The April 1925 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, with pictures of the English cottage inside. That original issue resides within the home. One of the more unique homes within the town of Bel Air, chosen from a Spring issue of Better Homes and Gardens.
The house was built in 1925 and has been in the family for 99 years, the last 41 with me. My brothers, my sister and I would come up often to visit my grandmother when we were young. When she passed, my wife and I moved into the house on Broadway. We also bought a new car, found new jobs, and had our first child born right after we moved in. To be honest, we had no real money to handle any of it. We’ve been broke and happy ever since.
Flossie Wallis and her husband, William S. Wallis lived just outside of Bel Air, a small town growing up. Willy was Postmaster at the Bel Air Post Office. He would occasionally bring home unclaimed magazines received in the post office. One particular issue he brought home to Flossie was an April 1925 issue of Better Homes and Garden. The issue contained a full page write-up titled, A Cottage of English Influence. The article pictured a two-story English cottage, designed by Clarence E. Shephard, Architect.
From that feature article, the Wallis’ fell in love with the design and immediately sent away for the plans. They had already located a parcel of land in an area of Bel Air known as Ingleside. By September of 1925, with only minor modifications to the design, the home was completed.
Never met my grandfather on the Wallis side as he died a few years before I was born. Still, I know him by the trellises and birdhouses he built. I’ve met him in his workshop in the basement. Know him by the numerous repairs and fixes he did to the house during his time on Broadway.
In 1925, Bel Air was indeed growing and Broadway past Hickory Avenue was named Broadway Extended. It was still named this even as a kid growing up and visiting my Grandmother. Broadway Extended was a quaint, neighborhood block of homes with character from the get go.
When the Depression hit in 1929, life changed for everyone. Grandmother would offer small jobs and food to back door visitors in exchange for a meal, even a few dollars. She was extremely resourceful in maintaining a large vegetable garden behind the house.
Shortly after William and Flossie Wallis built their home in Bel Air, Better Homes and Gardens published a booklet of homes that had been built using their designs and plans. This is the write-up that appeared in that booklet. Mr and Mrs. Wallis were greatly pleased with their lovely English cottage.
A year after the home on Broadway was completed, Willy and Flossie had trees planted on the property. The trees still stand, a finishing touch of style to the place. They are a cross between sycamore and maple (known as Oriental Plane trees). They were planted by John Grier of Grier Nurseries and they thrive to this day. As was done before me, I have kept them trimmed and cared for throughout the years. Walking in the yard, early evening, with a breeze blowing and the sun going down, I am transported. Places far away. Perhaps England, perhaps the Elysian Fields for all I know.
I have raked fallen leaves and shedding bark for years with no regrets. Remarkable, living right in town with six huge trees on a .24 acre parcel of land. If the trees ever come down, by storm or legal edicts, I would be out of here. The trees are an integral part of the home. All of it comes together in a glorious nod to the canopy of nature and the beauty of a home.
a widower in the home for 30 years.
My father was born and raised in the Broadway home. For three years, until he and my mother split up, I lived in the upstairs room in a converted attic. That converted attic is now my studio where I am writing these missives. When I was three, my mother, two brothers, a sister and myself moved to Edgewood where I grew up. Twenty-eight years later, I came back.
When we first moved into town, there was no time to think. Late summer 1982, we were living in a no-children zone of an apartment complex and had just found out that we were gonna have a baby. In November of that year, my grandmother passed. She was a widow and lived in a beautiful two-story English stucco cottage in the town of Bel Air. Bought at market value, the missus and I signed on the dotted line and with a few possessions, moved into the home on Broadway in the town of Bel Air.
With new jobs, a new car, new baby on the way, and a new home, we had a new deck of cards, the hand was being dealt and it was a full house. A couple of months after we moved in, a giant snowstorm barreled through. A little over a month after that, a newborn blew in. A beautiful, tiny angelic boy, already filled with wonder at the new world around him.
Amidst all of the excitement, I was too worried about life to be comfortable in the new home. The town had memories, but I had not grown up here. Felt like a transplant in a town I hardly knew. Considering the house, it was actually a new/old home. The Wallis home, 315 East Broadway, was 58 years-old when we moved in and turns 100 next year. I would come to learn and respect much about this place and its inhabitants. Living here in the home has immeasurably reshaped my dot on the landscape. As far as the town, well, it would take some years before we would come to terms with each other.
We lived in a small two-bedroom apartment outside of town. We had been married just about a year and had been living separately while I finished college studies and the missus graduated and went back home to work. Within a month of getting the apartment, the old rabbit died and we were on our way.
The missus and I have raised four children on Broadway. We are currently raising our grandson in the home, a fifth generation helping to tell the story.