The historic Mallett Deep Energy Retrofit Project is well underway. Moving into August, the basement has been excavated and is ready for the new slab and insulation, a topic that we'll expand upon in subsequent posts. The excitement and anxiety of retrofitting a turn of the century, historic building is heightened by the many surprises along the way, both welcome and feared. This week we're happy to report on an excellent find, a century-old glass bottle of Hunyadi Janos Bitterquelle, from the Andreas Saxlehner mineral spring water company of Budapest, Hungary.
The "bitter, aperient water" was bottled by Saxlehner in Buda, of Budapest, as the namesake of Hunyadi Janos, the 15th century Hungarian military hero. Marketed as an "aperient," aka laxative, the mineral water claimed medicinal qualities, including "organic diseases resulting from a fatty degeneration," for the organs of "respiration and circulation," for "the evil consequences of indiscretion in diet," and the keystone - helpful in relieving hemmorhoids. Not bad for a bottle of bubbly water.
The 24 ounce, dark-olive-green glass bottle is representative of the many "bitterquelle" mineral water bottles found across the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century. Often recovered at historic sites, the Hunyadi Janos brand was a popular European import, and spurred many domestic knock-off brands. Most commonly found in the U.S. between 1870 and 1920 or so, the brand's popularity corresponds nicely with the time period in which the Mallett House was purposed as worker housing.
So, eat your heart out, Perrier, San Pellegrino, and Poland Spring, Hunyadi Janos has been littering the basements of America for over a century!
It's no brick of gold, but is a welcome reminder of the living history of this building, inside and out. The world was a very different place 120 years ago when this building was born. And it's going to be a very very different place over the next 120. Be sure to check back with the 57 Depot Street Deep Energy Retrofit Project page often, as we continue to share the story of this old house and open-source the revitalization efforts.
Add comment