Yet Another Victim of Recreational Drug Use

If anyone in my household deserves the moniker of Resident Genius, it is my wife. She's too modest and filled with self-loathing to actually accept such a title, but it's true. I know you're wondering what I did to launch into this marathon of spousal butt kissing, but it's not like that, really. The other night my wife conjured up a definitive answer as to why we have that weird beam between our living room and dining room, and that is genius.

Using Occam's Razor as a guide, she came up with the simplest explanation possible: Cocaine.

The 1980's were a tragic decade for fashion, architecture, and American pop-culture as a whole. Whether cocaine was the cause of these social and aesthetic problems or society's way of coping with such ugly shit is still a topic of considerable debate among sociologists.

Prior to my wife's inspired revelation, we had believed the wall between these two rooms had been removed in the 1920's when major renovations were made to the Queen. Upon closer inspection, the evidence points to a different conclusion.

First, Victorians loved doors and they loved enclosed spaces. Everything had its proper place, and their homes reflected this. It is probable that the Boswell's left the wall intact only adding a doorway to the new additions. There is a trace of a threshold still visible on the living room floor that supports this.

Second, after Kenny removed all the dry wall from the beam and surrounding walls, a considerable amount of new (20-30 year old) wood was used to support the beam. The drywall, the thin sheets of wood paneling, and other "improvements" all seem to date to the same time period as the wood. This suggests that they were all installed at roughly the same time.

Third, the whole great room (combined living & dining area or kitchen & living area) idea was popular in the late 1970's & the 1980's. My mother's house (c. 1975) is a prime example of this style of design.

So, based on this evidence, I'm thinking that the previous owners sucked a fat mountain of coke up their nose and tore the freaking wall out for posterity. It also goes a long way to explain why the style of these two rooms doesn't quite match the rest of the Queen.

As part of our long term renovation plan, we're thinking about installing some period fretwork & decorative columns under this beam to help blend it into the Queen's overall design.


Out of curiosity, is Victorian era interior fret work more prevalent in some parts of the US than others? I only ask because my wife and I have never seen an example of it in the South. We're wondering if this yet another regional difference in style like the South's propensity for horizontal beadboard walls vs. vertical beadboard in other regions. Thoughts?