Ringgold banker prefers charm, history of Read House condominium

Slideshow: Read house condominium

Nancy Collum said her Realtor would likely call her hard to please. But when she walked through the door of a condominium in the Samuel R. and Elizabeth Sims Read House in Fort Wood, she felt at home.

Entering the spacious living room of the 1,250-square-foot home in 2004, her eyes were drawn immediately to the built-in mahogany bookcases, and she knew they would be a good home for her Christmas in the City collection of miniature houses.

“I love downtown,” said Ms. Collum, 51, “and I work in Ringgold (Ga.), but I can’t imagine not coming downtown every day.”

The condominium she bought is one of nine in the Read House, which is unique in Fort Wood for its adherence to the Renaissance Revival style. It is one of the largest houses in the neighborhood.

Mr. Read, manager of the Read House Hotel from 1879 until his death in 1942, built the home in 1904-1906. Later home of Senter School, it was converted to apartments in the 1980s and developed as condominiums by former owner Gaston Raoul in 1997.

Ms. Collum bought her condominium from Mr. Raoul’s estate and was the first owner of her particular condo within the home.

When she bought it, it was move-in ready, she said, except the dated galley kitchen.

That, Ms. Collum said, she had redesigned by Pam and Willie Morris, who then owned Wellhouse Cabinetry. It was installed by Mr. Morris’ son, Paul.

The result includes stainless-steel appliances, cabinets that take better advantage of the space, an oak floor and granite countertops.

Glass knobs, bin pulls and pewter-look sink fixtures give the room the feel of a period kitchen. A set of four, handpainted trays over the sink that Ms. Collum bought in 1976 in what is now Russia add a bit of whimsy.

Granite countertops echo the granite look of the enamel trim of the room’s oak Hoosier cabinet, which originally belonged to the owner’s grandparents.

The elder Mr. Morris made a top part for the cabinet to match the bottom that her grandparents had retained, Ms. Collum said.

Hoosier cabinets, she said, were popular kitchen units with various drawers, bins and a work area made in the early 1900s in the Hoosier State of Indiana when such rooms didn’t contain many cabinets.

The living room, which Ms. Collum believes may have been a library in the Read House, contains the two sets of glass-fronted bookcases, 14 1 /2-foot ceilings and mahogany wainscoting throughout.

Egg-and-dart molding in the entry hall is carried over into the bookcases.

Ms. Collum’s living room also contains a working Italian marble fireplace with dentil molding trim, double crown molding, four original pocket doors and original oak flooring. Each square of flooring contains eight separate, handnailed strips.

She filled the living room with family antiques, such as a cedar chest made in Chattanooga, a dining room suite (with needlepoint chair seats) purchased locally, and a ceiling medallion-accentuated chandelier.

She found the wrought-iron chandelier and a similar one for her bedroom at Quality Lighting. “I wanted to have lighting in the appropriate period and size,” the homeowner said. “This is an elegant place. I wanted to have elegant light fixtures.”

Ms. Collum’s bedroom, off one side of the living room, has Palladian windows that look out on the front and side of the Vine Street home. She added the brass queen bed and the window treatments. Like those throughout the home, the window treatments were done by Jamie Riddell of Jamie Riddell Design.

Tucked off a small hallway is one of the condo’s two bathrooms. Painted in spa green, it has tile floors and a sink original to the house.

Ms. Collum was told by Joel Tuders, who assisted with the conversion of the house into apartments, the sink was one of five in the home. Manufactured in Orr, Pa., of clay and porcelain, it is numbered and is one of only 136 such sinks ever made.

Off the other side of the living room is another short hallway leading to a second bedroom, second bath and second entrance to the home from the house’s wraparound porch.

With a stone step down to the hallway and plank ceiling in the bedroom, the entire area apparently was once a sleeping porch or similar room just outside the main house.

The bedroom, which she is converting to a guest room/ sitting room/home office, will contain three of her favorite pieces of furniture, a British Colonial-style couch and side chairs with French caning that belonged to her grandparents.

In the bathroom, Ms. Collum has added a wall mirror and period light fixture to continue the early 20th-century look.

A platform built in the hallway by the younger Mr. Morris allows previously unused space to contain a bookcase.

Ms. Collum, a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, said she found the Fort Wood area so charming while she was in college that she lived in an apartment there for six years after she graduated.

When she sought to become a first-time homeowner nearly five years ago, she looked at many types of houses in North Chattanooga, where she then lived, East Brainerd, which is closer to her work, and downtown.

“I kept migrating back downtown,” said Ms. Collum, vice president of loan review at Northwest Georgia Bank.

When she saw the Read House condo, she appreciated its architectural style and its history. “It’s very cozy,” she said. “It’s got plenty of room for just me. It seemed like the right thing to do.”