Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-13
BY GEORGE III. DACY.

A WASHINGTON school teacher,
~ marking back to the popular
"A pastime Of the American pio-
Il u neers. has built his house and
has furnished this handsome
and well planned structure with furni-
ture, fittings and fixtures which also
are products Of his amateur crafts
manship.
Prof. Joseph II. Wilson has lowered
the cost of building by serving as his
own architect, carpenter, contractor
and cabinetmaker. Make an inspec-
ton tour Of the mansions and bun
salows in the upper Sixteenth street
section, and you will find that the
Six-room- and-attic house which Mr..
Wilson has erected is "A we'll built and
as practically planned as any which
nave been constructed and designed
by professional talent.
This modern house is the offspring
OF hard work, faithful application dur
ing vacation days and the use OF
spap-time evening hours designated
10 the task of homemaking. 1t rep
fesents bruised fingers. tired muscles,
aching backs and the many other
complaints which accrue when per
acn of sedentary calling engages in
manual labor.
1t might be called the house of
ZOO blisters.' The teacher-builder
pulled slivers by the score from
lascerated fingers and nursed blisters
which developed like weeds in gar
den on his tender hands. His at
tr2ctive home Is surely a product of
loves labor. geared for work which
Would have turned back less de-
termfned and persistent type of build
er than Prof. Wilson.
Abandoning his leather-cushioned
chair in the schoolroom with the com
ing of the Summer vacation season,
this educator donned khaki working
clothes, stout shoes and an old straw
hat, drove to his newly purchased
property in the Northwest section
ground his AK on an old shioned
SrlndStone and went to work cutting
down 65-foot poplar trees. There were
two poplars and one 50foot spruce
which had to be felled before the
foundation could be eXcaVated. With
the mercury standing around % it
was about as warm work as one could
find in the District.
Eventually the trio of lofty trees
was felled. sawed and chopped into
fireplace fuel. The builder hired an
experienced crew to eXcaVate the base
ment and let the contract for building
the concrete foundation. When the
base of the proposed house was dry
enough to work upon the teacher and
day to assist him. set the stills of the
house and placed the main girder in
proper position. Eighty days later the
house was completed sufficiently so
that the Wilson family could take pos
session.
THE, preceding Winter and Spring
this District teacher had devoted
his evening hours TO planning and
designing his homemade house. He
decided to build a two-story Dutch
colonial. with full attic. because Of
its artistic beauty and popularity in |
this section of the country. The blue |
prints as finally COMPLETENESS. this |
amateur draughtsman prepared his
plans in the regulation way-featured
a large living room on the first floor
as we'll as dining room. kitchen. |
pantry and closets. The second floor |
has two bedrooms. bath. a library, |
linen storage and several closets. The |
attic provided plenty of shelves and |
storage space.
Even before the excavation for the |
house was finished, Prof. Wilson built |
his garage. frame structure with |
composition shingle roof. II is one
car garage with space for small WORK
bench along one side. Building the
garage first eliminated the need of con-
structing a tool she'd the garage be-
ing used for that purpose. Hand tools.
nails, hardware and similar building
supplies We're stored in the automobile
shelter.
Prof Wilson hired two of his high
school students, who were handy with
tools and who were anxious to secure
outdoor work for the Summer. to as
sist him in the home-building cam
paign. These young fellows worked
as roustabouts They aided in the
rough carpentry and also painted the
structure as rapidly as it rose from
the ground.
Washington has been the scene of |!
several novel house construction enter
prises during recent years. Out near
Cabin John one of the experts of the
Department of Agriculture built |
large home with walls of earth. made
in the style of the pise de terre houses
of France and England.
Out in the neighbonhood Of Be-