Bradford-Higgins House

From the chapter titled "Alaska" in Collecting Houses by Anne W. Baker, 2003, pp.130-131.

Although Baker had never seen the Bradford-Higgins House standing, she bought the timbers that had been dismantled by the owners who had taken it down by piece by piece.

It didn't matter that the house was in a heap on the ground, and that I couldn't see if all its pieces were there or if any were broken, but if someone could fall in love with a pile of old wood, I'm the one.

"We don't have any photographs of the house," the women had said, but she did remember that it was two stories tall and known as the Bradford house built in the late 1600's. She told me that if I wanted it I could have it for the taking. There was so much house I had to hire a trailer.

After it was unloaded in my barn, I laid out the pieces, measured each one, then rebuilt the house on a sheet of paper. By the time I had finished, a perfect 17th century, two story, end chimney house emerged on my drawing board.

I showed Ross the drawings of the house. I took him to the barn and showed him the pile of lumber that were in pieces. I told him I'd sell the house for ten thousand dollars, thinking that was a ridiculous price for a pile of timbers. He didn't flinch.

"Perfect," he said, " just what I want, and it's all ready to travel."

"You realize there is nothing here but the frame," I said. "Granted it's a beautiful one, but if you want an authentic house it will need old parts to go with it: doors, flooring, windows, mantles, trim, stairways and bricks for the chimney.

"But you can supply all that can't you?" he said. "And of course I'll need your crew to come out to Alaska to put it back up."

Read the full chapter from Baker's book titled, Collecting Houses: 17th Century Houses - 20th Century Adventures at https://docs.rwu.edu/baker_documentation/120/.
A Pre-print of the chapter "Alaska" from Collecting Houses. Used with permission from Sarah Baker, copyright holder. Chapter describes the move of the Bradford-Higgins house to Anchorage Alaska.