Deere-Wiman House
A look inside: The living room
When Deere-Wiman House was built the living room (pictured above) was divided into two rooms, or parlors. The wall cut the room in half from east to west. This means today's fireplace did not exist. On the diving wall there were two fireplaces, back to back, one in each room. Luckily we found photographs of the two parlors dated about 1900. These photographs are very helpful in showing us what the two rooms looked like. They also help us see what had to change when the rooms were made into one large living room. When they removed the center wall it meant that they removed a center support wall. So besides the two parlor fireplaces, they also had to remove two fireplaces on the second floor and the chimney all the way to the roof. There was no longer a wall to support all that weight.
Once the wall was removed they had to put in a new floor, decorative ceiling, build a new chimney on the exterior wall, and panel the entire room with walnut. The only thing that is original to the 1872 house is the wood frame around the arched doorway of the south end of the room.
Library
Living room
Bedroom
Dining room
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