The OES visited the Route 23 Delaware House on June 29, 2003. Obviously, by the title, the home was located off US Route 23 in Delaware County. From the appearance of the house, it may have been built in the mid-to-late 1800s. Its last use seemed to be as a business of some sort, as there were papers and files scattered throughout the entire house and office furniture in the rooms. We looked through some of the documents and determined the business probably moved out sometime in the mid-1990s. The house and its surrounding acreage were set to be rezoned at the time of our visit. We thought this would mean one thing for the old house: demolition. And indeed, it did. When driving through the area in 2006, the house was no longer there. The land is still undeveloped as of autumn 2023.
Location Information: Demolished
The Route 23 Delaware House was located on the east side of US Route 23, one quarter mile south of Cheshire Road; Delaware County.
Photographs
The front of the Route 23 Delaware House with the rezoning sign posted on the front porch.
The 'newer' garage was just behind the house.
This was probably the living room of the home, turned into office space.
Some of the remaining files and desks.
The parlor floor was littered with papers and debris.
The kitchen was at the rear of the house.
No food remained, the cabinets were bare.
This hallway led from the kitchen to the bathroom and basement stairs.
This was the only bathroom in the house, located across from the basement door.
Some kind of equipment remained in this closet.
This large hole in the ceiling was in the parlor. A bedroom was above.
The narrow and steep stairway to the second floor.
This was the center bedroom at the front of the house. There were odd messages written on the walls.
Some files were stored in this small closet. The top box was labeled 1989.
This was the bedroom that sat above the parlor.
You can see the large hole in the floor that opened to the first floor.
The window curtains sort of formed a net in the bedroom above the living room.
In the same bedroom was this hole in the wall with a red substance pouring from it.
Red splatter on the wall, most likely paint.
Look closely at this picture and you'll see a little bird.
Some of the plaster had broken away to reveal the original brick wall.
Looking down the basement stairs, you can see the mess that was left behind.
One of the support beams in the basement.
The original stone foundation of the home and dirt floor.
This heating unit was installed some time ago, but obviously wasn't the home's original heat source.
A table sat in one corner of the basement.
Another large table of some sort.
Maybe it was used to hold index cards at one time.
