Ellis County Texas Archives Photo Place.....Cerf House ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/txfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Russell Hobbs cerfhouse@yahoo.com November 16, 2008, 12:56 pm Source: Not Known Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/ellis/photos/cerfhous7183gph.jpg Image file size: 166.8 Kb Cerf house in Ennis, Texas Built in 1903, torn down in 1968. How beautiful and strong the Cerf house was is apparent from the pictures of the outside of the home. Entering the home does not disappoint what one would expect to find inside such a grand exterior. As you enter the two side by side front doors you are first put back by the striking plush green carpet that covers the entire first floor. The color of the carpet was about the color of the top of a pool table and with the contrast of the dark mahogany paneling and wide ornate molding, it was magnificent. As you enter and proceed into the massive entrance area at the end of which is the staircase. The staircase itself was unassuming and not a big part of the entrance as most of the large houses in that era were. At the base of the staircase, up one step, was a platform where (as described by family members) sat a “gold” chair from which Mrs. Cerf received her guest when hosting parties. To the right of the “gold” chair was a wooded bench. I would think this was for boyfriends (“suitors” in those days) to wait for their date to come down the stairs, but the Cerf’s had no daughters so it could have been used for anyone to wait for Mrs. Or Mr. Cerf to come down and then be taken to the living room or parlor to set. There was something very unique about the downstairs and I will try to describe it. The front two rooms could be closed off by use of sliding walls, yes I said sliding walls. There were columns (like the ones outside but of course smaller) also inside the house. These sliding walls would slide in and out of existing walls and slide over to one of these columns, forming a closed and separate room. The columns had a slot in them that the walls would fit into to make it look like it was built that way. These walls could be slid back and this would open the entire downstairs to make a large ballroom. Even after all those years the walls still slid very easy and they all worked. There were three fireplaces downstairs and three upstairs. They were coal burning fireplaces and all (especially downstairs) had very beautiful grates in them. It does not show up in the picture because of the tree, but the downstairs dinning room and upstairs bedroom (west side of house) had a rounded outside wall. Of course there were windows on this wall and the window sashes were also curved and also the glass in them was curved. Now days that would probably not be a big deal but back then I am sure it was really out of the ordinary. And again, after all those years the windows still went up and down very smoothly even though they were curved. In my younger days I did a lot of carpenter work, so I could really appreciate the craftsmanship in all the molding and the woodwork in this house. Especially realizing that if was all done without power tools! The kitchen was very typical of the day, very small and very few cabinets. The kitchen sink was huge and it had a built on drain board area (all porcelain) and it was one piece. No telling how much that thing weighed. There was one half bath downstairs. When the house was built it was lit by gas lights and was later converted to electricity. As you went up the stair case you made one turn, up more stairs, make another turn and then up more stairs to the top. There were two stairwells. Next to the kitchen downstairs was an indoor back porch where one could access another stairway to the upstairs. I am sure this was a way that the “help” could go upstairs without using the main stairway. When you got to the top of the stairs your eye would be drown to the row of columns of each side of the open area from there to the door that opened onto the upstairs balcony. Over these columns were arches from one end to the other. The floors upstairs were wooden. There were four bedrooms upstairs, a seating area and one bathroom. The bathroom was large and it had the largest claw foot tub I have ever seen. It was unusually long, I am six foot tall and I could lay down in it and still have room at the bottom . It took a while to get enough water in it to take a bath. The bedroom that I used was right next to the room where Mrs. Cerf died. As long as I lived there I did not hear any noises, see anything supernatural of any kind. I always felt very safe there. There was one thing that was kinda creepy. Looking at the front of the house the upstairs bedroom to the right was a room used by Mary. Mary was a Czech lady (very, very nice) that stayed in the house and took care of Mrs. Cerf the last years of her life. At night when getting close to that room I could feel some kind of “presents” there. I do not know if I believe in that sort of thing or not but I do know what I could feel. So, at night I just did not go over there by that room. It was very dark at night in the house and there was no way to turn a light on downstairs from upstairs and vice versa, so I memorized the number of stairs to the first turn, to the next turn and then up to the top. At the top of the stairs was a light switch.. The basement was very small and only contained a coal burning furnace. There was a pile of empty hand blown wine bottles there also. They were dark red, blue, and green in color. The attic was very large and there was nothing in it. I thought there may have been something left there, but there was nothing. There is no way to do this house justice in using the written word, it was just too magnificent!! File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/ellis/photos/cerfhous7183gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/txfiles/ File size: 0.7 Kb