Compilation of links to my Lakeside cottage architecture stories

Most of these were written during the summer of 2008 and 2009. There has been more remodeling, more upgrades, more rules, but essentially Lakeside remains the same. My garage posts are pt. 11 and pt. 12. Not everyone writes about old garages, but that’s the advantage of following this blog!  Here’s a story about what Lakeside (and the Bruces) looked like in 1974.

What we looked like in 1974.  http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2008/07/lakeside-2008-nostalgia-thats-one-of.html

This is pt. 4 with links to 1,2,3 http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/lakeside-cottage-architecture-pt-4.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/lakeside-cottage-architecture-pt-5.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/lakeside-cottage-architecture-pt-6.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/lakeside-cottage-architecture-pt-7.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/lakeside-cottage-architecture-pt-8.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/lakeside-cottage-architecture-pt-9.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/lakeside-cottage-architecture-pt-10.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/lakeside-cottage-architecture-pt-11.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/08/lakeside-cottage-architecture-pt-12.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/nimfy-not-in-my-front-yard.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/01/garage-slab-winter-issue-is-now-out.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/every-town-should-have-guys-club-as-far.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2011/07/down-side-of-historic-preservation.html

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/07/made-in-usa.html

Now for today's project--painting the garage

Instead of buying off the shelf storage units for the garage, we had some new shelves and a tall closet built to hang out with the former kitchen cabinets. The bottom two shelves are stationery, the others can be moved. The cabinets won't be painted on the inside, so they are already jammed. I think we could have purchased gold plated cheaper, but oh well, the price you pay for living with an architect. We also have beautiful new hardware that doesn't match the hinges. Hate that. Here's Paul Miller and a few scenes from today's project--which will probably last 3 days. The last photo is stuff that needs to go either to a shredder, a technology dump, or back on the shelves. I wonder what people do who have a clutter problem? We're actually rather tidy people.

Paul is doing a lot of careful prep work--that's the key to a good paint job whether interior or exterior. Clean, sand, fill holes, etc.

Garage Slab--Winter issue is now out

You may recall my enthusiasm for garages--I did a little photo essay on Lakeside's garages this past summer because garage architectural history is a few years younger than the automobile, which at first shared space with the horses in the stable. Lakeside cottage owners constantly remodel, but some have let the ivy grow over the garage listing in the back yard, so it's fun to investigate their styles. I didn't finish that theme and still have some photos on my laptop waiting for my brilliant critique. But in the meantime, I found Garage Slab, a new publication for garage lovers published right here in Columbus, or rather, Bexley. The winter issue is out, and I'm going to have a few copies to distribute. As I said in November (and I think it is still true),

"Attractive design; clever theme; humor; great photography; good quality paper; nice graphics and layout; an abundance of advertisers; published and printed in Columbus by Greasy Shirt Publishing, but available in 11 other states."

Serendipity is a librarian's best tool

Yesterday as I stepped through the door of Panera's, Tina gave me a shout out--"Norma! We don't have any coffee!" I could have had espresso with some water added, or hot tea, but instead I headed two blocks south passing up a Starbucks to Caribou which used to be my morning spot. While there I picked up a "free circ" I'd never seen before--The Garage Slab. It wasn't a vol.1 no.1, but it was on a topic I'd recently covered in my blog--garages. If you've got any guys on your Christmas list who are hard to buy for, this is it. Four issues for $12.95. Not only is it about the style and contents of garages, but beer, sports, tools and cars. And each issue has a "guest mechanic" so if you like to write, you might just submit something. From the web site: instructions Although this issue's dedication to Aldrich Hamilton, a former newspaper man and printer, who "died," was resuscitated, and 20 hours later was photographed and interviewed reading his issue, would be hard to beat. I think he was interviewed by his son.

If you could visit anyone's garage whose would it be?
My son's, he has half of my tools! He hasn't changed a bit!!
There's even an advice column called Peg's Board. "Dear Peg, How do I get my buddies out of my garage without getting flack from them about being old and boring now that I have a wife and kid?" Seeking sleep in Solon, Ohio.

Dear Sleep Seeker, (gives a list of suggestions and etiquette rules), then, "Barring that just kick 'em out when you're ready for bed and blame it on your wife. She'll never know."

Attractive design; clever theme; humor; great photography; good quality paper; nice graphics and layout; an abundance of advertisers; published and printed in Columbus by Greasy Shirt Publishing, but available in 11 other states.

Lakeside Cottage Architecture, pt. 12

Garages--the extreme makeover
Garages pt. 2, attached

Some garages were attached, then incorporated into the house; others became another cottage. These are what I call "extreme make-over" garages.







This used to be a four bay fire station, built in 1954, then was converted to a laundromat in 1970, with the last bay on the right becoming the drop off and staffing area, which a few years ago then became a very nice deli called Summer Stock. I've heard that this is its final year as a laundromat. Many now have machines in their cottages, but there's nothing like a commercial laundromat for mattress covers and bedspreads.

Lakeside cottage architecture, pt. 11

The early attached garages
Early on, Lakesiders must have started attaching the garage to the house, especially if they didn't have large lots on which to build one. Here's an example of a classic, 19th century, cross gable house which used to have a garage attached to the house. The added garage has since been incorporated into the house with yet another addition behind it.


Between the two side walls, built into the corner, a slopping shed roof garage was created. The blue lines show the original house, the green lines the location of the former garage. (Please excuse the primitive drawing--it's my primitive, no upgrade Paint Program.) What's interesting about this garage, is that the original doors are still there, cut in half, to form windows that swing in. It was that way when the current owners bought it, and the garage probably wasn't as large as I've shown it, but no one really knows.


This one, a gable to the side shed dormer to the street, on the same street, had a garage added to the back, then that garage was incorporated as a room, and another garage was added to that. Because this is one of the older neighborhoods, space for a garage was limited.


Here's another house on the same street that was able to fit a garage on the lot, attached to the house. It still has the original doors.

This attached garage has 4 lights over three 2 panel doors, and I haven't seen very many of those. Also looks like the roof was raised after it was built.



Part one of garages, 6 lights over 3 panel doors

Lakeside Cottage Architecture, pt. 10

Early 20th century garages

It’s rare that I can’t find a topic on the internet by googling a few sets of words, but I think I’ve found one: the architectural history of the American garage. The garage as a piece of America's towns and cities is now about 100 years old--and the earliest are disappearing--except here, where time occasionally stands still or slows down. American Garage Magazine (online) reports the Robie House (Frank Lloyd Wright) was one of the earliest to have a garage in 1906.

Lakeside is a good petri dish for this research. As Midwestern towns go, Lakeside isn’t very old, having been founded in 1873 as a summer campground then growing into a resort with a few permanent residents. For about the first 50 years of its existence, visitors to the Christian campground arrived either by boat, or by rail from Sandusky or Toledo. When a bridge was made across the bay, people began coming by automobile in the 1920s. Rail passenger service ended in 1930 due to drastic losses in passenger ticket sales.

I lived in two small Illinois towns in the 1940s and 1950s and many garages had previously been small carriage houses or barns. Lakesiders didn’t arrive by carriage and left their horses at home so few needed a stable, although some of the local permanent residents probably had horses. Lakeside also didn't have alleys, like the cities and small towns of Ohio where garages for houses were accessible.

Although I'm not sure why summer residents wanted garages, I'm guessing the automobile in the 20s wasn't as durable as today. In the 1920s, garages were first located some distance from the house there being some fear of the gasoline engine. I'm calling the first group six lights over three panels for the door style.


These little cuties with different roof styles both have six panes over three panels in doors that swing forward. The one on the left seems to have the original siding. Both are quite a distance from the street.






This is an early "attached" garage--same door style, but added to the kitchen lean to which had been added to the basic cottage. Early cottages didn't have kitchens or bathrooms.


Same door style, but much bigger building. Also, no visible drive-way which is the case for many garages in Lakeside which haven't seen a car in years.



It's hard to find original siding in Lakeside--it's been wrapped in vinyl siding, but here's a home and garage, 6 over 3, both with original siding.