Home & Garden

Home in Anniston's historic Tyler Hill district offered as prize for an essay contest

By Brett Buckner
Staff Writer

11-16-2008

This historic Anniston home will be given away to the writer who submits the best essay explaining why they have always wanted to own a Victorian home. Photo: Kevin Qualls/The Anniston Star

It stands tall and majestic atop a slight hill, stark white against a dingy gray sky, like something out of a dream.

Which, for many who happen to pass this and any of the other Victorian homes that decorate the landscape of Anniston's Tyler Hill district, is exactly what it is — an unlikely if not altogether impossible dream. It's the kind of wishful thinking that makes the curious stop and stare — as if window shopping — imagining what it must be like to live in and own such a home.

And there is magic in that little word: "home."

When attached to a structure as rich in potential as it is in history — a place that's brought happiness to generations — it conjures up a sense of belonging, of hope, and the promise of a better life … the perfect life.

Such dreams are beyond the reach of most people.

But the house that embodies those same dreams can be within anyone's grasp. All it takes is a sincere answer to a seemingly simple question: "Why I've always wanted a true Victorian house."

Glenna Graeff, who owns the Queen Anne-style Victorian home, wants to find someone who loves and appreciates this house just as much as she and her family have for the past three years.

Like so many others, Graeff had always dreamed of owning a Victorian home. Now that her husband, David, has found a new job and the family has to move to Phoenix, she's hoping to help fulfill someone else's dream.

"Most people simply can't afford their own Victorian home," Graeff says, sitting on her wrap-around porch in the fading light of a cool afternoon. "This is the kind of contest that I'd like to win. It's the kind of contest that can make a real difference in people's lives."

And thus the idea for an essay contest was born.

Rather than leaving it all up to chance, this way she can be sure the next owner will appreciate the house as much as she has. By answering the essay question, Graeff will essentially know the heart of the new owner.

"I'm looking for something in the soul," she says, staring off as if watching the last few years of her life playing out in the distance. "I want to find someone with the same understanding and the same yearning that I had when we all first moved here."

Built in 1889, the 2,000 square-foot, four-bedroom, two-bath house is nestled among a number of historic homes within the Tyler Hill neighborhood. It has an "updated" kitchen, electricity and plumbing and had its roof replaced in July 2008.

Graeff is hosting an open house from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 6.

"But this isn't just some house or another house," Graeff says. "This house is unique. It can't be reproduced … all the character and history comes with it. And the winner will be part of its story."

There is a $250 entry fee for the contest, and no more than 1,000 entries will be accepted. With the proceeds, Graeff intends to pay off the mortgage and then donate a portion of the money to the Alabama School of Math and Science in Mobile, where her son is a student.

Entries will be judged on 1) Originality of content, 2) Organization, and 3) Spelling.

Graeff will read all of the entries, which will be recognized according to the last four numbers of person's social security number rather than a name so as to avoid preferential treatment. She will then choose the top 10 submissions before turning those entries over to school administrators to select an overall winner.

"My ideal entry will be someone who's original," Graeff says. "I know that times are tough and the economy has everybody scared, but I want more. I want to read why someone wants this house, why this house will complete their lives.

"I want it to be as special for them as it has been for me."

If at least 900 entries are not postmarked by Jan. 31, 2009, fees will be returned minus a 10 percent administration fee.

"It may not work, but at least I tried," Graeff says. "And if it doesn't … nothing's lost. But if it all works according to plan, someone will own this house — lock, stock and barrel — on Aug. 2, 2009.

"I'll be gone, crying every mile from here to Arizona."