Our house was built in either 1929 or 1931 (I can never remember which). It’s an arts & crafts style duplex (two complete houses, connected to each other). Originally, it had no indoor bathroom and was heated by a coal furnace, and possibly a wood stove in the kitchen. The old chimneys are still there, and an area of hardwood floor in the middle of the house has been patched where there used to be a big floor grate for heat. Water was originally collected by a cistern system, and the big hole for that was still in the backyard when we bought it. (We filled it in a couple of years ago, finally… that thing was dangerous!). The walls are all plaster (which is cracking and falling down everywhere), and there is no insulation at all. The exterior is brick, and the interior plaster is applied directly to the brick. The plaster has horsehair in it. The windows are almost all original, so are only 1 pane thick and have wavy glass in them. In short… this place is very drafty! There is a 4 bay garage out back, built at the same time as the house, but only very tiny modern cars could fit in it. It’s practically falling down, too, so it really wouldn’t be safe to park there, anyway.
We only know a little bit about the previous owner. He was a very old man, and had lived in one side of the house for many, many years, while renting out the other house. As a result, the rental house is in much better condition than the side we live in. He seemed more worried about keeping the rental side up to modern codes than the one he lived in. He passed away, and his family sold the houses in as-is condition. There are still lots of updates needed, but we really do love this old house.