Storied Homes: 859 Winona Boulevard
Please welcome our neighbor, Jocelyn Janaitis, a new contributor to the Winona Woods Blog. This is Jocelyn’s first installment in a series of posts called Storied Homes. In which Jocelyn will be taking readers on a tour of our fine neighborhood one home at a time stopping on the way to highlight the unique characteristics and back stories surrounding many of the charming homes which line our streets.
Most of us in the Winona Woods Neighborhood Association boundaries are old house lovers. The character and patina of our homes are food for our souls. We delight in the charm of yesteryear details, quality and proportions. Along with the beauty and nostalgia, we may also occasionally pause and daydream about a few unexplained quirks, curious about the lives of earlier inhabitants and the “story” of our home. Kim and Brian Sherwood, owners of 859 Winona Boulevard, graciously offered to tell us a little about their home’s story.
The Sherwoods take great pride in their beautiful home. As owners for the past 22 years, they have been privileged to meet a member from each family that has ever lived there. Looking at the exterior, a storybook cedar shingled Dutch colonial nestled back from the road under a carefully trimmed canopy of tall shade trees, you would never guess that the home’s façade does not look exactly as it did when the house was built in 1920. The Sherwoods were curious about the foundation wall dividing their basement, and were lucky to find old blueprints from May 1935 tucked away in the back of a cabinet. The plans were drafted by architecture firm C. Storrs Barrows of Rochester, NY for Kenneth Cunningham of Winona Blvd. They indicate the house was lifted from its original foundation, shifted a mere 14’to the east and set back down over a newly dug foundation, making room for an addition to be built atop the existing foundation to the west. One day they had the opportunity to meet the son of the original family, in town for his 60 year IHS reunion. Mr. Cunningham confirmed that his parents had intended to purchase the lot to the east and build out in that direction, but the lot sold before they had the chance, so they purchased the lot on the other side instead. The blueprints specified a maid’s quarters and bath. Mr. Cunningham explained that his mother was a biologist, and acquiring the services of a live-in housekeeper/nanny to help care for the five Cunningham children enabled her to do her work – probably the driving force behind the addition. The reason the Cunninghams chose to ambitiously lift and slide the entire house from its original foundation rather than just building out a 14’ foundation and addition to the east, may always remain a bit of a mystery. Old newspaper articles also suggest the house was renumbered from 891 to 859 Winona about the time the plans were drafted in 1935.
Today, the tree-filtered light and wooded setting are the features the Sherwoods love the most about their home. Standing on their back deck, among the treetops, you indeed feel you are at a retreat. For all the woodland beauty today, Kim Sherwood was told the landscape looked very different in earlier times. “[Mr. Cunningham] told us that the back hill had originally no trees when the Cunninghams built the house. He and his dad planted dogwoods down the whole hill. He said in the spring when you looked out the back, it looked like snow.” The wooded ravine remains a feature of beauty and joy for past and present owners alike. Children of prior owners (who still provide tree trimming services at the property today), even enjoyed skiing down the hill in winter!
The Sherwoods are still curious about certain features of their home, such as how the massive stone patio was built so perfectly, and who built it. But they are privileged that prior owners seem to keep coming back to visit the home, which has left its mark on so many lives and has clearly been very well loved. Perhaps another visitor will provide more stories to them, and perhaps the Sherwoods will pass on a few of their own as well!
If you have a few glimpses into the history of your home and would love to share them , please let us know!