HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Cicero Breese King House The Cicero Breese King House
The King House is a modest sized Victorian house with typical detailing. It is on
Village Lane Orient, a street of many splendid old houses. Yet this house immedi-
ately catches ones attention because of its striking Victorian earth-tone color
scheme. Such was not always the case. For many years,the house sat quietly among
its distinguished neighbors, most of which were characteristically clad in basic white
with green or black trim.
The King House was originally built by Cicero Breese King, a"local businessman, in
1890. In 1966 the present owners, Dr. Norman and Phoebe Cohen, purchased the
house from Floyd King. Fortunately for the Cohens, most of the original interior and.
exterior detailing was still intact.
The-Cohens set out to restore the house as faithfully to the original design as possi-
ble. This restoration included replacing a deteriorated rear porch, chimney and as-
phalt shingled roof. Wood shingles were applied. When it came time to paint the
exterior, the Cohens queried the previous owner, who told them that, in his memory,
the house had always been painted white. And so it was done. Normal maintenance
required several painting jobs, all white. A few years ago when it came time to re-
paint, the buildup of old paint necessitated the stripping of old paint. Much to the
Cohens surprise, as the painter Monte Rivera, stripped off the old paint the original
colors - which were not white - began to emerge: deep red for the shingles, olive
green for the clapboards and dark brown for the trim. With this discovery, the Co-
hens plunged into research, consulting with neighbors, the nearby Oysterponds His-
torical Society and doing their own color tests. The decision was made to return the
house to its original colors (with the exception of the dark brown trim, which proved
to be too gloomy). This use of color dramatically brings out the rich structural fea-
tures and trim detail so characteristic of Victorian design. The result is a stunning
building that improves the ambiance of historic Village Lane.