One of the few concessions to modern living is the second floor bathroom toilet.  The first floor bathroom had a murphy bed type urinal that folded up against the wall. The servant's bathroom in the basement still has a tin tub. The second floor slop sink, used by the maids to wash their mops, has the wooden holding tank that sat above the sink.  The sink itself is in the attic broken in half.  One of the most unusual treasures, is a box filled with wallpaper from the 80 plus years the house remained in the doctor’s family.  And, much to everyone’s delight, 95% of the woodwork is in it's original unpainted state!

The Lost Stained Glass Window

The 1905 fire took the two towers, one of which gave an additional two stories to the building.  It also destroyed a cupola and several third floor windows.  The present day roof line reflects that portions of the third floor were never rebuilt.  To make up for the change in the roof line, the doctor added a new stained glass window to the 15 that were already in the house.  This new window was in a 7 foot wide, 4 foot half circle shape. It resided just under the roof peak on the front side of the house.  When the sun shined through it the rose glass took on a wonderful light pink glow.  It may have been created by one of Tiffany's students since his wife was from Norwich.  In November of 1999, close to 100 years after it was built, 11 months after we bought the house, and just a few weeks before the window was to be boarded up for protection, a 50 mile an hour wind sucked it right out of the house.  The glass fell 50 foot and most shattered.  Amazingly some pieces were undamaged. 

There were several reasons for the accident.  First, the frame had not been maintained in several years and the glass was loose.  Second, the leading was not soldered to reinforcing bars. Although the other large windows in the house were reinforced, this one was not. Third, a few weeks before, a contractor for the City of Norwich had been dynamiting on the street out front making the whole house shake. We could never prove this was a contributing factor, since the damage happened a few weeks later.  The fourth factor was of course, the high wind.  

The window now sits in a box.  It is sad that such a large, beautiful window fits in such a small box.  The good news is that an artisan in Boston can recreate the window from photographs when we are ready to replace it. 

Over the years the house was never remodeled so that thankfully, most of the original woodwork and many light fixtures are still present.  The quality and good condition of the woodwork is amazing given the condition of the upper floors.  When I purchased the place there were over 30 children’s wading pools in the attic.  These were positioned in a last ditch effort to catch the ever increasing flow of rain.  A hose and sump pump system was used to drain the water.  During that first January, you could stand in the middle of the attic and collect snow on our outstretched hands. 

Our first few months were spent removing 20 tons of plaster and lathe. Since then the rotten rafters have been repaired.  A few years later, the 5000 plus sq ft roof was re-decked and re-roofed.  That in itself was an adventure. You can see photos on the following pages.