A ‘new’ old house

After a devastating fire in 2003, the big American foursquare house on Spokane’s South Hill was a wreck. What hadn’t been completely destroyed in the fire was heavily damaged by smoke and water.

The owner, an 86-year-old woman who had owned the house for more than 50 years, didn’t want to abandon her home, so Capstone Construction was called in to restore it.

One year and more than $250,000 later, the house was completely restored.

And it was on the market.

That’s where the Azzinnaro story begins.

When Lee and Angela Azzinnaro decided to leave Spokane Valley and move into the city of Spokane to be nearer their work – the couple owns Spokane Subs – they chose the tree-lined streets of the South Hill as their new neighborhood.

“We were in a new house, and I couldn’t seem to get comfortable there,” Angela Azzinnaro says. “I realized I was spending all my time trying to make it look like an old house.”

But the couple didn’t want to lose the low-maintenance lifestyle that comes with living in a new home.

“We wanted to find an old house that was all new,” Azzinnaro says. “And that’s not easy to do.”

The refurbished house didn’t appeal to Angela immediately. Some things remained to be done, and the curb appeal was low: overgrown shrubbery almost completely hid the front door.

“When we pulled up in front, I didn’t even get out to look at it,” Azzinnaro says. “But my husband called out and said I needed to come inside.”

The interior, newly painted and sporting new hardwood floors, was exactly what Angela Azzinnaro wanted. Painted a soft yellow, with sunlight streaming in through wide windows, she thought the 96-year-old house was perfect.

A wide staircase led upstairs.

“We went up, expecting that part of the house to be unfinished, but it was beautiful,” Azzinnaro says. “By that time, I knew I had to have it.”

The couple purchased the 4,400 square-foot house and moved in with their two sons in November 2004.

With four bedrooms and five bathrooms, the house had plenty of space for their family.

Azzinnaro liked the color the contractors had chosen, so she used it throughout the house. She purchased rich velvet drapes in a deep garnet color from Pottery Barn for the windows.

“When I looked at one of the ‘before’ photos from the fire, I could see what was left of the curtains the woman who owned the house when it burned had,” she says. “They were the same red velvet that I had bought.”

This spring the couple completed the landscaping surrounding the front of the house. The shrubbery is gone. The backyard is next.

The Azzinnaros plan to update the basement, which escaped the fire with only water damage, by adding a mother-in-law suite.

Now, whether they are sitting in the rocking chairs on the new front porch or relaxing in the large family-room addition at the back of the house, Angela Azzinnaro is pleased with what she sees.

“We got exactly what we wanted,” she says. “We got a new old house.”