Greene Street - The First Floor

This is another attempt to recreate our house on Greene Street from memory and without photos. This time the first floor.

The house was a twin and sat back a little from the street. There was one set of about six steps and then a landing of a few feet before coming to a second set of about four steps to the front door. The flat surface next to the second set of steps is where the milk crate sat for deliveries of milk and to pick up the used bottles.

The house had an enclosed porch with a glass door, three windows on the side with the alley and three windows across the front of the house. The home on the other side of the twin was basically the same and between the two homes was another three windows against their enclosed porch. The fourth wall was actually the curved stone front of the house with another three widows and a door.

The porch was where we kept all of our boots and there were a lot of them. There was a plant table along the front windows. Me and Tom played in that room a lot and especially in the summer. We had some nice comfortable chairs on that porch.

The door led into a very small foyer with another door that opened into the living room. The living room was where we watched television which was across from a couch. The couch also had end tables with lamps at each end. Next to the couch toward the front was a piano. Then a couple of chairs along the front curve of the wall with the windows looking out onto the enclosed porch. There was also a radiator behind the chairs.

Next to the couch was the stairway. The steps came down from the second floor to a landing and then turned at an angle into the living room and opened up wider. Under the stairs was a closet where we hung our coats. Next to the closet was a table with a telephone. Betsy liked to talk with her friends on the phone while inside the closet for privacy.

Along the wall on the alley side was another three windows with a radiator in front with a couple of chairs. There was a mantel and fake fireplace on the wall in the corner and then an opening to the dining room. In front of the mantel was a small table that always had a puzzle going on it. Anyone could work on it at anytime.

At Christmas time the two end tables would be moved away and the couch would be slid down toward the piano. The Christmas tree would be set up in the corner between the stairs and the couch on top of a train platform. It was a relatively small tree to work in that situation.

The dining room was tight but large enough for a table to seat about twelve people. Each wall of the dining room had a piece of furniture for storing dishes and table clothes. Lots of them. There were three windows on the alley side again. One was completely blocked by a china closet. The other two had angled views to the side alley. The opposite wall had a built in china closet and next to it was a large toy box that Dad had built. It was a toy corner and always a mess unless there were people over for a holiday dinner.

We sat at the dining room table every night for supper. We had our great-grandparents living with us for many years so the table was crowded every night. We also used it to play ping pong and board games too.

The kitchen was actually divided into two rooms. When you walked into the kitchen from the dining room through the door there was nothing on that wall. On the right wall was a large built in wood kitchen cabinet with lots of storage. Next to the cabinet was the door leading down to the basement. There were three windows along the left side of the room. Later when we had a dish washer it was stored in that corner. It was the kind that needed to be rolled over to the sink to use. There was a washing machine in the other opposite corner.

The kitchen sink was in the next room and there was a large window over the sink to the main kitchen area. There was a clothes dryer in the corner and most of the room was taken up by the refrigerator or what we always called the icebox. There was another window in the back kitchen overlooking the back yard. There was a bar like table along that wall with a couple of high top chairs. On the other wall back there was the stove. Then there was the back door going into the backyard. 

It was not a very efficient setup for a kitchen but our mom made it work.