A 1918 Craftsman-style cottage with four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, on a 0.33-acre lot

This home is in the Old Cloverdale neighborhood, just east of the historic Garden District, a couple of blocks from the house where Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald lived briefly in the early 1930s. (It is now a museum.) Equally close are cafes, galleries, boutiques and one of the only full-service gas stations in town. Alabama State University is a third of a mile northeast; the state capitol is a mile and a half north; and the two-and-a-half-year-old National Memorial for Peace and Justice, better known as the Lynching Memorial, is about two miles northwest. The sellers, who have lived in the home for six years, replaced the roof in 2016.

Size: 3,122 square feet

Price per square foot: $112

Indoors: Separated by fluted columns, the living room and dining room both have original hardwood floors, picture-rail molding and mullioned windows. The dining room includes a decorative fireplace trimmed in marble tile and a built-in sideboard with an upper glass-fronted cabinet.

The kitchen, updated by a previous owner, has dark-wood cabinetry with concrete countertops, a farmhouse sink, stainless steel appliances and herringbone-patterned flooring. A couple of industrial-style pendant lamps hang over an island, and there is an adjacent half bathroom with a pedestal sink.

The three main-floor bedrooms have the vintage trimmings of the public spaces (hardwood floors, molding, decorative fireplaces in two of the rooms). The largest also includes an en suite bathroom with a shower, while the other two share a bathroom with wainscoting and a claw-foot tub. There is also a closet with a stacking washer and dryer. 

A second-floor bedroom suite with a separate HVAC system was installed by a previous owner. The bedroom opens into a study or lounging area with niches created by dormers. The bathroom has a combined tub and shower.

Outdoor space: A very large, very old oak tree is in the middle of the deep front lawn. The front porch has space for two swinging seats. The kitchen opens to a small rear deck and a large, brick patio surrounded by greenery. There are also gravel paths and patches, a perforated brick wall, a section of lawn, a sprinkler system and a children’s play area. Three or four cars can park in the driveway next to the house.

Taxes: $1,100

Contact: Bill Davis or Susan Cowart, Davis & Copeland Realtors, 334-462-0550; davisandcopeland.idxbroker.com

Photos by Nick Drollette Photography

A four-bedroom, three-bathroom house, converted from a 1940s church, on a 0.2-acre lot

Dedicated in 1947 as the Church of the Nazarene, and emptied in 1971, when the congregation moved to larger quarters, this building was transformed into a residence in 1998. The current owner bought the property in 2006 and turned it into a legal two-family home with an interior staircase connecting the units, so that it could easily be used by a single family.

It is on a main thoroughfare of Keene, a city of about 23,000 with two colleges. The house is less than a mile northwest of Central Square, which is at the heart of the business district, and half a mile southeast of Cheshire Medical Center, a unit of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system. It is about two hours northwest of Boston, half an hour northwest of Peterborough, N.H., and half an hour northeast of Brattleboro, Vt.

Size: 3,130 square feet

Price per square foot: $104

Indoors: A hall leads through an archway into the original nave, now a living-and-dining area with wood flooring, a paneled wainscot, hammered-glass windows, a pellet stove and an open kitchen. The kitchen includes a breakfast bar and other surfaces finished in textured Trikeenan ceramic tiles. Next to it is a hand-built bar, and there is also a pantry. Accordion-fold wood doors open to a study that used to be the church’s sanctuary; it has a raised floor and built-in shelving.

The main floor includes a small bedroom believed to have been the pastor’s office, and a bathroom with a shower. A ceiling inserted at the time of the renovation created an upper level that includes a carpeted, vaulted bedroom with a pair of closets, a study and a bathroom with a Trikeenan-tiled shower partially enclosed by glass block.

The lower-level apartment has a private exterior entrance, a knotty-pine-paneled living room with wall-to-wall carpet, a full kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom with a combined tub and shower. Laundry areas are in the basement and on the main floor.

Outdoor space: The house has a raised back deck with a rear entrance and a large, partly fenced backyard. There is access from the upper floor to an unfinished bell tower, with a small deck on top with treetop views. Driveways on either side of the house offer separate access and parking for occupants of the two units.

Taxes: $8,451 (2020)

Contact: Deborah Lucey, Re/Max Town & Country, 603-313-9075; neren.com

An early 20th-century Greek Revival home with four bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two half bathrooms, on a 0.35-acre lot

The George and Sadie Dashwood House, with its Ionic columns supporting a double-height front porch, was designed by George Behrensmeyer, a prominent local architect, and presented as a gift by Mrs. Dashwood’s parents. (Mr. Dashwood owned a drugstore and later worked in real estate.) In 2005, a large-scale interior renovation was commenced that preserved many original features. Later, the current owners installed new central air-conditioning and a new boiler, replaced the copper roof over the front portico, rebuilt the screened porch and made improvements to the basement.

The house is in one of four national historic districts in Quincy, a city of about 40,000 that is about 300 miles southwest of Chicago, 130 miles northwest of St. Louis and 22 miles north of Hannibal, Mo. (Quincy is situated on bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, just east of Missouri; before the Civil War, its position in a free state across the river from a slave state made it an important stop on the Underground Railroad.)

This house is one of a quartet with different historical styles that occupy the four corners of the intersection of 18th and Maine Streets. It is about a mile and a half east of the river, half a mile south of Quincy University and half a mile west of Madison Park, the oldest of the city’s many green spaces.

Size: 4,221 square feet

Price per square foot: $81

Indoors: A foyer with original stained glass surrounding the front door leads to a hall with original hardwood floors. The living room, on the left, has an entrance framed by fluted Ionic columns and a gas-burning fireplace with a marble surround and a classical mantel. Another set of columns introduces a den to the rear of the living room, where a pair of doors with stained-glass panes open to a screened porch. A larger study is immediately to the right of the front door, with original pocket doors and built-in bookshelves. Beyond it is a large formal dining room with white molding contrasting with deep red walls. A stained-glass panel with a motif of green leaves is set between a pair of large windows.

The dining room flows into the kitchen by way of a butler’s pantry with vintage glass-fronted cabinets and a stack of built-in drawers. An updated version of the same white cabinetry fills out a wall of the kitchen, which also contains an exposed-brick chimney and a decorative fireplace. The main level has a powder room, as well.

On the reconfigured second floor, the master bedroom suite includes multiple closets, a dressing room with its own hallway entrance and two bathrooms, one with a claw-foot tub and the other with a shower. Two additional bedrooms share a Jack-and-Jill bathroom with a claw-foot tub. A fourth bedroom close to a rear staircase was originally a maid’s room and now serves as a small study. There is also a linen room with built-in shelves and drawers.

The basement has been refinished with a large rec room, a sewing room, a half bathroom, a kitchen and a separate heating and cooling system. The house also has a full-floor, unfinished attic.

Outdoor space: The property includes a deep front porch and lawn, a fenced-in rear patio and a garden area with brick paving; hundreds of bulbs that were recently planted there promise to erupt in the spring.

Taxes: $9,920 (2019, based on a tax assessment of $156,060)

Contact: Kathleen Citro, Davis and Associates Realtors, 217-653-9301; qar.paragonrels.com

Source: $350,000 Homes in Alabama, New Hampshire and Illinois The New York Times (January 20, 2021) Julie Lasky