Photo courtesy of Nancy Nestor-Baker
There’s almost 150 years of history packed into the South Vine Street home of Nancy Nestor-Baker, making it one of the oldest sites on this year’s Tapestry of a Town tour.
The annual tour, now in its fifth year, is scheduled for July 30. It features a total of six businesses and four homes, including Nestor-Baker’s.
Nestor-Baker has lived in the house for 34 years, but it was built in the 1870s. While it is understood the home was built and occupied by 1873, a fire at the Franklin County Courthouse in 1879 destroyed the original records.
The property belonged to the Brewer family from 1873 until 1906, when the Brewer children transferred ownership to the trustees of the First Presbyterian Church. Both owners left their mark on the property, from a remodeling of the kitchen to better suit the needs of the parson and his family, to one of the Brewer children carving her name into a glass window pane.
“Minnie Brewer, one of George and Lucinda’s daughters, wrote her name and the year 1888 on one of the front windows. That window was broken by a careless paper carrier a few years ago,” Nestor-Baker says. “The story passed on by each owner of the house says that she did that with her engagement ring.”
Photo courtesy of Nancy Nestor-Baker
Photo courtesy of Nancy Nestor-Baker
Photo courtesy of Nancy Nestor-Baker
Photo courtesy of Nancy Nestor-Baker
When Nestor-Baker and her then-husband moved into the house on Christmas Eve 1982, the property had already been occupied by her in-laws for many years. She recalls memories of her children learning to walk and talk within the rooms of the house, and the many photographs from prom to graduation that were snapped outside in her beautiful flowering garden.
Even now that her children are grown, Nestor-Baker is seeing new family memories made in the house, as the kids bring her grandchildren by to play.
“(I enjoy) watching the next generation playing in and around the house that sheltered them,” she says.
The home has seen many substantial renovations since the 1870s, including its transformation into a parsonage. Nestor-Baker and her ex-husband later undid the renovations made for the parson by taking down a wall that had originally divided the kitchen into two rooms in 1983.
Photo courtesy of Nancy Nestor-Baker
Further renovations took place in 1993, to meet the needs of the family. As Nestor-Baker recalls, a family room and two bedrooms were added, and a former bedroom was converted into a bathroom and hallway.
Other adaptations include the removal of several closets and a bathroom, so that the downstairs hallway and stairway could be restored to match the original layout of the home. The porch, part of which had been enclosed and turned into a bedroom in the 1970s, was also restored to its original layout.
In a further attempt to restore the home, oak balusters and a cherry handrail were added inside, matching reports of what the property would have looked like when it was built. The thoughtful accuracy of the restorative efforts truly returned history to the home.
Throughout her residence, Nestor-Baker has had great success in renovating the home to its authentic Italianate vernacular condition and, fortunately, a great many of the home’s original features are still intact. Most of the windows, and even some of the glass, have been in place since the original build.
“The red glass above the double front doors is also original,” Nestor-Baker says. “Red glass from that period is highly prized.”
Even the beautiful bushes and vines outside the property date back as long as anyone can remember.
Proceeds from Tapestry of a Town benefit the Westerville Habitat Partnership, the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Tickets are $10, and more information can be found at www.tapestryofatown.org.
2017 Tapestry of a Town stops
Local History Center at the Westerville Public Library, 110 S. State St.
Church of the Messiah United Methodist, 51 N. State St.
Amish Originals Furniture Co., 38 N. State St.
Pure Roots Boutique, 18 N. State St.
Blue Turtle Tea & Spice, 64 E. Main St.
Private residence, 22 E. Walnut St.
Private residence, 25 S. Vine St.
Private residence, 84 N. Vine St.
Private residence, 145 Elmwood Pl.
Sophia Fratianne is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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