Restoring the Oakley house
In today's paper there is a brief write up about the Delman's their job on the Oakley house. Here is a little bit more information.
Every morning Richard Delman can be found outside in his porch reading the paper.
And every morning that he goes out to his porch, Richard is pleased with the results.
Richard and his wife Petrina spent five years restoring the 1887 stick-style Victorian house on Euclid Avenue.
The Oakley House has been in the Delman family since 1940, and Richard always envisioned that one day he would restore it to its original form.
It wasn't an easy task, Petrina took to reading Victorian magazines and Richard visited the library.
The homeowners have received the Model Colony's Rehabilitation and Restoration Award for their efforts.
"We appreciate the city acknowledging this old house as much as we did," Petrina said.
Attention to detail was the key to the restoration.
From taking eight months to paint the exterior of the house to buying replica doorknobs and hinges, Richard and Petrina said they wanted to make it as original as possible.
The house was in good condition, there was things done to it that need to be restored to its original condition, Richard said.
The couple traveled to antique shops in Pasadena and even Los Angeles to find the missing pieces.
As part of that, they removed half of the front porch, which was not original to the building.
"I've always been interested in history. The house is just an extension of my like for history," Richard said.
The home does include an addition of 750 square foot, which includes the kitchen and master bedroom upstairs, Petrina said.
The easiest part of the construction was during the whole process the couple lived in their home of 30 years, in Rancho Cucamonga.
The house had been Richard's parents Ella and O.K. Delman. It was first purchased by his grandmother Francis Logan (founder of Logans candy).
"I like Ontario and we did not want to leave here. We knew someday we wanted to preserve it," Richard said.
The house was built in 1887 for Abraham Oakley and his family on a 10-acre orange grove, he said.
In 1890 Oakley passed away and it appears that the property was subdivided and the remainder of the Oakley family moved to Los Angeles, Richard said.
In 1920 the house was sold to a teacher at Chaffey high school and then in the 1940s his grandmother purchased the home, he said.
The goal of the addition was to make the transition as seamless as possible, Richard said.
To help with the authenticity of the new addition, Richard sent pieces of their crown moldings up north where they could make replicas.
A couple of weeks later those moldings, delivered by truck, were installed in the kitchen and the new master bedroom, Petrina said.
But the Delmans aren't done.
Richard said he has removed about five layers of paint that covered the stairway, and his next effort will be to sand and stain it.
"It's exciting living in a house that has so much history," Richard said.
[TAG1]liset.marquez@inlandnewspapers.com,
<MC>(909) 483-8556.
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| Liset Márquez has covered the city of Ontario for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin since 2008. She started the OntarioNow blog in August 2008. To contact Liset, leave a comment on this blog or send an e-mail to Liset Marquez |
This has been really interesting but how do I bookmark this? I tried Digg but do I have to sign up first?