Will Victorian at Tully & Orangeburg be restored or razed? Here’s the answer | Opinion
Sold!
The storied Victorian at the corner of Tully Road and West Orangeburg Avenue in Modesto is off the market, after less than four days on it.
And the really good news is that the guy who’s buying it wants to restore and live in the “doll house” — not tear it down, says the real estate agent handling the sale.
That should warm the hearts of thousands of readers, neighbors and fans of the iconic home that has inspired so many good thoughts and nostalgic dreams of days gone by.
The future of the 1901-built Queen Anne Victorian was in question when I wrote about it Friday, because the four-bedroom, two-bath home has fallen into such disrepair. Mason Yanowitz, the Realtor, had guessed the 1,610-square-foot house might be a “borderline tear-down” because of damage done by squatters, and the mounds of squalid filth they left behind.
But the next day, Saturday, a number of prospective buyers traipsing in and out, trying to ignore the stench to size up attractive ceiling medallions, columns and a curved balcony. Many availed themselves of a lock box accessible to agents, while others came during a 90-minute impromptu open house. Yanowitz estimated that hundreds saw the home recently acquired by a bank through foreclosure.
“I felt like throwing my phone in the pool,” Yanowitz said, because of nonstop calls.
By Sunday evening, he had received several offers well above the asking price of $70,000, he said. Those who read my column posted Friday, and in Sunday’s print edition, were aware that that price did not include a $37,000 lien on solar equipment, and that rehabbing the home could take another $200,000 or so.
People leaving comments on The Modesto Bee’s Facebook page, and on another hosted by supporters of the celebrated home, shared all kinds of warm fuzzies. Turns out my daughters weren’t the only ones who, passing by years ago, dreamed of raising their own families there.
One reader said she called it the Barbie House when it was painted pink and white; another posted a lovely photo taken in those glory days. Another sent me a poem crafted by her mother in 1975, agonizing over its rundown condition back then and wishing someone would give it the love it deserved.
Surely no one shares that sentiment more strongly than 95-year-old Genevie Lane, who lived in the landmark home from the time her father bought it at the close of World War II in 1945, when she was 15, until she and her husband sold it in 1965.
The house reminded her father of the vintage two-story homes he had known in his youth in Kansas, she said. He painted it classic white and nicknamed it Snowball, the term her younger brother, Bob Day, still uses to this day when referring to their childhood home.
Fond memories of Tully and Orangeburg
“We absolutely loved living there,” Lane said. Back then, 1400 Tully Road was in the country, and 13 acres behind the home supported their cattle, rabbits, walnut trees, grape vines, a barn, and well and pumphouse, she said. Her father eventually subdivided the land, creating the nearby housing tract on Stetson Avenue.
She and her brother still live in Modesto and have suffered heartache to see the home deteriorate over the decades, she said. He avoids the intersection altogether because of the pain, she said.
When I told her of the new owner’s plan to restore it, I thought Lane might turn cartwheels.
Early Monday, the bank accepted one of the offers, and Yanowitz turned the listing status to “pending.” Escrow should close in about 25 days.
The buyer isn’t seeking publicity. Yanowitz told me the buyer doesn’t mind reassuring people he doesn’t want to raze the place. He comes from a family of builders and plans to renew and occupy it, saving much on labor costs, said Yanowitz, who got the impression that the buyer lives around here.
“It will be nice, for Modesto, that someone will give some attention to that house,” Yanowitz said. “It really needs it.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2023 at 11:19 AM.
