[1]For the last year, 2 developers have been buying up old, dilapidated homes in the South Park Historic District [2] of Dayton Ohio. They’ve been working like crazy the last three months getting the houses ready for Rehabarama- the showcase of renovated homes.
[3]This is the second time we’ve hosted Rehabarama in our neighborhood- the first time was in 2001 and was funded by the city. This time, it’s all sweat equity and a labor of love by Theresa Gasper and Michael DeFlora, the developers.
[4]Just yesterday the house behind mine didn’t have a yard with grass, or any interior furnishings- as of 4pm yesterday- it was ready to show. The tour is free, come to the tent off Park Drive (1 block North of Wyoming at Wayne Ave).
Houses that you could have bought for $30,000 last year- are now ready to buy for anywhere from $130,000 to $249,000. One on my street has already sold for $230,000.
It’s another great thing to do in Dayton- that’s free and fun.
It will run through Oct 22nd. So come on down.
More info on the homes here:
http://realestate.daytondailynews.com/daytondailynews/rehabarama.jsp [5]
Sweet. I will be done there sometime in the next week.
Some comments on the tour (i took it on Saturday) 1. I wonder if I was impressed more by the fabulous interior decoration in some of these houses as much as the houses. 2. The last house on Bradford Street was a suprise. Small in SF, it was HUGE in volume. It looks like this cottage had 10 ceilings, which gave the place a very spacious feel. Leaving the house and looking across the street I saw a similar one, and then though of all the other houses like this in South Park, and then elsewhere in Dayton and it dawned on me what grand living spaces the old city has…even in the smaller homes. 3. The house on Oak Street with the picture window. I really liked that the decorators didn’t try to ignore that retro 50s/60s feature, but done up the interior in a sort of modernist style to work with the window. Pretty clever! Shows that old houses can be done up modern inside (sort of the same lesson from house #1) 4. House # 8 on Oak. Very sharp job on connecting the living area with the kitchen, and the little side window helps lighten up the kitchen. Nice way of making the hous seem less boxy inside. 5. The Baumann House on Oak Street. Seeing this one realizes whats involved in restoring old Dayton houses, and why the city is probably under greater threat than one realizes as there are whole neighborhoods that need this guy/remodel treatment, not just South Park. 6. The converted double on Park Drive. Wow. Just wow. This place is on about an acre, it seems. Huge yard to go along with a huge house. Fabulous job with the kitchen (and that holds for all of these houses), with the nice big windows over the sink. In general: a. The wood interior trim on many of these was great…almost Piatt Castle style in some. T b. he use of the L and T plan, even if its just minor extensions, usually means little side doors and windows to let in light… Read more »
What a great time for South Park! Looks like I sold my house too soon…
Any chance there are pictures that you can post or link to?
Check out the gorgeous glass work at the Bonner house! =)
Wow this event is fantastic, I have lived in the suburbs all my life and now view Dayton homes in a different light.
Rehabarama should occur every year, it is a really fun event.
Thanks God for Mike Turner starting this event, too bad Rhine McClin doesnt have a brain to do anything good for the city. I hope the next mayor is not as stupid as her.
Did Mike Turner start Rehabarama?
He likes to take credit for it.
He was involved.
I wouldn’t thank God for anything involving Mike Turner.
OK,thanx David. don’t want to detour.
I need to go back and see that last Johnson St. house. Maybe this Saturday as I will be downtown that day.
I’m thinking of posting some house pix at my blog or Urban Ohio.
OK,thanx David. don’t want to detour.
I need to go back and see that last Johnson St. house. Maybe this Saturday as I will be downtown that day.
I’m thinking of posting some house pix at my blog or Urban Ohio as a wrap up. They need to make this an annual event in the city.
Would the homebuilders or maybe the contractors association be up for a private sector funded annual Rehabarama, rotating through the historic districts?
Why limit it only to historic districts?
There’s a lot of neighborhoods in Dayton that have lots of historic homes to renovate, but lack the historic district designation.
The interior design in the first bungalow with the Japanese theme and brightly colored dining room was done by David Fair. I was able to talk with him a short while and gave him some mad props for his work.
“Why limit it only to historic districts?
There’s a lot of neighborhoods in Dayton that have lots of historic homes to renovate, but lack the historic district designation.”
Yeah, you’re right.
One neighborhood that could use a Rehabarma (and historic district designation) would be Paul Lawrence Dunbar Street, from Wolf Creek to, say, that project just before you get to Germantown Street. And maybe some side streets of of it, including parts of W 3rd.
I bet no one reading this knows this street, but it has some pretty impressive architecutre, both large and small. Even more grand, in some cases, than what one see’s in South Park.
Another place I’d like to see brought back would be Xenia Avenue and the streets running off of it, up to St Marys. Xenia is one of the best streets in the city for relic neighborhood shops, and old houses. The streets off it sometimes remind me of pix of Algiers Point or Bywater in NOLA.
I know the area well.
As for Xenia Ave., if enough people keep repeating this mantra, “Xenia Ave. is the new Yellow Springs,” it could become that. Of course, lower rents and focus, focus, focus and recruiting and retaining the bohemian class would go a long, long way.
I see Xenia Ave. much as I do the Northside Neighborhood of Cincinnati 15 years ago.