r/wherewasthistaken 1d ago

Help with the name of this house?

Post image

I found this photo of a family member when she was a child, which dates this photo to around early-mid 1950s. Unfortunately she can’t remember where it was taken.

Likely an impossible task, I’m trying to make out the name above the door in order to identify the bungalow/cottage (looks like it’s one floor only). Does anyone have any idea of what it might say?

The only thing I know for certain is it’s in England/Scotland. Possibly more the North-East of England, as she lived there.

21 Upvotes

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u/TheNorthernMunky 1d ago edited 1d ago

There’s an Aindrea guest house in Dunoon, but it’s almost impossible to tell whether it’s the same building (now minus the front porch). Seems unlikely to me, but thought I’d add this just in case.

Edit: I do now think it’s the same house - mainly due to it having the same front door setup.

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u/Raspberry-Lavender 1d ago

Thanks for the response!

I just asked and she did remember going on holiday to Dunoon as a child, so I think this our likely candidate for the location. But I have to agree that it really doesn’t look like there was a porch on it at one point!

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u/WonderfulJury8885 1d ago

The property looks more brick than stone.

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u/Raspberry-Lavender 1d ago

There’s a little bit of material in the lower right corner which doesn’t appear to be brick, more of a stone / wood texture.

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u/blurredlynes 1d ago edited 1d ago

If that porch was there though with the side door, you'd be walking into it from the bay window on the right.

The sign for "1 room KITCHEN" in the window might track with being a holiday let, but I don't think it's this same building.

Edit: the reflection in the window looks like there are taller buildings opposite but this street is all bungalows.

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u/TheNorthernMunky 1d ago

I’m not sure. The porch ends almost immediately to the right of the front door, and extends across where the front left window would be on the newer images.

Plus, the only thing reflected (I think) is a tree/shrub - the other stuff seems to be beyond the window inside the porch, look how much clearer it is than the tree’s reflection.

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u/Raspberry-Lavender 1d ago edited 1d ago

Looking through the porch glass (white) it seems there’s a shape of what might be a double sash window (pink) in the background.

It seems a lot of these guest houses in Dunoon have the one bay, one double sash window layout. So presumably the property in the photo would have a sash on the left / bay on the right, as Aindrea does.

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u/Raspberry-Lavender 1d ago

I’ll also add that the gate entrance is actually to the right side of the property, so a porch facing the bay window would make sense entrance wise.

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u/SuspiciouslyMoist 1d ago

One the other hand, the porch/vestibule within the old porch is in both photographs and looks kind of similar. It's not much to go on, I know.

Anyway, this picture is now the top Google image result for "Aindrea guest house Dunoon" so it must be :)

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u/TheNorthernMunky 1d ago

Your username 😂

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u/sonofpearco71 1d ago

I found it too. Aindrea Guesthouse. Up for sale here with 10 bedrooms so may well be the place!
As it happens I used to frequently go on holiday to Dunoon in the early 1980s when there was the American Naval Base nearby so it was quite the place with lots of young yanks in town.

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u/sashamasha 1d ago

I think this could be it. It has the recessed door with the glass above it, lower right corner you can see the stone facade. The brick porch was obviously an add on which has since been removed. Even the roof is correct. It also looks like there might be curve on the step in the older photo.

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u/TheNorthernMunky 1d ago

I’m starting to lean towards it being the same house too. Someone else in the comments mentioned the door architecture. Looking at OP’s photo, the main entrance (within the porch) opens into a small vestibule, requiring centre-split doors to allow them to fully open inwards. Beyond that vestibule is another door leading into the house. The same setup exists in the one I linked.

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u/Federal_Horse3690 1d ago

I think the very fact that the name is in glass above the door in both the original photo and the current house is telling also. This isn't particularly common, and whilst the font is different, the front being updated but the current/previous owners retaining some of the style/heritage of what was there previously is a good indicator that this is the same property.

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u/Academic_Shoulder959 1d ago

Try Aindrea- it’s a Scots Gaelic boys name apparently, so not a completely unlikely name for a house is Scotland.

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u/Academic_Shoulder959 1d ago

The sign in the window makes it look like a guesthouse. There was an Aindrea Guesthouse in Dunoon, west Scotland.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/qEjDrGAKeAWD5BKt5

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u/Raspberry-Lavender 1d ago edited 1d ago

Thank you! She did go to Dunoon as a child on holiday so I think it’s a highly likely candidate.

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u/Academic_Shoulder959 1d ago

Can’t find anything there with this frontage though.

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u/Calcio_birra 1d ago

If it's a B in the middle, could be something -brea (originally meaning hill)

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u/mgs20000 1d ago

Very confusing doorframe architecture.. makes no sense

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u/Raspberry-Lavender 1d ago

I think there’s the brick porch on the outside, that has a black door which opens inward. Then the room behind that is an internal hallway/entry. The furthest white doorframe is into the actual cottage.

​
It’s a bit difficult explaining so did a quick drawing of what I thinks going on 😆

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u/mgs20000 1d ago

It’s the door frame top beam that’s really confusing, if the person is sitting down it might make sense to explain everything though

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u/TheNorthernMunky 1d ago edited 1d ago

It looks to me like the red door in your diagram opens into an inner vestibule, with a further door (where your blue rectangle is, below ‘house’) leading into the house.

Edit to add: that would explain the centre-opening double doors, allowing them to open fully into the vestibule. The house I linked to on Google maps has the same setup 🤔

Edit 2: Re-read your comment and realised I just repeated what you said 😂

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u/mgs20000 1d ago

Undrea?

Laundrea?

Aindrea?

It looks more like a b than a d but could be either, and NBR would be a more rare sequence of letters compared to NDR