Home Tour: House built by judge being restored

CINCINNATI -- The story passed down through previous owners about Beth McDaniels and Clint Woods Mount Auburn house is that it had the first telephone in the neighborhood and William Howard Taft used to walk five blocks up Auburn Avenue to use it.

Flash forward 125 years or so and that once treasured landline is out of operation, made obsolete by the cellular technology of our digital world.Yet what has survived in the house that Superior Court of Cincinnati Judge Hiram David Peck had built in 1886 is phenomenal:

There are south-facing, Art Nouveau stained glass windows in the front door and living room. Hardwood oak flooring with inlaid walnut trim in the entry hall, dining and living rooms interlocks in the corners in a different pattern in each room.

There are massive pocket doors between the entry hall and living room, wood window trim throughout and a structurally solid wood staircase.

Five fireplaces add warmth. The two downstairs feature glossy Victorian tiles with figureheads under the corner of the mantels. Two on the second floor are faux-painted in marble with Art Nouveau line designs and made of iron and stone. The fifth features plainly colored ceramic tiles.

A collection of Pecks law books are on the first-floor librarys built-in shelves, as well as the original property warranty and deed from 1885.

Isnt it really great that the past owners kept these things and passed them on, said Beth.

Plans to Renovate and Restore

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Home Tour: House built by judge being restored