<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Stephanie Ryder loves her home. She loves it so much, she’s planning to put a plaque near her Calcasieu Historical Society and National Register of Historic Places plaques that reads, “A Perfect Place.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“It is; it’s a perfect place,” Stephanie Ryder said. “I know. Everyone has a place they think is the perfect place, maybe on the water or on the beach. This is our perfect place. This is a home of healing, a happy home. I am so grateful Ada Vincent had a heart for older homes.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Ryder is referring to Ada Vincent’s purchase and restoration of the 825 South Division Street home that began in 1995. Vincent is considered one of Lake Charles’ dedicated preservationists of Lake Charles architecture. She never lived in the house built around the 1900s. She modernized its systems while maintaining the integrity of the original structure.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“She did a very careful and detailed restoration,” Ryder said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Ryder gave an example.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Each tile from the five fireplaces was removed and cleaned. Then the fireplace fronts were retiled. Any woodwork that had to be replaced was milled to match the existing woodwork. We know it’s the original tile because when the Winford’s built the pool, they found some of the tile during the dig,” Ryder said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The burled pine and beaded board wainscot is original to the house, a testament to the abundance of lumber available at the time.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The house remained in the George Greene Martin House from the 1900s until Vincent’s purchase.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">In the late 1800s, Dr. John Greene and Lydia Smith Martin moved to Lake Charles. The positions he held in the community and accomplishments are many. One of the most significant was his leadership in bringing hospital services to the area.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Vincent sold the house to James and Laura Winford in 1997.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Ryder was driving by the house one Sunday afternoon when she saw the “For Sale” sign.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I put the car in reverse,” she recalled. “Then I called Greg Wise.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Friends with Wise, and once in the real estate business herself, Ryder admits she had asked Wise to show her houses just for the fun of seeing the houses.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I called like I’ve done before and said, ‘Hey, it’s me. I’m just curious….”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">When Wise found out which house she wanted to see, he responded in a way Ryder had never heard him respond before.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“He said, ‘Stephanie, that is your house; that is your house.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Robert and Stephanie Ryder purchased the house in 2008. She still has the real estate flyer. She has a Palm Sunday script for the 1997 tour that included the house. Assorted books about the history of Lake Charles and its homes, including books by Nola Mae Ross top her sitting room coffee table, a flea market find. Ryder appreciates local architecture and its history.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The Ryders were living on Grove Street, in Margaret Place, another of the city’s historic districts, when they purchased the home.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The moved in and used existing furnishings. Everything worked.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“We bought maybe two pieces. I painted one bedroom. I kept the existing window coverings, wallpaper and paint in the other rooms,” Ryder said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The house exudes a welcoming comfort. It’s filled with lovely things. It has the stately charm and character as only a historical home can have. Yet, it’s no museum.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I like pretty things; I do,” Ryder said. “And I want the house to be visually appealing, but we live in this house.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Much of the art is from local artists: Heather Kelley, Jane Baggett, Vickie Singletary and Eddie Morman.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">As precious to Ryder as any of the art hanging on her walls is the art from grandchildren, including coloring pages and a Santa on the opened wedding chest door in the sitting room.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She shops flea markets.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“The French Market here in Lake Charles is wonderful,” she said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The house’s decorations include keepsakes from Stephanie and Robert’s parents and grandparents. The “Cowboy Room” is especially for memorabilia. In another room Ryder has the post office wall from her grandparents country store in Rocky Mountain, Louisiana. The phone was a gift from one of her children. When the city was wired for telephone, the number of the Martin home was one.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She dumpster dives.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“When I found the piece in the bedroom on the side of the road, I guarded it until my husband got there with the truck,” she said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Many of the light fixtures are originals. Ryder found one in the attic and mounted it in the foyer, even though it lacked one of the glass shades.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The imperfections of her home seem to make it even more perfect, including the workstation set up in the foyer.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Around this time of the year, the foyer becomes the sewing room,” Ryder said. She and one of her sons create outstanding Halloween costumes, different from what can be found in stores or by using existing patterns.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She credits the Winfords’ taste for the design of the house’s roomy and beautiful kitchen.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“I don’t think I would have anticipated how good a modern kitchen would look and work with the house,” she said. “I’m reaping the benefit of other people’s work in this house. Ada Vincent’s and the Winford’s.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Between Stephanie and her husband, children number six. They have nine grandchildren, and a grandchild and a great grandchild on the way.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She cooks every Thursday for family and doesn’t use the prefix, “step.” Instead she has “bonus” children.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">She and her husband are from North Louisiana and knew each other in high school. Thirty years later, they met again when both were living in Lake Charles, and married.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“We live fully and love lots in this house,” she said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And that’s what makes the Ryder house a home.</span><p>The Ryder home is in the Lake Charles Charpentier historical district. (Rita LeBleu / American Press)</p>