September Prompts - 9/9
9. What architectural style was your childhood home?
Which one? From the time I was born until I was 18, I lived in 8 different house in 2 different states. We moved a lot, from one town to the next. We didn't move far when I was a kid - I was born in East Grand Rapids, Michigan and we moved to Rochester, Michigan when I was 1 or 2 - then when I was 13 we moved to Indiana - but we moved between a couple different towns and several different school districts so I attended 9 different schools as well, with 3 years (high school) being the longest I was even in one and 1 day being the shortest. Fortunately, we moved in the middle of a school year. (The one day is because my parents decided to pull me out of public school after 1 day in 8th grade and put me in a small Christian school that had already been in session for two weeks. I was not happy about it.)
Anyway - I don't remember the apartment in Grand Rapids of course but the photos I've seen make me think it was probably a divided house with great bones. We lived in the apartment above the First Baptist Church in Rochester when I was 2 (believe it or not, I actually have a memory from there - the fan in the window on the landing always scared me). An upstairs apartment (subdivided house) on Long Lake in Lake Orion when I was 3. The bottom story of a gray house in Oxford when I was 4, 5, and 6 - pretty standard late 19th century one family home that was converted into two apartments. A green house in the country outside Oxford when I was 7. I think it was a pretty typical post-war ranch house with an absolutely huge yard on a dirt road. Great place to live! A 2-story painted stone house in Lake Orion when I was 8, 9, and 10. I looked it up; it was built in 1928. Hipped roof with a dormer window in front and (IIRC) one in back. I liked living there as well. Our next door neighbor lived right on Lake Orion and allowed us access to his dock any time, so we did a lot of swimming and ice skating there. We moved to St. Louis, Michigan ("the geographical center of the lower peninsula of Michigan") when I was 11 and lived in a mobile home for the 2 years we were there. In 1976 we moved to Indiana. I've been trying to move away every since and never really succeed. I still think about moving back to Michigan all the time but there are several things that keep us here (not the least being my sister in the next town, my mom who goes back and forth between here and Georgia, and the fact that we rent from my uncle and have yet to find anyplace either here or in Michigan that's as affordable). In Mishawaka, we lived in a 1960s split-level house, the kind where you walk in the front door and have to go upstairs or downstairs. The only thing actually on the ground floor was the entry way.
That was just the beginning of all my moves and houses but it does cover my childhood homes!
(Honestly, when I think of a childhood home, I never think of the places I lived in as a child - we just weren't in them all that long. I usually think of my Aunt Lizzie's house. I wrote about it here: https://cbtreks.livejournal.com/94783.html )
Which one? From the time I was born until I was 18, I lived in 8 different house in 2 different states. We moved a lot, from one town to the next. We didn't move far when I was a kid - I was born in East Grand Rapids, Michigan and we moved to Rochester, Michigan when I was 1 or 2 - then when I was 13 we moved to Indiana - but we moved between a couple different towns and several different school districts so I attended 9 different schools as well, with 3 years (high school) being the longest I was even in one and 1 day being the shortest. Fortunately, we moved in the middle of a school year. (The one day is because my parents decided to pull me out of public school after 1 day in 8th grade and put me in a small Christian school that had already been in session for two weeks. I was not happy about it.)
Anyway - I don't remember the apartment in Grand Rapids of course but the photos I've seen make me think it was probably a divided house with great bones. We lived in the apartment above the First Baptist Church in Rochester when I was 2 (believe it or not, I actually have a memory from there - the fan in the window on the landing always scared me). An upstairs apartment (subdivided house) on Long Lake in Lake Orion when I was 3. The bottom story of a gray house in Oxford when I was 4, 5, and 6 - pretty standard late 19th century one family home that was converted into two apartments. A green house in the country outside Oxford when I was 7. I think it was a pretty typical post-war ranch house with an absolutely huge yard on a dirt road. Great place to live! A 2-story painted stone house in Lake Orion when I was 8, 9, and 10. I looked it up; it was built in 1928. Hipped roof with a dormer window in front and (IIRC) one in back. I liked living there as well. Our next door neighbor lived right on Lake Orion and allowed us access to his dock any time, so we did a lot of swimming and ice skating there. We moved to St. Louis, Michigan ("the geographical center of the lower peninsula of Michigan") when I was 11 and lived in a mobile home for the 2 years we were there. In 1976 we moved to Indiana. I've been trying to move away every since and never really succeed. I still think about moving back to Michigan all the time but there are several things that keep us here (not the least being my sister in the next town, my mom who goes back and forth between here and Georgia, and the fact that we rent from my uncle and have yet to find anyplace either here or in Michigan that's as affordable). In Mishawaka, we lived in a 1960s split-level house, the kind where you walk in the front door and have to go upstairs or downstairs. The only thing actually on the ground floor was the entry way.
That was just the beginning of all my moves and houses but it does cover my childhood homes!
(Honestly, when I think of a childhood home, I never think of the places I lived in as a child - we just weren't in them all that long. I usually think of my Aunt Lizzie's house. I wrote about it here: https://cbtreks.livejournal.com/94783.html )