Photographs by David Kreutz
It’s an old story, really: trying to make do with four kids in a cramped, renovated-to-the-hilt house with room for one car in the garage. The Meskill kids—Steven, now 16; Libby, 14; Susie, 12; and little Mimi, 8—were outgrowing the space faster than the family could rebuild and remodel.
Searching for more suitable housing somewhere else was never an option. People who live in Kirkwood generally want to stay, intertwined (sometimes for generations) as they are with neighborhoods of old homes and old friends.
So what happened next isn’t really surprising for dyed-in-the-wool Kirkwoodians such as the Meskills. True to small-town form, an old acquaintance told the Meskills about his parents’ family home at 505 N. Kirkwood, which might be for sale. When the Meskills toured Mike and Barbara Richter’s house, they fell in love with the 4,500-square-foot farmhouse built in 1903 by Jacob H. Ricker for his bride.
The house had it all: high ceilings, new kitchen, several spaces for home offices, built-in file cabinets, five second-floor bedrooms and carpeted living quarters on the third floor for their teenage son. “It would cost about $200 to $250 per square foot to build a house of this quality today,” says Steve.
When Steve and Mimi discovered that the farmhouse would surely go to a developer for teardown and redevelopment, they swung into action. To save the farmhouse from the wrecking ball and have the house of their dreams, the Meskills bought the house at salvage cost, plus another property at 800 N. Taylor, where they planned to relocate the farmhouse.
Expert House Movers, a company with a national reputation that had successfully relocated Cape Hatteras lighthouse buildings 2,000 feet from the receding shoreline in North Carolina, was the company they chose to move the farmhouse. Completing a project of this kind takes nerves of steel and endless optimism. The Meskills have both, but the drama was just beginning.
They wanted to move the house by taking Kirkwood Road north to Swan Avenue and then east to the property on Taylor Avenue. But first, they were required to obtain approval from the government council for the removal, pruning or trimming of any trees on Swan Avenue. Some neighbors, fearing the impact on private property, successfully blocked the Meskills’ request. (Kirkwood isn’t called the “Green Tree City” for nothing.)
So the Taylor property was out. Now they owned a historic farmhouse with the right proportions for their family, but had no place to put it. However, 716 N. Kirkwood, a small vacant lot they had previously considered, was still for sale. So Steve and Mimi bought it.
As they were preparing to relocate the farmhouse to this somewhat less desirable spot, the property next door at 720 N. Kirkwood—a small Arts-and-Crafts style home on a much deeper lot—became available. Owners Janice and Lee Foland, who had been monitoring all the goings-on with the Taylor Avenue property, decided to sell to the Meskills.
Consummate problem-solvers that they are, Steve and Mimi put all the pieces together: They decided to slide the smaller house (which they later sold) onto the smaller lot, opening up the larger property for the farmhouse. With no city issues to worry about, the old farmhouse made its final move on a cold, rainy Sunday morning in April of 2003.
From taking down power lines, electric signals and utilities for five hours at the intersection of Essex Avenue and North Kirkwood Road to having a private tree service clip only the most necessary tree limbs as the farmhouse moved down the street on a flatbed truck, the Meskills tried to think of everything.
They contracted with a traffic control service, paid for a police escort and had engineering studies completed to make certain North Kirkwood Road wouldn’t collapse under the weight of the 225,000-pound farmhouse. And the Meskills posted a $1 million liability bond with Kirkwood for the move.
The farmhouse, which the Meskills say cost them about $150,000, sits on a brand-new, completely dry foundation covered with natural stone veneer. A private company dismantled the front porch (its width interfered with the structure’s move), numbered it piece by piece and reinstalled it with new fir tongue-and-groove flooring and flagstone steps. An old chimney was removed to give the family more space throughout.
After 100 years, the old farmhouse is still collecting stories. Mike and Barbara Richter gave their share of weddings in the front parlor and provided a home to countless children in foster care. The idea of family is central to the Meskills’ vision of the old farmhouse, too. And now that their kids have a place to come home to, it looks like the place where they will live happily ever after.
