I'll be busting walls open for plumbing work this week, so if that presents opportunity, I may as well run ducts then for some kind of mini system (or at least not close them up right away. OTOH, if these are as $$$ as you are saying, maybe I don't.
Boiler is up for replacing, and it's going to cost $15,000 anyway. Maybe I'll schedule some quotes while I'm up there.
And yeah, the "pretty" factor is strong in this old dame. It's a 175 yr old home that's been in the same family for the past 70 yrs, so well maintained (with the exception of galvanized plumbing that got away from them).