A Proud Owner

Divided Back, unused Real Photo Postcard. Circa 1910s – 1930s.

Price:  $5.00

“The window is not broken, it is the reflection of the sun.”

This is a Tudor-style house, as we can see from the steep-pitched roof, the tall windows, and the decorative half-timbering on the gable. If you look at the upper portion of the side of the house you might think you’re seeing wood shingle siding but that overlapping effect must be just an illusion – look at the lower half and you’ll see brick. There’s a small built-in front porch with a rounded archway, and the front facade of the house is stuccoed above the, would one say, brick wainscoting? The top segments of the bay windows are called awning windows, and it’s one of these that appears to be broken, but like the proud owner says, it’s a reflection of the sun. And there’s the gentleman himself, posing to the side, in suit and fedora. There are two small potted evergreens that look like they might be for planting elsewhere, and note the key that’s hanging in the door. Looking closer still, we see a zigzag pattern of tile for the porch floor. And the windows in the door and on each side (does this remind anyone of the 1960s or ’70s?) are done in some type of privacy glass with a pebbled effect.

Old House Real Photo Postcard

Old House pc (1)Old House pc (2)

Nice Real Photo Postcard of an old house, possibly built around 1910 – 1920s, location unknown. Found in Salinas, California but this could be from a variety of states. After looking at different house descriptions online, and having bought a book entitled A Field Guide to American Houses, I would say this is a Craftsman style bungalow.  A broad range of dates for this CYKO stamp box would be around 1904 – 1920’s, but with the divided back, and the style of house I’m guessing the photo is from around the 1910s or early ’20s.

Real Photo Postcard, divided back, unused with CYKO stamp box. Circa 1910s – early 1920s.

Price:  $6.00

Source:  McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. 1984. New York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. Print.