Hoover House Reading Book Reduced

“At first sight it was love, actually. From the carport to the
front porch swing, this place is magic”
Word gets around fast in a small town, especially when you’re folks like Tommy and Judi who are so
keen on saving antiquated properties. So when Tommy got wind that an1880s house was about to
give way to a new parking lot for a Smithville church, he jumped on it. He convinced the pastor that
it made more sense for him to move the house than for the church to pay for cleaning up the mess
of its demolition.
Tommy wryly admits: “We’ve done very well over the years by saving what churches, schools and
businesses have declared in the way of their parking lot expansion plans.”
So began the transformation of a Smithville “impediment” into an historic belle at 909 Buttonwood
in Bastrop – a simple but elegant two-story Hoover home that left former Austinites Jimmy
and Andrea Crouch star-struck when they first saw it in 2000.
“At first sight it was love, actually,” recollects Andrea. “From the carport to the front
porch swing, this place is magic.”
Outside, the old home retains much of its original looks. A welcoming 40-foot-long porch faces the street
and frames a polished antique front door and sets of refurbished old-time windows. Indoors, a central
hall gives way to sunbathed living, kitchen and dining areas; once separately walled in and now open
and spacious. A generous fireplace with an aged mantle draws together the adjoining kitchen and dining
room. At the back of the house, a second fireplace adorns the primary suite.
From a corner of the living room rises a stairway of gleaming, antique long-leaved pine. It leads
the way up to a set of bedrooms and a bath the Hoovers created after raising the gable of a new
roof to a 12-foot height.
“We’ve been so fortunate to live our lives inside the authentic, primitive, and yet highly stylized
and colored elegance that Tommy and Judi create in all of their homes,” Andrea continued. “Together
with the histories of their homes – their flooring, fireplace, woodwork, color schemes and
hardware – Hoover homes are set far apart from the rest.”
Typical of a house this age the foundation literally to sinks into the ground. The new elevated foundations
instantly gives the home new life and a great look.