Delaware Spaces: Colonial home in Old New Castle

• ADDRESS%3A 144 E. Third St.%2C Old New Castle
• SIZE%3A 3%2C725 square feet
• ROOMS%3A Five bedrooms and three bathrooms
• PRICE%3A %24350%2C000

Originally published on July 31, 2014

Hanging over the fireplace in the front room of this historic, freestanding house in Old New Castle is a copy of a March 1962 cover of Saturday Evening Post.

The cover art features a bird's-eye view of Delaware Street where the avenue widens near the Old Court House. In the picturesque "Town Square" scene, an 18th-century-looking dresser is being loaded into trunk of a boxer station wagon. Except for the turquoise and yellow tail-finned sedans, the street looks nearly identical to today.

That year Evelyn and Joseph Toner moved into the spacious 1840 house at 144 E. Third St. with their six children, the oldest age 12. Another child came after the family moved in.

For son Jerry, childhood in New Castle was as idyllic as the depiction on the magazine cover. Not only did his grandparents live on the same street but some cousins lived three blocks away. In the center of town on Delaware Street, the kids had their choice of a five-and-dime store, a candy shop or a newsstand among the various businesses.

"For tennis balls and different toys you'd go to the five-and-ten. For baseball cards or sodas, we go to the newsstand and turn in bottles you'd picked up," Jerry Toner said.

Even with seven kids, the nearly 4,000-square-foot house that previously had been divided into apartments was large enough to accommodate them all comfortably, Toner said. What's more, the family allowed an elderly widow to continue living in the cozy top-floor apartment for the rest of her life. She became another family member, Toner said.

While the New Castle Historical Society said they didn't have any historical information on the house, the Toner family once heard that a physician lived there.

For the Toners, the history of the house revolves around family. But now, with their parents deceased, the Toner children thinks it's time to sell what has been the center of family life for three generations.

It's a bittersweet parting.

Grandson Andrew Hoskins, 27, of New Castle, who spent many happy years at his grandparents' house, said he would love to buy it and "die in this house." But with only three people in his family, "it's a lot of house, to say the least."

"He'd buy it in a heartbeat," Toner said.

Marilyn Green of Re/Max Associates – Wilmington, which has the listing, said while the house doesn't have a renovated kitchen, there is tremendous potential to expand the kitchen because of the many large rooms. The front room and parlor are each 16 by 16 feet. The ceilings in those rooms are more than 10 feet high.

There are multiple fireplaces throughout the house. Hardwood floors are original, along with the millwork, hardware and windows.

One of the biggest selling points is the one-fifth of an acre lot that runs all the way to East Fourth Street. There is off-street parking at the rear of the house. There are also two porches on the rear of the house.

On a recent mild summer day with the breeze blowing through the windows and the church bells chiming, Toner talked about the family house:

What was it like growing up here?

I loved it, growing up in this house. I would ride my bike to Delaware Street where there was a supermarket, drug stores, jewelers, a newsstand, meat market, cleaners.

You had a big family. Did the house seem small with all those people?

No, it was the right-sized house. My brothers and I shared the front bedroom. My sisters shared a bedroom. They had to walk through my parents' bedroom to get to their room so they knew every board that would creak.

I understand this is the house where the family always gathered.

Oh, yes. Anything that happened, happened here. We would have dinners for 60 people. There were 27 grandchildren. Every October we would have a covered-dish dinner. After my parents died, we still had it. That's when we would exchange names for Christmas because we were such a big family. We kept up the tradition.

Who would you like to see buy this house?

A big family. We had so much fun here.

To suggest interesting spaces, contact Maureen Milford at (302) 324-2881 or mmilford@delawareonline.com.