The Beginning

 In the Spring of 2022, there was a county tax foreclosure auction, held in-person versus a sealed bid format as had been the norm. During the hunt for a potential good deal on a fixer-upper for family, a listing kept catching my eye on the listing site. 



While there were very little other photos, I couldn't help but fall in love with the carving detail in the front porch. During an open house opportunity to view, I was told that no one was allowed inside due to safety concerns. What this said to me was "No one's gonna want this thing." This stuck in the back of my mind walking into the auction.

 Unfortunately, the houses we had on our short-list for potential purchase ended up fetching a little more than we were willing to part with, but I wanted to stick around just for kicks and see what this good ol' girl would bring. The auctioneer opened with the line "We know little about the inside, as we don't believe the house to be safe to enter." Music to my ears. Bidding opened at twenty thousand dollars, but no takers brought it slowly down, and down, and down. All the way until there was a call for someone, ANYONE to give a thousand dollars. My hand went up. Why not, right? And then low and behold, some goofball behind me bids me to two. Ok, I'll play. I go three, they go four. I put my hand up for the last time, at five thousand dollars, knowing I wouldn't go any higher for my novelty purchase. 

 And from behind me? Silence. Moments later, I was the new owner of what I would learn was the Clark Lewis House, and more recently known as the Oxford Annex. 

 Since I hadn't been allowed to enter the house during the open house period, the only pictures I had were found online, on a website called OldHouseDreams.com. For anyone wishing to see all the comments (166 as of this writing and counting), the link is here:

 OldHouseDreams Exotic Revival

 Here are some of the photos that I found that showed inside rooms I couldn't peek into from outside.










To me, this seemed like it wouldn't be an awful place to start. Boy was I in for a surprise...

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