Ghost house #1, Chateau/Manchester

This blogger catches poison ivy if he just looks at it funny.  So it was with some trepidation that I waded into the calf-high weeds in short pants to snap this pair of ghost houses in the 1400 block of Chateau Street.

O but the risk was worth it! What prime examples of the form! The first (larger) house was clearly a short, two-story dwelling that lacked the big Italianate profile of the extant. It looks like a squat single-story addition (or possibly large porch) was added off the back. The extra roof line may be an added dormer, or it could have just been a line left from a since-removed gutter.

The second (smaller) ghost house is really remarkable. Two stories, and a centered chimney with no expansion. This entire house may have only been the two rooms (one up/one down), maybe five or six-hundred square feet; probably very old.

Ghost house #2, Chateau/Manchester

The finder’s fee on this one goes to Orbit superfan Lee Floyd who spotted the first house driving by on Chateau Street and was able to locate an approximate address on the computer internet. He astutely spun Google Maps around to catch the first house’s ghost sister just down the block. Together they make a great one-two ghost house party!

Google will eventually put all citizen-journalists out of business, but for now, it still took a nice rain-threatening bicycle ride to the neighborhood to get the quality photographs Orbit readers have come to expect. This particular section of Chateau/Manchester (still not sure what’s what down there) has other some really nice things that also got stashed in the digital photo bag. Hopefully they’ll surface in some future post(s).

Don’t Bogart the Calamine lotion! Full profile of house #1 from the poison ivy.