What Homeowner Finds While Renovating 1858 Victorian House Stuns Internet
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A video showcasing the quirks and hidden treasures of a Victorian home dating back to 1858 has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip, shared by Michele Mayberry (@henryklisthouse), a patent attorney from Blacksburg, Virginia, follows her ongoing renovation of a historic property in Wheeling, West Virginia. The video has had over 636,000 viewers since it was posted on June 29. Mayberry purchased the home last year, she told Newsweek.
Set to her voiceover narration, the video walks viewers through a series of unexpected and curious discoveries from inside the home. "Here's some old things we found in our 1858 Victorian home that we are renovating," Mayberry says at the start of the video.
The viral clip comes amid a broader trend in rising investments in home renovation. The median spending on home renovation in the United States was found to have surged by 60 percent between 2020 and 2023, rising from $15,000 to $24,000, according to a 2024 survey by Houzz, a home design website.
Among the more eye-catching finds in the viral clip is a vintage sign that reads "Blood Mobile," a relic from the when the house was used by the Moundsville Chapter of the American Red Cross in the mid-20th century. The building had also served as a school prior to that time.
"There were several antique mirrors and furniture left behind," Mayberry told Newsweek. "The walled-up windows are the most interesting. They provide hints as to how the house was configured at different points in time throughout the history of the house."
She added that one of the covered windows—found in a basement wall—was once an exterior window of a garage that has since been converted into a room. "There is a beautiful stained-glass window and door that used to be the exterior also but was included in the interior when the 1880s addition was added on," she said.
One especially puzzling discovery is shown in a narrow closet. "There is an exterior window that they covered up in this closet, it goes back to the same stairwell," Mayberry says in the video. "But it's in the middle of the house, so I'm really not sure why there's an exterior window here."
The clip also spotlights a vintage bentwood chair, which Mayberry said was left behind from when the building operated as the Lyceum School. Another piece is an antique mirror found on the bathroom mantle. "The label indicates that the mirror came from an art store in Wheeling that was around in the early 1900s," she notes.
'So Cool'
The unusual finds and preserved architectural details—such as original windows, doors, and furnishings—have inspired praise and fascination in the video's comments section.
"This is so awesome," wrote TikTok user booby_bear, while KW4200 said: "this is so cooooooool."
User @youshouldeat said: "I would love to find these treasures," and @t_doucier said: "a house with a History... with a soul."
Several viewers speculated about the strange interior window. "Maybe that window was for ventilation in the stairway and to add light from the other room," suggested runninglight21. JoAnne89 added: "The exterior window might of been the outside wall & the previous owners might of made the house bigger."
"The house is beautiful," commented a user called Grand Army of the Republic. "I bet that window is for lighting that stairwell before electrical lights and too narrow for an oil lamp."
Several viewers were invested in the home's architectural preservation. "Please keep its charm and don't turn it dull and grey," pleaded paniicattak.
A screenshot from a viral TikTok video showcasing various old items found in an 1858 Victorian home in Virginia.
A screenshot from a viral TikTok video showcasing various old items found in an 1858 Victorian home in Virginia.
@henryklisthouse on TikTok
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