RIVERSIDE

“This home was very grand in its time, just need to use your imagination,” an old realtor’s listing for 191 1st Street, Riverside, read.

When Wellman residents David and Lisa Brown learned that their business, Chief Investments, had won the auction for the house in 2021, they were surprised, because there had been a lot of interest. Every time they drove by, cars with plates from across the country were parked outside, their owners checking out the property.

They also knew that after using their imaginations, it was going to take a lot of work to restore.

The Swift House, as it is known, was built in 1880 by Edward Swift, an Irish immigrant who started a brick-making business in Riverside in 1870. With three bedrooms and one bath, it had a lot of distinctive features in addition to being two stories tall and built of brick: three porches, decorative pediments above windows and doors, and slate roof tiles, for example.

But 140 years later, it had issues. Serious issues. Because a hill sloped downward directly into the house, water had been flowing for over a century in that direction too. The back portion of the house, which was a single story tall, had sunken about four feet. Uninhabited for at least the last 20 years, raccoons had used the house as their own private outhouse.

That sort of damage took some muscle – and machinery -- to undo.

The back single-story portion of the house couldn’t be salvaged, so the Browns removed it. Then they had to flatten that hill so that water would no longer drain into the house.

“Believe it or not, we hauled 30 semi-loads of dirt out of here,” David said. “Tri-axel loads, big 18-wheeler loads, not a dump truck.”

Just removing the dirt cost $20,000.

The foundation of the remaining structure was stabilized. Inside, it was gutted. Select walls were removed or cut down to waist-height to open up the space.

Then the back portion was rebuilt on a new foundation, this time with a full two stories. New flooring was installed and drywall fitted. Bathrooms were born anew, as was the kitchen. Plumbing and electric were updated and new light fixtures hung.

And yet, when you walk through (as you may at their June 8 open house), you will not mistake this for a new house. Left in place is a lot of 1880’s quirk: little doors to mysterious places. Closets with abnormally short doorways and ceilings. A catacomb of little brick rooms underground.

And all of the features that make the place spectacular and still grand: the gorgeous wood staircase with its ornate moldings and trims, now on full display without a wall there to hide it. The full brick chimney, standing like a pillar, that could still function if the homeowner desired. Colorful bands of leaded glass above the window frames, glowing reminders of a bygone era.

Although from the exterior the original and new portions of the house are distinct, as the new section is sided rather than brick, inside the transition from original to new is seamless – unless you know the clues to look for, such as the full brick wall in the upstairs bathroom, which used to be the exterior of the house.

In terms of landscaping, the Browns removed the scrubby bushes and trees that had overgrown the porches and groomed the expansive green lawns. They also protected the great old Catalpa tree, with its huge leaves and unique spring blossoms, and enlisted an arborist to trim it.

Rehab now complete, the house is a four-bedroom, two bath stunner.

In spite of all that the Browns learned during this project, the house may still be keeping some secrets.

“There were rumors that there were interconnecting tunnels that connected to other houses,” David said. “I can’t imagine that there were.”

But, standing on the upstairs porch, looking out at the neighborhoods of Riverside stretched before you, you might notice the two-story brick house across the street, and the other brick home kitty-corner, and you might wonder about the possibility of meeting the neighbors in an underground tunnel.

And when the house was gutted, just brick walls and dirt floors, David found something unusual when he put his hand above the wooden staircase frame.

“I put my hand up there, and I felt this and took it down. I think it’s a rosary. It’s in a neat little metal box,” he explained.

Why was a rosary built into the wall of the house?

And outside the front door, on the bricks of the façade, there are names and dates inscribed all over.

“There are names everywhere. 1914, 1889,” David said, examining the bricks. “Lucy Swift. Esther Swift. They were here in 1896.”

Visitors wrote their names on the front of the house? Why? And with what? How is it water destroyed the house’s foundation, but weather spared the names written on the bricks?

Perhaps these are mysteries the Swift House’s next owner will investigate. The Browns plan to put the house on the market on June 4, and they know that it will be purchased by “somebody that, this has been something that they’ve dreamed of.”

Determining its market value has been tricky, as the house is “very unique,” as David said. One gets hints of the Victorian, Queen Anne, and Italianate architectural types that existed at the time it was built, but it doesn’t exactly fit any mold.

The Swift House is in a class by itself.

To discover the uniqueness and grandeur of the Swift House for yourself, attend the open house on Saturday, June 8 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The property is located at 191 1st Street (Hwy 22), Riverside.