Reviving one vintage house at a time
By Scherrie Goettsch • After Photos by Jennifer Kettler
With each house Dr. Ann Havey finishes, one more piece of the neighborhood fabric is retained rather than destroyed. Although some of the eroding 1930s and 1940s housing stock in central Columbia is destined for a complete teardown, Ann has an eye for finding salvageable vintage houses. Looking for signs of character — usually buried under years of neglect — captivates her in a way much like her pathology training during medical school helps her determine the cause of somebody’s death.
Ann is not your typical house-flipper. Unlike most, she is not out to make a fast buck. Peeling back the layers of grit and grime is a slow process. Surprisingly, Ann seems to enjoy the dirty work — the cleaning, sanding, scrubbing, raking, painting, organizing and arranging. Although money is not the driving force behind her efforts, a major factor is finding a creative outlet from her day job as associate clinical professor of pathology at the University of Missouri’s School of Medicine. Her husband, John Havey, an orthopedic surgeon, would rather spend his free time outside on the golf course, but he accepts their differences, knowing that Ann finds pleasure in the challenge.
“What I enjoy most about these projects is seeing the transformation,” Ann said. Starting her seventh renovation project — a house on Worley Street — she noted: “I love seeing a house go from sad and neglected to warm and welcoming … and inviting. So I could see the potential in this house, even in its sad state. Because this is the seventh house I’ve done, I feel like I’m getting better at identifying structurally sound but cosmetically sad houses.”
Full disclosure: As a friend, I frequently meet Ann and her realtor, Randi Bishop, to look at a prospective house in less-than-desirable condition to offer an opinion. Ann is constantly in search of her next fixer-upper. These foraging trips are a lot like going fishing and hoping to catch the big one. Although bait is aplenty, Ann is not quick to bite. She often spends many months in search of her next project, calculating which areas of a house might be enhanced the most.
“When I walked into this house, immediately, I saw that the floor plan was good and that the light was good — lots of light from the windows was good, and that is essential,” Ann said. “It’s got to have a good floor plan and good light. I just started as I always do, redoing it in my mind and thinking this is what I could do to improve this or that. Then I think about costs for each of those projects, and if the selling price is in the range that I can afford to do all those changes, then I make an offer and get an inspection. An inspection is critical because sometimes there are defects that I don’t see.” So far, however, only once did an inspection turn up information that ultimately led to her backing out of a purchase.
“You learn so much with each house,” Ann said. “With the first house, it was on-the-job training because I had no experience, and yet I could see the potential of that first house that was in our neighborhood.” It was during the summer of 1998 that Ann sought a complete change in her lifestyle and career to fix up a house that she saw every day in her Grasslands neighborhood. The Ridgeley Road house has been home to Andrew and Cynthia Beverley ever since.
Although Ann’s primary job is still teaching (she is the recipient of numerous Golden Apple and Golden Chalk for excellence in teaching awards), revitalizing houses remains her second favorite hobby. Her first is antiquing, which includes searching for the perfect furniture and accessories for each house. “It’s so different from my professional job that I enjoy the change,” Ann said. “They are both visual skills, but one is education and presenting information about disease. Even though I show teaching images, which is a very visual skill, most pathologists are so visual because they have thousands of images in their mind or saw an image in a journal article. It’s that kind of skill. I think it is innate. Some have it, and some don’t.”
Her work schedule is fairly flexible, so she can work at her hobby whenever she can fit it in. “If I teach in the afternoon, I’ll work all morning here,” Ann said. “Or if I have a free Saturday, I’ll spend the whole day here. … My husband’s happy on the golf course, and I’m happy painting a ceiling.”
If possible, Ann hopes to return the Worley house to its original vintage architectural period. Sometimes that means undoing improvements. For example, the kitchen in the last house she did, which was on West Boulevard across from the elementary school, had beautiful, original, black and butter-yellow tile work. Previous owners had tried to change the kitchen into a blue and white color scheme. They put down new flooring, new countertops and vinyl baseboard to cover up the original tile. It was so awful Ann ripped it all out. Only then did she discover the beautiful black tile baseboard in mint condition.
Those serendipitous moments are rare but wonderful. While searching the attic of the early-1940s house on Worley, contractor Dale Coble noticed in the dim light that dirt-encrusted boards stretched across some of the joists. Suspecting the boards might have had another purpose, he handed them down to Ann.
“I took them outside and washed them off; the shutters still need another scrubbing,” Ann recalled, noting the Scottie dog cutouts. “Aren’t they darling? I couldn’t tell you what kind of wood they are, but I’m going to sand them good, prime them and paint them. There are enough for the two front windows, the little gable window and the two side windows. I was thrilled. There’s only one that still has its collar intact. … Dale is my carpenter extraordinaire. He’s repaired the siding. He’s tuck-pointed the chimney, repaired the steps. He is just invaluable.”
The Worley house is the smallest Ann has restored, and compared to her last and largest house at 2,100 square feet, the 728-square-foot Worley house feels more like a life-sized dollhouse. In fact, after his latest attic find, contractor Coble has dubbed it the “Scottie-Dog House.” Ann Havey doesn’t seem to mind. Before she ever started this venture, she conceded, “I see a lot of dogs.”
RESOURCES:
Painter/Designer: Ann Havey
Plumber: Bob Lawrence
General Remodeler: Dale Coble, Anchor Home Services
Tile work in the bath and kitchen/Remodeling Contractor: Scott L. Ragland, SLR Service
Floor sanding and refinishing: Ronnie Crane, Crane’s Floor Sanding
Electrical: William Howard Electrical
Roofing: Tim Bagby, Bagby Construction
Kitchen & Bath Flooring: Carpet One, Donna Frerking, designer
Tree work: Darrell Nelson’s Tree Service
Antiques: Artichoke Annie, Marketplace Antiques
Paint: Johnston Paint & Decorating
