TOWSON, Md. — Alice and Joseph Scharf say it was like walking into a time capsule.
"When we moved in here, it was like it was in 1930," recalled Alice.
"There was no running water. There was no electricity," Joseph said.
But restoring this 1930s home still didn't seem like a daunting task for the couple.
"We looked at it and said - yeah, we can do that," Joseph said.
Fixing the place up would cost a decent chunk of change, but mortgage or rental payments weren't a concern. That's because it only costs $1 a year.
The house, located on Providence Road in Towson, is part of something called Maryland's Resident Curatorship Program.
"You really have to be able to do the work yourself. If you have to hire everybody, you might as well just go out and buy a house," Alice said.
Here's how the program works: for a dollar a year, you're guaranteed lifetime tenancy. In exchange, you agree to restore, maintain, and share the house with the public, by allowing visitors a few times a year.
"This land would be a development if it wasn't for this house," Alice said.
"Any home that's unique is worth preserving," Joseph said.
And preserve it they have. The property serves as a token of 20th century home-building. It was called a "kit house;" it's basically a mail-order residence.
"Where they would sell homes through a catalog, and you could put it up, build it. Very few survive in original condition. This house is pretty much original condition," Joseph explained.
Of course, you can't live in a museum, so they did have to make some updates.
"It's a kitchen that was not made for modern living. So fitting appliances was really difficult," Alice said.
But there's still plenty of evidence that this home is a piece of history. The couple showed us a hanger in the coat closet for fedoras, and a spot where an old phone used to hang.
As an added bonus, the house is halfway between two of the couple's sons, who live in Wilmington and D.C., so it serves as a meeting spot for the whole family, including their three grandchildren.
"Once a year, we do grandma and grandpa's summer camp," Alice said.
It's becoming part of their own family's history, and you can't put a price on that.
There's currently one house available for a curator. For more information on the program and how to apply, click here.
