There’s a house in Jaffrey Center that was just begging for someone to recognize its historical charm.
Built in 1790 by Robert Gilmore, the white house with green shutters in Jaffrey’s historic district had sat empty for a decade and was in desperate need of a buyer who could see past the chipping paint, overgrown landscape, a sagging barn and dilapidated porch. And that was just on the outside.
But when Steve and Pauline Brackett toured the home near the Monadnock Inn towards in the fall of 2020, Steve saw the potential, something that countless others over the previous decade had not.
“I liked it the first time,” Steve said. But Pauline quickly added “I was more hesitant because you really don’t know everything.” Yet she still liked the idea. “I’ve always had a good feeling about old houses.”
So they thought about it, took another look around and Pauline came around to the idea of another fixer-upper. Over their many years together, the Bracketts have embarked on a number of renovation projects and with home values skyrocketing, they saw it as a good time to sell their cottage on Forest Lake in Winchester. But that meant they needed somewhere to go.
They discussed possibly getting an RV or an apartment because since they’re both retired, they like to travel in the winter months. But the more they talked about it, the more idea of buying an old house made sense, especially one with so much history that served as a summer getaway for the Bernbaum family for 80 years before the previous owners, Lloyd and Kathleen Robinson bought it in the mid-1980s as a year-round residence.
And they came to the conclusion the 2,700 square foot house with a 1,700 square foot barn would be perfect for a pandemic project. Although it was apparent from the get go that it would take some time before it felt like a finished home.
“Was there a bit of insanity? Yeah, there probably was,” Steve said, adding their friends were shocked at their choice. “To buy an old house and fix it up, that’s what we did when we were in our 20s. But this is really kind of a luxury at this stage of our lives. And this was just begging to be redone on every level.”
The Bracketts closed on the property in October and immediately came up with a priority list to get it to a point where it merely felt livable. The first order of business was replacing the steam boiler, which had cracked leaving the home with no heat for the previous eight years.
Since moving in at the beginning of November, the projects have been nonstop and spread throughout the house. The kitchen, which Steve said he’s almost certain was added on along with the dining room after the original construction, was totally gutted and given a modern feel. It was clear it had been renovated a number of times since the house was built, so the nostalgic feel of an old school kitchen just wasn’t there.
“And I wanted a real easy, functional kitchen,” Pauline said.
There was a four inch pitch to the floor, which was straight out of the 60s, so that was completely redone and during the demolition, the Bracketts found a 25-foot well below that had water in it with access from the barn. They bought all new stainless steel appliances and cabinets, installed hardwood floors, an island and quartz countertops.
They have also renovated the ¾ bath on the first floor and the wash room adjacent to the kitchen where they kept the copper sink and the butler window, but the project list is still quite lengthy. And there’s a simple thought process around each renovation.
“Know what you can do and what you have to hire out,” Pauline said.
Walk in the front door and you enter the main hallway with stairs leading to the second floor. To the left is the living space, which boasts one of five fireplaces, and includes a photograph by JA French of the home from the 1870s.
On your right is the parlor and one of the few rooms the Bracketts don’t plan on doing much to. There is beautiful stenciling almost everywhere you look in the parlor, underneath years of wallpaper and paint, as well as in the hallway, that they were told was done by local Moses Eaton, although they are awaiting confirmation on the authenticity from a wall preservation expert.
“There are some real treasures here,” Pauline said.
They were also told that there is Rufus Porter inspired mural in the home, but as of now the only place left to search is behind the wallpaper in the dining room, but renovations to that room is in phase 2.
Upstairs there’s a master with a bathroom, which will be updated at some point, and a large guest room. There’s a third bathroom that needs to be brought back into use, that the Bracketts believe was once part of the service quarters, along with another bedroom.
The basement had “almost been abandoned,” Steve said, but they decided to fix it up and redo the stairs, while installing the new boiler and heat pump water heater. The attic, which is still filled with stuff from the previous owners even though the Bracketts have made an estimated 40 trips to the dump, includes hand-hewn beams that shows the character and attention to detail that was put into the construction.
“The key for us is as long as it was well done,” Steve said.
There is a quite a bit to do to the outside. In the next couple months, the roof will be replaced and the side porch is currently being replaced. This summer, the outside will be given a fresh coat of white and green on the shutters. They’ve already had two of the three chimneys rebuilt. Steve said they plan to bring back the white picket fence that appears in the picture that was included in the book “Jaffrey Center New Hampshire.”
“That’s what we’d like to get it to look like again,” Steve said.
The back porch will also be reconstructed this summer, while the backyard, which had a large number of small saplings, needs some TLC.
The barn was originally constructed with 12 columns for support, but only three remained intact and it sagged 18 inches in the back, so Steve began the process of securing it, but it will take some time to bring it all the way back.
From the outside, one might wonder why anyone would decide to buy a home that had sat vacant for so long. But the Bracketts saw something in the 200-plus year old historic house in the historic district.
“The whole house has such a good feel,” Steve said. “And the age of this is what interesting to me.”