Monday, September 8, 2008

The South Jordan House

So the House Kara, Chris and I spent our whole childhoods in has been torn down, to make room for another house, they are going to build on the same foundation.

I stumbled across the demolished house, on the way to visit our friends Dan and Stacie. There was nothing left but the foundation, sub flooring, and part of the garage. Here are some photos I took with Mandy's phone. Apparently my Mom knew, but didn't want to tell us, because she didn't want us upset... Yeah, nice plan Mom.

View of the house a year ago, after it had fallen into disrepair, because the owner was a jerk.



Arial view of the house, a year ago, not as pretty as it used to be.


A view from the driveway. I spent countless hours playing basketball on the slanted driveway, with big cracks, and an awful hoop. Good times.


This is a view of what was once the front door. I wonder how many times I came up these steps? Just think of all the trick-or-treaters that stood on this porch. Sigh. Now just a pile of bricks.


This is the living room vent. I used to grab myself a large mixing bowl full of cereal, and sit on the vent, wrapping a blanket around me, and creating a little heat tent. Yep, a lot of cereal was eaten on that spot there. That hole in the floor is where the coat closet used to be.






These are the stairs that led to the basement. Right on top of them were the stairs that led to to the top floor. 30 years worth of Burt's ran up and down these stairs. The most memorable of which were Christmas mornings, where Grandma Ada would say we couldn't come down until she checked to see if Santa had been stopped by. He never failed to show up. I attribute that to the nice porch light we had, he couldn't miss it.




This is a view from inside the garage. The door is still there, but the roof and attic are gone. I started fires here, rollerbladed, and practice my ninja skills. Also, there were a whole lot of cats born in this garage.




This is a view of part of the backyard. That tree there was planted when I was little. It was small enough to jump over. Not anymore. I must have mowed this grass a million times. And it was the perfect place for tag, Frisbee, and jumping on the tramp.




A view of our old garden, and field. Along the fence is the grapevine that Joey planted. Every year it produced green grapes that were rarely eaten, but fun to throw.




Here is the back of the garage. For years there was a large metal dog cage, covered in chain link fence. It was perfect for climbing, and led easily to the roof. It was also great for jumping off, and landing on the trampoline. Not so good for keeping dogs locked up. Also, that small square under the window was a doggy door.




This is a view of the basement windows in the back. That was Chris's window, and the other led to the storage room. Whenever you were locked out, this was the window that was easiest to break into. Parallel to the foundation was a pathway with white quartz type rock. Very fancy.




Here is a view from the back, of where the kitchen used to be. At the far right would be the family room, the far left, the living room, and bottom left, the laundry room. The den was out of site, on the left.




This is a look from where the backdoor used to be, looking into what we called the breezeway. At the opening of the breezeway was a black rod iron gate. This is the way we typically came in and out of the house. The doorbell to this door rarely worked. But you could touch a couple of the wires together, and sometimes get it to ring.




A view from the east of the house. Totally blocked by the sun. Sorry.




This is a view of the living room wall, crashed onto the side porch. Before the porch was there, there was a sandbox. It was used as much by neighborhood cats as the kids.









This is a view of the family room, and the base of the lava rock fireplace. The old stove was taken out a long time ago, probably because it got so hot that we used to melt crayons on it. To the left is where the couch usually was. I spent many, many, far too many hours of my life in this room.













Another view from the front of the house. Just a pile of bricks, where a front yard used to be.








This is a view of the basement. I am standing in the corner of Chris's old room, facing towards the old "fruit room," where we had all of our food storage. There were eight large, metal, green containers we used to store wheat. It was a favorite past time of Dan and I to play in the wheat, like sand. I think there are still some burried Barbie parts. That toilet is my old bathroom we had finished not too long before we moved, and to the left of that is my old bedroom I had for quite a few years; during most of middle school and high school. My Childhood room was upstairs.












Another view of the basement. This is the old bean bag pit, that was never used for that purpose. At the top of it was where we stored all of our camping equipment and holiday decorations. The room on the other side of the wall is the fruit room.




This is the view from Chris's old room. At the far wall is a fireplace that was never used, meant to warm those chilling in the 70's bean bag pit, eating fondue, and combing their afros. For the longest time, there were two rooms on this side of the basement, with the far room not being finished. Then a couple of years before we moved, the wall was torn down, and this was turned into one long room.








Yep, too many great memories in this house to list on one simple blog. But suffice it to say, this home will be missed, and forever kept in out hearts. We miss you, South Jordan house.

3 comments:

Jessica said...

Wow Nick, I'm sorry they tore your house down! I was listening to a radio program the other day where they were talking about losing your childhood house and how hard it is. A lot of people have a really hard time when this happens! I enjoyed reading about your memories, and I'd like to see those ninja skills. :)

Anonymous said...

Wow.
That seriously gave me a stomach ache to see! HOW SAD IS THAT?????
Our house is gone!!!! I can't believe it. Why didn't mom tell us??? My gosh!!!!
I spent MANY hours in that garden pulling weeds!!!
That is so sad! :-((

Cieslak Family said...

Today I drove by and saw them cleaning up the last bit of the house with a backhoe. Sad to see. We did have one great childhood I think, aside from all the scoldings we received. They should've at least let us come back and finish lighting the garage on fire!