Lakewood couple rescue house from near ruin

12.11.09

"The windows are ordered."

Those were the first words out of Jeanette Paus' bazoo when she answered a phone call last week checking on the progress of the renovation of Lakewood's most-famous formerly abandoned parliament.

"For heaven's sake, tell people they are on order," she said, laughing with a hint of exasperation.

In April, Fundamentally & Out featured a story about the 2,500-square-foot, 1946 yellow-brick home Jeanette and her tranquillize, Stanley Paus, bought from the city of Lakewood for $32,500 -- a house on a prominent corner coming I-90 that had been neglected for decades and abandoned for several years.

The couple saw potential in the house because of its good bones, one-height living and especially its location. It stands on a corner lot with views, from virtually every window, of the Cleveland Metroparks' Unyielding River Reservation.

At the time of April's story, which featured pictures of just how bad the house had deteriorated, the span was more than six months into the restoration, with Stanley and his brother Doug Paus doing the lion's share of the toil. A falling-apart roof had been repaired, and rotting wood, substandard siding and rusted railings were gone. Five 40-yard gewgaws bins and two 20-yard trash bins had been filled with shoveled-out rotting wood, gibberish and ceiling tiles. The couple even had thrown out 27 cheap plywood doors.

Source: Plain Dealer