a heavily cracked ceiling. Now is is so pretty! Over the weekend I had ten people stay at the house overnight. The house has 5 legitimate beds….so couches and air mattresses made nice sleeping arrangements for the overflow. What a lovely night…we had the fireplace ablaze and also the fire-pit going outside! Games, good food and wine made the evening memorable. Sunday morning we started with a nice country breakfast followed by a long walk on our farm. The afternoon was spent shopping in Clarksville and lunch at Overlook Farm's restaurant.

For breakfast Bobby made the most delicious item…. he cooked up sausage and added it to scrambled eggs….then split biscuits and put a spoonful of the mixture on-top of the uncooked biscuit….I think they were cooked at 350 until brown….try it ….they were easy and crowd-pleasers!

A walk helped burn off the hearty breakfast.

October 26, 2011

Missouri Farmland Prices Continue to Surge

Check out this ARTICLE on the price of farmland in Missouri.

October 16, 2011

Elegant Decay

I went through this house the other day up in Louisiana, Pike County, MO. The owner has completely restored the outside, though the inside is still in a state of elegant decay. I sort of love it….though of course, it needs to be finished.

When I was a young boy and when we stayed at our farm over the weekend, my parents took us to the Catholic Church up in Louisiana. I was always a little embarrassed…after staying at the farm, we looked a little homely for church. Well, we used to walk past this house and it was covered with ivy and all of the shutters closed. The exterior is beautiful now. The owner has given a gift to Louisiana of resurrecting an eyesore. Now it is your turn to turn the interior into a showplace! It is for sale…contact me if you are interested.

October 15, 2011

Gracious Home on Georgia St in Louisiana, Missouri

Yesterday I accidentally went up a driveway when I was looking for a client's home nearby. What a lovely surprise to find this lovely home. I am told that a cousin of Andrew Jackson built it in the early 1800's. Below is a comment from someone who knows the house:

"My favorite I think. A young man from Iowa has bought it and keeps it really nice. When I was a young lad the front was a field and was full of jonquils in the spring. Ms. Keith was a little odd and she road around on her bicycle in an old buckskin coat, it was her father Dr. Keith who built it. It is rumored to be pattered after the Jackson home The Heritage.His office was in the back. I went to the auction after Ms. keith died and I have some items from this old historic place. Just beautiful. Richard from My Old Historic House." Richard

October 10, 2011

Our Farmhouse

Our farmhouse has been an obsession with me since I was very young. The black and white photo was taken back in 1975 when I was 10 years old. My brother had a photo lab in the basement like most 70's families. I remember the smell of the chemicals and seeing images appear as you dunked them in solutions under the red light. Our farmhouse was sort of abandoned at this point. We bought the farm in the 50's and some of the farm workers lived in it off and on. My grandparents put a small house up on the top of a hill on the property and that is where we used to stay. With 4 boys and a dog….I think my grandfather encouraged our family to relocate to the old farmhouse. Before we started to renovate it, I remember having snowball fights on the inside. I also remember a large hole in the floor near the toilet. Once when my mother was using the toilet, I went into the basement and grabbed her foot through the hole…you can imagine her shock! There was a clawed-foot tub also in the bathroom. My brothers would catch fish in the lake and then fill the tub up to put them in to keep them fresh. The place was a bit of a wreck and I sort of dreaded going there. The memories are still rich….frog legs frying in the kitchen…raccoons poking their head our of a stove pipe hole…and no AC. Something clicked in me in my early teens and I decided that I needed to fix the house up. With the help of my family, I scraped paint, painted, sanded, planted trees and tried to turn the house around. In the 90's, I invested some money to renovate the back, frame section which was still falling down. With the help of a young architect who studied at The Prince Charles School of architecture….the back section became a showplace! The house still needs work….though slowly but surely it has become lovely. As I get older, I start to think if the next generation will step up to maintain the house.

Click HERE for some recent pics….I just pulled the bushes out of the front….they were big and beautiful, though hid the lower basement windows.

October 7, 2011

An Afternoon in Louisiana, Missouri Pike County, MO

Yesterday I spent the morning working on our farm house in Pike County and then I went up to Louisiana, MO for some meetings. It was such a beautiful day and the Fall colors are close to peaking….so hurry and get up to Pike County to look at them this weekend. The Applefest is going on in Clarksville.

My first stop was to look at the super- cool buildings on Water Street that used to be the old water treatment plant. A St. Louis couple has transformed two buildings into very exciting spaces. Both are for sale for a reasonable amount.

This is an interior space that could be a great bar/restaurant.

This outdoor space almost looks like the Serra sculpture at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis. There is a pool in the middle.

In a another building is a cool loft living space.

And look at the view….these buildings are right on the Mississippi…though high enough that flooding is not an issue.

Nest stop was to meet with Karen over at The Eagle's Nest Bistro, B&B and Winery. She runs such a nice business and it is very popular! She is thinking about retiring and her successful business is for sale. Click HERE for more information.

I visited the two historic homes that I have listed:

http://215nthird.canbyours.com/

http://402nthird.canbyours.com/

The old Stark home on 3rd looked beautiful with the maple ablaze!

Finally I met Jim Talley at his listing on Georgia and 7th street. This is an old church turned City Hall turned loft/living space. What an exciting space and only $137,000! Listed by Ted Wight, Dielmann Sotheby's International Realty 314-607-5555 tedwight@aol.com