‘New build’ mimics something historic
Nearly complete, on the southwest corner of Bird and Fifth in Hannibal, is a ‘Steamboat Carpenter Gothic Revival’ house, constructed under the supervision of Bob Yapp. The house, much of which is constructed of repurposed materials, serves as infill in one of Hannibal’s historic neighborhoods. Contributed photo
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
Constructed upon a lot that as early as 1845 housed a church, now stands a new house, built with many materials salvaged during the original building’s deconstruction.
Bob Yapp, whose concept it was to build a new house in an historic Hannibal neighborhood, will place the two-story, Gothic-style house on the market in mid March.
He calls the house Steamboat Carpenter Gothic Revival. The house is located on the southwest corner of Sixth and Bird.
Yapp, who as a young man trained with a German master as a furniture maker, operated a furniture-making shop for a number of years.
“I was working 18-hour days,” 9 in the shop and 9 hours at night and all weekends rehabbing houses, he said, when he finally closed the doors and turned his attention in a new direction. Since making that move, “Preservation has consumed my life up to this moment,” he said.
After being involved in the restoration (restoring a total of) over 160 properties, he, in partnership with his wife, Pat, made the decision to undertake his first “new build.”
He operates a shop across the street from the new build, at the Belvedere School, 521 Bird St. “My job is managing the project and doing all the millwork in the shop,” where he also restores antique light fixtures “that I clean up and rewire.”
“It has been a labor of love and pain at the same time,” he said, referring to the house construction. “I thought I could get it done in a year and a half.” But the construction has taken much longer.
“It has been quite a project,” Yapp said. “Labor has been a big issue; it’s a small town and subject to who around town can do it. I ended up training people.”
The house features a 20/12 pitch roof, almost vertical, Yapp said.
“It is an incredibly unique place,” he said, featuring three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. “It is just an interesting place, with original trim, which takes more time.
“We took the beams out of the teardown house and milled it into lumber, with solid knots and square nail holes. For the flooring, he the used original pine tongue and grooved flooring they pulled from the tear down house. It is just so beautiful.
“I hand-made all the window sashes in the house, with the beams we pulled out of the teardown. Two-hundred-year-old northern white pine; what all window sashes used to be made out of.” The sashes all have salvaged antique, wavy cylinder glass.
He made the wooden storm windows from old growth cypress. “These exterior storm windows are not the kind you remove spring and fall, but have screen and glass panels that are removed from the inside (have removable screen and glass),” he said.
“The energy efficiency is better than a double pane window,” he said.
Local labor
The labor on the house was primarily local.
“I had the foundation put in by a local contractor” who has since passed away, Bill Motley. “He also did the foundation for the carriage house repo behind the house,” Yapp said.
“I had a time finding framers to work on the house, because it is so tall, and the steep-pitched roof. An Amish crew framed it up,” Yapp said.
John Bales was the project’s lead carpenter, and Wyatt Ray worked with Yapp as an apprentice for a couple of years.
Jose Flores worked on the house, and “T.J. Dorsey, my new apprentice, he’s wonderful; he’s doing a good job.
“Dalton O’Rourke, a former apprentice, has his own business now; he helped me out with the floors.
“Jessica Scheibel, an apprentice for two years, comes and helps out when we need her. She’s as big as a minute but if the guys are carrying two 2x12s, so is she.
“Matt Wisdom has been working with me since 2008, I’ve been teaching him, and now he’s been working on his own.
“I gathered the crew, but without good help nothing happens,” Yapp said.
Exterior
“I wanted (the exterior) to be board and batten,” so he covered the outside with a more modern material, factory painted cement board, (which has been around since 1890s.) Cedar batten strips every 12 inches give it the board and batten look.”
Yapp is especially proud of the sitting porch, “with gothic trim, a nice big porch, 8-feet deep.
“Historically, out buildings were never connected to the house,” Yapp said. The carriage house, a stand-alone structure, has a 20’ x 8’ open deck connecting the house to the carriage house. The second floor of the carriage house has bonus space of 20’ x 20’ on the second floor.
Interior
The unfinished basement has 10-foot ceilings, and is up to code for occupancy, with roughed-in plumbing.
On the first floor, there is a big entry foyer closet with a bay window, and a half bath. The vanity is a piece of Victorian-era furniture, with a vessel sink on top.
“The living room has a gas fireplace and an antique mantle, and all the trim downstairs is from the 1845 house we tore down.
“You walk from the front parlor into the dining room and kitchen combination. I hand-made all the windows and all of the kitchen cabinets from beams we pulled out of the teardown. The cabinets have glass doors with green stained glass elements, hard rock maple counter tops, and a peninsula; you sit on that or in the dining room.”
The floor in the kitchen is hard rock maple, pulled out of an old school.
No comparison
“When you go into new houses, everything is neutral,” Yapp said.
In Yapp’s new house, “All colors are historical pallets from Benjamin Moore. Our walk-in showers are all subway tiles with accents. No neutrals.”
On the market
In mid March, Maddie Christal at Ravenscraft Realty will list the house, and market it to a nationwide audience.
“I’ve had quite a few calls,” Yapp said, “but I don’t want to have it shown until its done.”
“My wife, Pat and I never built this house to make money. We felt a responsibility to not have the city pay to have (the old house) torn down. We paid” for the demolition, and “it was a very expensive lot. We did it primarily to show people the possibility of what we can do on vacant lots downtown. Also, we have something nice across from our inn.”
“Bad infill doesn’t have the right setbacks; good infill looks like it should be there. the house mimics something historic. We will have a plaque on it that tells it is a brand new house.”
Bob and Pat Yapp purchased the original 1845 house on the lot, with the consideration of possibly renovating it.
It was built by Campbellites circa 1845, a religious order, “who were fussing about the Protestant movement; they were very much anti slavery,” Yapp said.
They used “really bad bricks” in construction, and over the course of the years, there were many roof leaks.
“It was converted by the RoBards, in the 1870s. Mr. Robards “enlarged his yard,” leaving the former church with “a zero lot line all around it. It was so sad for me, but it had to come down.”
The estimated cost of structural repairs was to be $600,000.
Yapp removed all the trims and doors and a company in St. Louis stripped off the lead paint.
“We just finished laying all the wide pine flooring that we pulled out of the 1840’s house,” he said.
Wikipedia: Campbellite is a mildly pejorative term referring to adherents of certain religious groups that have historic roots in the Restoration Movement, among whose most prominent 19th-century leaders were Thomas and Alexander Campbell.
One house to the north of the historic RoBard Mansion on North Sixth street is the ‘Steamboat Carpenter Gothic Revival’ house, while under construction, and prior to the installation of its front porch. Contributed photo
