Lizzie Borden Society Forum

How Big was the House that Andrew, abby, Emma & lizzie lived at?
Was it on a Big yard? Like over a acre in size or where the neighbors very close to her?

The Borden house, 92 Second Street, was originally a two family dwelling with one apartment on the first floor and one on the second. It was converted to a single family house by Mr. Borden.

The house has just under 3000 sq ft. of living space. This doesn't include the basement or the attic which was the location of maid's bedroom. By today's standards I would think that the Borden house is a large one but by the standards of the day it was huge. However because the floor plan is basically that of a two family house it isn't as efficient as it could be.

The the size of the yard is under 1/4 of acre (.187) not a bad size for in Fall River but like most houses in Fall River the neighboring houses are quite close.

Wow. Was that the size of the yard 1/4 of a acre back when Lizzie lived there? Is the barn still there? Or was the torn down?

The original barn was torn down, a new structure that approximates the original has been constructed by the new owners and serves as a gift shop and I think office space. I should mention that the barn is not a large barn like you may picture on a farm. It is more the size of a large garage.

I believe the size of the yard has pretty much remained unchanged.

From all the pictures I have seen of the house, it looks to be very narrow and small. At least for a family and the wealth of Andrew Borden.

I think a lot of this is perception.

92 Second Street is 26 ft. wide and 44 ft. long. The finished floor space for the first and second floor is 2800 sq. ft. It is not a small house, now Maplecroft is certainly bigger but by maybe 500 sq. ft. a good amount but it hardly makes 2800 sq ft. a 'small' house. This doesn't include the attics, basements, or porches of either house.

What is true is that 92 Second St. is not a grand home or a lavish home. It was a neat modest two family that Andrew Borden converted into a large single family. It might have been less than modest because of its size but it certainly never became the elegant home of a man of stature and wealth.

So while it's true that the house didn't reflect the wealth and stature of the man who lived there it really a large house, even by today's standards.

Perception is the key. I agree.

When I went there in June, I was taken by the tall and narrow rooms, and they felt a bit claustrophobic to me. Also, the lack of hallways lends a sense of being *closed in* to me. However, in those days, it probably seemed pretty roomy.

Are you tall, terrie? I just wondered because the smaller people think the higher ceilings makes the House seem larger. I've been trying to figure out if this opinion is across the board by height.

Back then, even Mrs. Churchill, a daughter of a Mayor, took in boarders. There were a lot of boarders on Second Street in the other houses there. In that way the Borden family was different. Even the Bowens shared a duplex with Mrs. Dr. Bowen's parents on the other side. That loked like a nice big solid house tho.

I am 5'8 I think.

I think some of my reaction (that the Borden house is a small one) comes from growing up in a large house. I was the youngest of 10 kids, and we had a house with nice, big rooms (of course, even that house seems smaller to me than I remember as a child...lol)

Funny, it seems that a lot of what I've read describes the house as small and cramped. It certainly always looked nice and big to me from the photos. Now when someone tells me a house is 2800 square feet, I will look at them with a blank look and say "uh, ok....so is it a big house or what?"

I just can't comprehend the size of a house from it's square footage. I guess what you are saying is that it's a fairly large house, right?

I may be wrong, but I think because terrie is so tall, the higher ceilings don't impress her too much.

Shorties think it is large- especially compared to the outside.

Yes a house that is over 2000 sq. ft. for 4 or 5 people I think is *big enough.*

It's 2 and 1/2 stories and a cellar. I'd count the attic and celler as square footage, myself.

Also, 92 Second sold to Andrew for $10,000 in 1872. Maplecroft sold to the Borden orphans from between $11,000 and $13,000 in 1893 (Rebello 286).
There was a recession then, tho.

When was the last barn at the house tourn down?
What year about. Before the gift shop was built where the barn
use to be.

The barn was torn down in April 1929. The Borden sisters did not own the property at that time.

There is an interesting newspaper headline on the Providence Journal article that covered the tearing down of the barn:

"Building Wreckers Hope to Find Clue to Borden Murders in Barn / Start to Tear Down Structure Where Lizzie Said She Hunted Lead For Fishline During Crime / Pear Tree is Free of Axe." April 6, 1929: 14

I thought it interesting that they searched a pear tree(s) as well. No record of the police searching the trees at the time of the crime.

That was where I thought a hatchet could be hidden! Stuck in a tree! Don't tell me they took me seriously?

Harry's correct.
Here is The Pic Album picture of the demolition, published in 1938

Kat @ Thu Aug 30, 2007 11:48 pm wrote:That was where I thought a hatchet could be hidden! Stuck in a tree! Don't tell me they took me seriously?

Unfortunately it wasn't the police who looked and it was 37 years later.

Better late than never?

Thank you Harry.

2800 square feet is not a small house in my neck of the woods. We have homes that average 800-1000 square feet.

-1bigsteve (o: