Historic Kimball Cottage

22 Courtyard Circle Notes

Origins

When the fashion of the times drew wealthy Bostonians to the White Mountains to be close to Lakes and to nature, and  long before Castle in the Clouds, industrialist Richard D. Kimball built his grand cottage overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee at Alton Bay.

Richard Kimball made his fortune designing heating and cooling systems for railroad cars. He purchased a parcel of land cut from the north field of Jewett Farm, with shoreline on Lake Winnipesaukee from the estate of Anzonetta Kelly in 1903.

The cottage overlooking the Lake is a two floor cross gable revival style home constructed entirely of American Chestnut.  The house is solid and inside gives no indication whatsoever of the sometimes strong winds blowing across the Bay.   Beside the structure, the wall and ceilings  are completely paneled in chestnut, and the floors are Douglas fir.

The cottage sported five bedrooms and one master bedroom, each with running water, plus a bathroom.  Today the bathroom is modernized but still keeping with the historic character. The bedrooms take on  a new purpose as an office with ethernet, music room, library, walk in closet, guest bedroom and master bedroom with picture window.  A full stair accessible attic has standing headroom, and the “maids” room remains complete with a period bed. Each room has electric heat and overhead fans.   Windows are Pella, and the present owners further improved the north facing windows with Seacost windows .

The Kimball’s cottage remained in the family for seventy three years. The surrounding  farm has 70 acres still owned by that original family and is beautiful woodland all in current use.   Subsequent owners have made noteworthy enhancements, culminating in the current turning it into a year round home, having spent the past eleven years living here year round.

Descriptions

The downstairs is heated  by forced hot air, the water from a 50 gallon electric heater.

The home is heated mostly by a single woodstove burning  6 – 8 cords of wood.

The backup oil system uses approximately 30 gallons of oil per year.

Heating Improvement

The cellar is a completely contained environment. The stone foundations and floors were completely sealed with insulation. The firm that did this specialized in containing spaces in older structures with high tech solutions. They have been active in providing spaces to museums and historic homes.  Every inch is covered.  Not your typical spray foam guys.

Payback was quick. That winter it was January. We had not run the furnace at all at this point. No heat of any kind entered the cellar. It was 5 degrees outside and the wind had been blowing fiercely.  The temperature in the cellar was 42 degrees!  The effects of this improvement were far reaching. Up till this point I was considering insulating blankets over the heat ducts, insulating the floor, insulating plumbing should the power go out, and caulking air leaks. After all, no one ever lived here in the winter.  Now, no need. Air coming out of the far reaches of the ductwork was actually hot. Drafts disappeared. When the furnace finished its firing cycle, the blower kept cycling. There was an abundance of warm air still left in the plenum. Wood stoves which suck air into the living space no longer created drafts. You could leave the cellar door open with no ill effects.  As to oil backup, we went from multiple fills of the 275 gallon tank, to maybe 30-40 gallons per season.  Amazing improvement.

Windows

The porch is enclosed with Seacoast windows.  Given the winds that can come off the bay, we wanted something more than your usual conversion windows.  We hired out the job to Seacoast Windows. These are the people who put up the windows for homes along the New Hampshire coastline.  If these windows cans withstand the winds from the Atlantic Ocean, they should work for us.  They do.    These windows were also installed upstairs in three north facing windows and the downstairs bathroom.

Chimney Flues

Although the chimney flues were modernized and ceramic flue lined, we decided to make a further improvement. We burn year round. The stove is lit in December and stays on till spring.  We utilized the state of the art chimney flue insert professionally installed both for the stove and the furnace. The flue has a lifetime guarantee  is transferable.  It provides good draft and cleaning can be done efficiently.

Laundry Room Insulation

With the laundry room and its plumbing on the north side of the house, extra steps were taken to safeguard the plumbing.  The chestnut wall was removed, the blown insulation as well. The exterior wall was insulated with rigid foam panels and sealed with canned spray foam.  Then the inner wall was created with rigid foam over the studs, thus eliminating heat transfer through the wood of the studs, then sprayed.  The window(Seacoast) sills and frames were replaced with wider wood to accommodate the new thickness.  The original chestnut panels where then GRK screwed in through the interior rigid panel to the studs. The panels then repainted. When completed it looked like nothing was done at all!    However, the north wall is 1 ½ in foam, air space, then complete foam and then wooden wall. It is the warmest room in the house and no safeguards are needed for the  laundry plumbing.

Property Lots

There are five separate properties and five tax bills.  There is the main house, Lot 49, and the Boat House, Lot 49A. The house has grounds of about 2 acres. The adjacent lots that make this up are two building lots of record, and a lot that serves as a strip of land connecting them that can provide  access in a variety of ways should the lots be built upon.

Waterfront.  Because of the unique historic way the Kimball summer residence was created, the lot that is on Lake Winnipesaukee and contains the modern boat house, docks, decks, slips and boat lift(capable of lifting 8000 lbs.), is not taxed as “waterfront” property.  The property is an appurtenance to the house and because of the  right of way to use the road, it is considered “water access”.  Accordingly, it is taxed for far less.

Information for the Handy

“If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy” – Red Green

People have different tastes and good work should not be destroyed.  This is information that can be useful as you put your mark on your new home.

There was an electric range. The wiring for that is there and connected to the service panel. You only need to connect it.

Wiring for a garbage disposal is present and the switch. One can easily be connected.

The kitchen floor as you enter is a dark tile. In the kitchen work area it is vinyl. Tile is an unforgiving surface to stand on if you spent a great deal of time in the kitchen. The vinyl flooring provides a good cushion. However, it is a floating floor sitting on the same tile. It is not affixed. It is interlocking tongue and grove  and can be easily removed in about 30 minutes.

Baseboards are attached with GRK fasteners. A drill bit and a drill, and you can back them out, remove the board for access to the flooring material, and put it back when done with no effort or damage. This is for the kitchen and two bathrooms.

The bathroom flooring is vinyl and is laid on, not glued. Easy to remove.

The garage door on the north is functional. Insulated foam board is placed on the interior during the winter. It does a great deal to cut our wind and cold and keeps the garage quite warm. It is made to be easily removed in the summer for access to the deck etc.

The Future

Investors are looking now. We have a newly built boathouse and 2 building lots of record.  Boathouses are no longer permitted to be built no matter how much money you have.  We so much need to find a couple who appreciate old houses. This  early 1900 lifestyle needs to live on.

Not a boater?   Not a problem.  We started with two kayaks.    The boathouse and slips are highly desired rental docks. You can rent out the slips and it is enough to pay the property tax for ALL the property.  That’s how we started.

Details

Property ID
695647

6
Bedrooms

2
Bathrooms

Square Footage
3347

Lot Size
1.82

Year Built
1903

Style
Greek Revival

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