House as a Perspective

I read The Dutch House by Ann Patchett in May 2021, and was fascinated by the house as a character in the novel. Maybe it was just me, but I loved how much of the character's experience revolved around the house. This had me thinking, what if I wrote something where the stories are told from the house's point of view? Pictured in this post is my childhood home. My parents bought the house when I was just under a year old. The turret room, the hedge, the tall pines are all part of the memories created in and around the house. I started asking my parents for pictures of the inside of the house. I have a few, but of course, the house has undergone changes over the years. When I was about 10 or 11, my father tore out the chimney and started to lower the basement floor. He did this while working full time and overtime. I think the major renovations of the first floor are mostly complete as of last year (2022). The second floor is still undergoing renovation and I am currently 52 years old. It had fits and starts over the years. 

Much of the same interior was part of my childhood, teen years, and adult life. Same diamond patterned gold and ivory wall paper in the upstairs hall and turret room. The attic was perfect as a bedroom. I believe we had a boarder that stayed with us when I was young and then as my brothers and I grew up I was sent to the attic to sleep because I was too old to sleep with three boys. My childhood home had one bathroom with a bathtub and it was a lovely clawfoot one no shower. There were two bedrooms on the second floor, the turret room and the one my parents and usually a baby in a crib slept in. The attic was one huge room, maybe divided at one time by a wall, there were grooves that made it seem like there had been one. I have never done the house history of my childhood home, but now I am curious. When the chimney came out, the fireplace mantels in both my parent's room and what we called the music room/the cool room/the office had some hidden treasures, some old photographs of the house, the old house number and pictures of the houses surrounding our house. 

At one point, I think one of my brothers and my father noticed some of the wood paneling in the living room was coming loose and discovered a pocket door going from the living room to the dining room (our music room). The basement has a door that can be entered from the outside. We dug into the cistern that used to be in our backyard as kids until it was determined that it could cave-in on us and we found all sorts of treasures in there.

There are so many interesting stories that come from a family growing up and I am curious if the house tells the story, what sort of perspective would it have? Could it be impartial? Would it be willing to just talk without judgement? These are the things I am mulling about on this Friday night.