THE“ BRACKETED-TOWER' STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE IN MID-MICHIGAN Thesis for the Degree of M. A. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY Philip Alan Siebert I966 Afifi'l' 11A CT THE ”BRACKETED-TOWER" STYLE 0? ARCHITECTURE IN MID-MICHIGAN by Philip Alan Siebert Body of Abstract With the renewed interest in nineteenth century American domestic architecture there has been a distinct need for many new regional studies in all parts of the country. I hope that in some way I have filled that need as far as a limited region, the Mid-Michigan area, is concerned. My thesis is divided into two areas: the first being a general survey of what was going on in domestic architecture during the Remantic decades, which I roughly equate with the years 1850-1875, here in the Mid-Michigan area. The second part of this theses concerns the actual study, photography and recording of examples of domestic architecture of the period. I have tried to reappraiae the visual products of this architecture and have written about the ”Bracketed- Tower” style which I feel to be characteristic of the era. For the most part I have ignored the old labels such as "Italian Villa,” ”Gothic Cottage,” and 'Mensard" in favor of studying the actual dwelling as a self-contained unit and then trying to reassemble similar units. Large carved brackets (consoles) and cupolas (towers, observatories) were Philip Alan Siebert two major characteristics of homes built between 1650 and 1875. and I feel these two traits are significant enough to be labeled a style. In defining this architectural style and architecture of the period in general I have gone to such sources as mag- azines contemporary to the period, house pattern books, crit- icisms written during the actual period of 1850-1875, discus- sions of the reointerpretation of architecture which went on in the 1880's, early 20th century criticisms and the present, amid-twentieth century writings of architectural historians and critics. In a sense the literature and criticism of the Romantic period has gone full circle in the last century. After a brief general coverage of the architectural background of the mid-nineteenth century and reading lit- erature of the period to gain a preper perspective, the next problem involved fieldwork and the study of actual homes as they remain today. The homes first had to be locat- ed end then researched which;meant correspondence with present and past owners, looking up old county histories, going to county court houses in search of old records and finally photographing the houses both on the exterior and interior. The homes which were studied were limited to those in small towns located in Mid-Michigan counties such as Ingham, Ionia, Eaton, Clinton, Shiawassee and Livingston. In many cases the homes were located in county seats and all are within sixty miles of East Lansing. Rural homes were not considered and homes which were more of the classic Greek Revival era were Philip Alan Siebert not considered as were those dating after 1875 when more "accurate” period styles as well as true reforms were begun. The periods before and after the general dates of 1850-1875 were not the main concern of this theses which focuses on one of the more unified periods of nineteenth century Romanticism. I have chronicled the conditions which I feel both brought the ”Bracketed-Tower" style into existence and initiated its decline and demise. I have also included two appendices. Appendix A con- sists of a hand drawn map of Michigan showing the location of the towns in which the houses are to be found and also the general area of each county. Appendix B consists of brief descriptions and addresses of noteworthy homes in the same general area and time span.which, for lack of time and space, could not be included in the main body of the thesis, but were worthy of being permanently recorded before many of them disappear from the architectural scene. THE "BRACKETED-TOWER” STYLE 0F.ARCHITECTURE IN MID—MICHIGAN By Philip Alan Siebert A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Art 1966 Preface I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who gave me so much help and inspiration with the preparation of this thesis. I want to especially thank Dr. Sadayoshi Omoto of the Michigan State University Art Department for his guidance during the periods of the initial develOpment and final completion of the thesis. Miss Geneva Kebler, the head archivist of the Michigan Historical Commission, helped me in the location of much early information about early settlers and locations of existing homes. I would like to thank the various court, library and bank personnel who were so helpful. Host of all I wish to express my gratitude to the many owners of the homes who welcomed me and gave so freely or their time, effort and memories. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Page Chapter *4 Ie Introduction eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee II. DEMISE OF GREEK REVIVAL.AhD RISE OF "ROMANTIC" .ARCIIITECTITRE OOIOOOOICIOOCOOOOOOOOO0.0.0.... 'PICLUPGSQUGN Architecture eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee IV *4“) III. CASTLE AfiD COTTAGE: THE GOTHIC REVIVAL eeeee >4 :4 (n IV. ARCHITECTURE IN THE ITALIAN MODE eeeeeeeeeeeee Pldfl and Fancies eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee h) be V. HOMES FOR THE MILLION: THE BUILDER'S GUIDES .o IU \n VI. DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE IN MICHIGAN ............ U 0 VII. DEFINITION AND BEGINNINGS OF'THE BRACKETED— TOWER STYLE eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee A. TOdd House eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee B. H811‘FOW19? House eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Ce LOVBII'WBDDBP HOUBO eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee De SQUIPO Havens"186l" HOUBO eeeeeeeeeeee E. Greonaway—Bellard HOUBO eeeeeeeeeeeeee Fe HICkfl “BUSIOH eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee «JOWHUYFWUQJ \H¥743U30“O\n VIII. DECLINE AND DENISE OF THE 'BRACKETED-TOWER" STYLE 00......00.000.00.000.0.00.0000...O. 03 Ch er I4 APPEIIDIX A .OOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOO...0.00...CO... APPEIme B 0.0.0...OOOIOOOOOOCUOOOOOOOOOOOO00...... a: UN BIBLIOGRAPHY OOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOOIOOOOOOO00...... (D ‘0 iii Figure 1. 2. 3. u. S. 6. 7. 8. 9. 1o. 11. 12. 13. 1h. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. ILLUSTRATIONS * Front View of Todd House. Owoeso ............... Corner View of Todd House ...................... Cupola end Spire Viewo-Todd House .............. Front View of Hell-Fowler House ................ Detail of Breckete-«Hall-Fowler House .......... Corner View of Hall-Fowler Houee ............... Front View of Lovell-Webber House .............. Angle View of Lovell-Robber House .............. Detail of Braekete--Love11«Webber House ........ View of Squire Haven "1861" House .............. Detail of Breckete--”1861" House ............... Detail of Cupola-o"1861" Houee ................. Front View of Greenawey-Bellerd House .......... Detail of Front Facade and Tower ............... Bay Area Bracket: of Greenaway-Bellerd ......... Front View of John Hicks Mansion ............... Corner View of Hicks Mansion ................... Detail of Tower and Roof ....................... Reynolds House, Eaton Rapids, Michigan ......... Theyer House, Ionia, Michigan .................. Blanchard House, Ionia, Michigan ............... 92h w. Grand River Avenue, Howell. Michigan .... * All photos taken by the author. iv Page no ho ho h9 119 119 56 S6 56 so 60 60 68 68 68 77 77 77 88 88 88 88 I Introduction In recent years more and more interest has been shown in what had previously been lumped together under the catch- all category of "Victorian" architecture in America. Dif- ferent attitudes end methods of study are now being adapted to one of the most fascinating and complex periods of American architecture, the nineteenth century. The veil of gloom is gradually being lifted and beneath it we are finding e true expression or the peeple who created it. The arbitrary label- ing of style and influence must be pushed aside and an attempt must be made to examine the buildings themselves, in this case domestic dwellings, in order to understand what mid~ nineteenth architecture was trying to say, how it went about it and whether or not it was successful. As our own landmarks are disappearing day by day it is of the utmost importance that regional studies be conducted in which the best examples be recorded. photographed and re- searched in order to gain a clearer picture of an age which saw such dynamic changes in the American way of life. We must re-examine American architecture which spanned the years or great boom and expansion, the ore from approximately 1850-1875, which, in the broadest sense, constitute a type of unity unlike that preceding or following. Architecturally this era includes the developments after the Greek Revival and before the reform attempts of Louis Sullivan and H. H. Richardson. Both an over- all view as well as a specific regional study are necessary to understand this period of American architecture. 1 II DENISE 0F GREEK REVIVAL AND RISE OF "ROMANTIC" ARCHITECTURE ”Within the present half century domestic architecture has been running a race with the general development and posterity of America. Countless styles . . .have been made subservient to conveniences and tastes of a mixed population. Cottages and villas . . .dot the length and breadth of our land. Many of them are in themselves the expression of sentiment, self respect and artistic culture ....' Mrs. Martha J. Lahb, ghe Homes ggpsmericsl One of the greatest upheavals in American architecture occurred in the mid-nineteenth century when the Classic serenity and repose of the Nee-Classical Greek Revival style was replaced by the irrational, emotional and individualistic architecture of Romanticism. Unlike the placid days of the Early Republic, events which began in the lBhO's, such as the Gold Rush, Opening of new regions and spread of the Industrial Revolution and eventually the Civil War, changed American life completely. Each of these changes were reflect- ed in the social, economic and artistic life of America.2 Strangely enough the concept of Romanticism accompanied these changes in American life and became firmly implanted in art and became a major source of inspiration for artists. 1 Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, editor, The Homes 2; America (New York, 1879), P0 1&8. 2 Ernest Pickering, The Homes g£_America (Haw York, 1951), Do 215. ‘3 The term ”Romanticism" as such was first popularly used in England in 1803 to denote the literary movement inspired by Medieval romances, tales of love and chivalry.3 Gradually the concept of Romanticism spread to emctionalism and individuality which meant that the strange. wild. exotic, sentimental and melancholic could be included. Romanticism expressed a dissatisfaction and discontent with the present and longed for the glorious past or far off places. One or the best visual manifestations of Romanticism was the Gothic revival and other historic periods and exotic touches which coincided with 1t.h Romanticism began in England, France and Germany but quickly spread to America. In each.country Romanticism be- came nationalistic in form and expression. The German's looked to their Medieval past and built castles along the Rhine; the French relived their Gothic splendors snow with such people as Violet-le-Duc who worked on many restorations; in England the Romantic Gothic tradition had never really died out entirely and was rekindled by the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament in the Gothic style after the lBBh fire. American Romanticism had no direct past to look back on so trom.the very beginning the Romantic architecture or this period was varied and subject to individual whims and popular fads of the day. American Hec-Classicism with its backward glances to ancient Greece and Rome had already set the stage 3 Agnes Eleanor Addison, Romanticism And The Gothic Revival (Philadelphia. 19387} p. i. '” ' "m"" h issue p- 18- h for Romantic revivals and made further historical archi- tecture inevitable.5 If classical ruins could be romantic then why not the Medieval castle and the Turkish tower also? The Romantic attitude in nineteenth century American architecture added the fourth dimension to architecture-- that or time. Americans felt free to "eXplore the poetry of time."6 The conservative layout of Colonial architecture and the strict formality of the Greek Revival were abandoned in favor of a more personal individualistic expression. Now a house was built for a man according to his wants and needs. Men of imagination built homes which were the products of imagination being irregularly planned and keynoted by informality.7 At this time the American.mind use search- ing for inspiration and tried to find it among the remains of past cultures and area which invoked visual images and emotional states in those who saw them. As Frances Lichten wrote of the Victorians and their world: "At the time the world of reality was moving forward at a pace never before known in history, when rail- roads and steamships were altering the very texture of humanity's thinking, the Victorians were concen- trating all their artistic and literary interests in the world of Long Ago."8 These people who through no fault of their own, were grouped together and called Victorians merely because they lived during the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). present a many faceted and varied character. On one hand we quickly -5 C. L. V. Macks, ”Picturesque Eclecticism," The Art Bulletin, xxxii (September 1950), 229-230. 6 Wayne Andrews. Architecture, Ambitions and Americans (Glencoe, 1961‘). p. lone S associate the term "Victorian" with anything heavy or ever- done and a life that was so rigid and correct as to breach no indelicate question or action. Yet on the other hand, we see a peeple who delighted in the exotic, who often spent their Sunday afternoons in Gothic or Moorish gazebos placed in tropical parks, and who were continuously surrounded by tales, pictures and every visual reminder of the past and far off places: "It has been hinted that the Victorian mind escaped into the past because it could not face the world in which it lived. Only that which.was far away in time and place was fit subject matter for artist as well as author. only the picturesque, the foreign."9 Victorian architecture accurately reflected this duality of the Victorian mind and personality. One is pleasantly surprised to find on what is seemingly the simplest box- like farmhouse, hidden away in a remote area. a flamboyant piece of ”carpenters lace," scroll work or projection in one form or another. 'The Victorians took great delight in their architecture, perhaps a greater delight than*we do today. Many of the homes built during the mid-nineteenth century contain elements of visual fancy which reflect a taste for the unusual and exotic which was so much a part of Victorian life. 7 Andrews, Americans. pp. 103-105. t3.Frances Lichten, The Decorative Art pg Victoria's Era (New York, 19367. p. . ' 9 ram. Victorian vigor and vitality eXpressed themselves in architecture. Home building was attacked with great exuber- ance and the buildings produced in that restless age have true character and individuality.10 Great inventiveness was used as architecture tried to keep pace with the changes in life and demands of an America which was changing from an agrarian society to a world power. New methods, materials and concepts were tried. and during such a period of experi- mentation it was natural that both failures as well as suc- cesses resulted.11 Homes began to be designed from the in- side out instead of from the outside facade in as Greek Revival houses had been. Romantic architecture broke all the classical rules and became Open, asymmetrical and ir- regular on both the exterior and interior.12 Rood evoking shapes and forms became of prime importance as well as icon- ography of meaning: Gothic became the spirit of Christianity, Egyptian represented strength and permanence and Moorish represented exotic opulence.13 10 Curtis Besinger, ”Fantastic Splendors For Your Pleasure," House Beautiful, 102#7 (July 1960), 8h. w 11 Ibid. 12 John Mass, ”In Defense of the Victorian House," American Ageritege. vi #6 (October 1955): 36. 13 Alan Gowsns, Architecture lg New Jersey (Princeton, l96h), As Alan Gowans said of the Victorian era in Images 2; American Living: "Throughout this whole epoch visual forms are used like words and phrases, freely and variously as different occasions and the need cross to say different things demand. 'Victorian Art' no longer seems some insane jungle of whimsy and rhetoric; it appears as the Victorians themselves wanted to see it, as a part of a historical past, a living expression of the times that produced it.”1h ”Picturesque" architectugg "Some degree of picturesqueness can always be obtained by the treatment of the roof lines, or by the use of verandas, porches or bay windows." 0. Vaux, Villag_And ggtteges (1857)15 "The introduction of irregularity such as projections of roofs, canopies, verandas, and bay windows together with the intersection of gables. dormers and the height of the chimneys, serve to break up the bare formality of the usual barn-like outline.” H. H. Holly, Modern Dwellings (1878)16 One of the most important esthetic and visual aspects of anantic architecture was the concept of the ”picturesque.” In the broadest sense picturesque architecture as compared to the more rationally oriented style contained the visual elements of roughness. movement, irregularity, variety and intricacy. In short, picturesque architecture was ”open" In Alan Gowans, Images 2§_gmerican Living (Philadelphia, 19th), p289. 15 Calvert Vaux, Villas And Cottages (New Yerk, 1857), p. 5h. :16 H. H. Holly, Modern Dwellings ...(New York, 1878), p. 25. as opposed to “closed" classical forms: it was free to indulge in the visual delights of shadow, form and archi- tectural movement.17 H. H. Holly said in the last decades of the nineteenth century that "light and shadow are the happiest instruments of design."18 In another esthetic sense picturesque architecture was inseparable from its surroundings and represented an attempt at the total inte- gration of building and site. The man who promoted picturesque architecture and set the tastes for mid-nineteenth century Americans was Andrew Jackson.Downing whose various books on architecture and gardening were sources of inspiration for decades. Basically a landscape gardener. Downing turned to architecture and preached that the picturesque came from individual character and that the idea of 'picturesqueness” carried over to nature and the natural setting.19 Downing disliked the upright Greek Revival structure which did not blend with its surround- ings. He wrote much about truth in architecture and especially favored country living and country houses: ”To give an expression of local truth to a country house, it should always show a tendency to spread out and extend itself on the ground; rather than to run up in the air."20 17 Necks, ”Picturesque Eclecticism," 227. 18 Holly, Epdern Dwellings .... p. 25. 19 Andrew Jackson Downing, The Architecture 23 Country Houses (New York. 1852), p. 29. ""“”' 2° Ibis.. p. 33. The image of the picturesque cottage far back in the forest and far away from city life easily blended with the Romantic concept of architecture. The Romantic became the far off life, a life closer to nature and God. Picturesque remoteness in itself was a form.of escapism although the motives of Romantic architecture varied according to inspir- ation and external influences.21 At the same time the East- ern poetephilosophers were retreating to such places as Walden Pond, families all over the country were either con- templating or living quiet picturesque lives in the country. The motives and desire: may have been different but the results were often the same. American picturesque architecture which reveled in a series of altered historical styles, in truth more American in conception and fulfillment than any foreign protcatype, was picturesquely built in a "romance-inspiring atmosphere of historical incident.“22 The grandeur of locality and scenic beauty were believed to make up for the lack of local tradition. The Tudor castle, Italian villa, Persian Palace, Swiss Chalet and Norman Cottage, therefore, were Justified in the eyes of the Romantic. This tradition dictated that the very material of which the house was to be constructed, rock, timber or field stone was to be taken 21 Gouans, Arch. l§,Hew Jerse , p. 7b. 22 Lamb, Houses g£_America, p. 156. 10 from the site.23 In this way both the site and the build- ing were combined. This would also explain the many irrego ularities and projections for what was more irregular and picturesque than nature herself? "hot a little of the romance and poetry hovering about villa residences depends upon the accessories of vines, creepers, shrubhery and foliage, as well as the happy fitness of architectural plan to the peculiarities of lanescupe."2 According to the rules of A. J. Downing the very lay of the land often dictated the style of the home which was to be built on the site: "Rural English cottages in fertile valleys; Swiss cottages on the sides or unior the brow of steep mountains; the Abbey and Villa in smiling plains; and the castle in bold rock passes."25 Downing also believed in and popularized architectural ”personalities.” The Gotiic showed personal ambition and was not for the small merchant, the ‘illa was bold and energetic and was for like persons and the Cottage should be the home of the mechanic or working man.26 Downing stated that archi- tecture reflected temperament and that "domestic architecture is capable of a great variety of eXpression." The strength and quaintness of the Swiss, the seclusion and rustic beauty of the English cottage and the serenity and sunny disposition of the Italian Villa all were praised by Downing.27 Downing 23 Lamb, £3233 23 America, p. 156. 21‘ 3113.. p. 11,19. 25tgindrews,architecture, p. 108. 26 191g.. p. 109. ll wrote in The Architecture 23 Countrz Houses (1352): "The different styles of Domestic architecture, as the Roman, the Italian, the Swiss, the Venetian, the Rural Gothic, are noting more than expressions of national character, which have through long use, become permanent ens ... . most suitable for romantic Architecture}???5 27 Downing, CountrI Houses, pp. 26-28. 28 Ibido' Po 260 III CASTLE AND COTTAGE: THE GOTHIC REVIVAE One of the moat pepular, wide spread and freely inter- preted picturesque modes of Romantic architecture was that of the Gothic. ?he vogue for Gothic architecture, which in Europe was more of an isolated survival than a revival, bogenflith sham ruins constructed in England in the mid- eighteenth century. In l7u2 Batty Langley'e book Gothic Architecture improved Qz’gglgg_ggg_Proportign re- kindled the desire for the Gothic and econ Harace Walpole's famous country mansion "Strawberry Hill” was remodeled in the Gothic.manner. This resurgence of the Gothic in England was going on at basically the same time as the rediscovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii were bringing true Claceicism to light. The Romantic longing for a return to the Gothic was in many ways a reaction against the contem- porary Baroque architecture and wee seemingly a return to a past correctness.l A revival and renewal of interest in Medieval literature, architecture, law and history occurred in England but took a full century to come to full bloom when A. N. W. Pugin assisted Sir Charles Barry in the rebuild- ing of the London Houses of Parliament after the diaaaterous fire of 183h. In America as early as 1771 Thomas Jefferson wrote a description in his notes of a small Gothic temple which he 1 Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Jr., Modern Architecture: Roman- ticism And Reintegration (new York, 19297. pp. 3-K. 12 13 wanted built on the grounds of Eonticello. He mentioned this temple again in ISOh and an 1807 drawing is extant with orders of brick to be made for the structure.2 In this sense the Gothic and Creek Revival styles care to America about the same time and in many areas of the country existed side by side throughout the nineteenth century. In 1799 Benjamin H. Latrobe, the architect who popularized Greek Revival architecture in the late eight- eenth century and early nineteenth, created Sedgoley Villa in the (Gothic) "Christian Style." near what is n w Fair- mount Park at Philadelphia. Thirteen years later, in 1812, Sir halter Scott was to build his "Abbotsford" castle and further the literary area of the Gothic novelists and grave- yard poets.3 The American who popularized Gothic architecture was Andrew Jackson Downing whose hooks contained many designs for Cottages, Farm Home: and Villas, many of which.were designed by alcxandor Jackson Davis. Downing and Davis brought the Gothic style to every part of America and made the picturesque available to all income groups. With th help of the popular guide books, gables. crockets, voréeboards and pointed arches spread all over America. The Gothic style took precedence over the Creek because it bore the label “Christian" while Creek architect— ure was deemed ”Pagan.” A Christian men should not live in 2 Addison, Romanticism. p. 131. 3 Clay Lancaster. Old grooklyn Heights (Rutland, 1963), p. hl. 1h 3 columned pagan temple but he could live in a Gothic inspired cottage. Another. and less esthetic reason for the wide spread popularity of the Gothic style, despite its occentricities, was the wide variance of forms pos- sible. The very rich could, and often did, build Medieval castles along the Hudson river instead of the Rhine. while the humble farmer could be satisfied by a jig saw made vergeboard placed on an overhanging save by the local "carpenter-builder.” Because of the wide personal inter- pretation of the Gothic style it has been called the "archi- tecture of the non-architects."u This great variance explains the large number of buildings built in the Gothic inspired style in America. As Agnes Addison (Gilchrist) wrote: "More buildings in the Gothic manner have been built in the'United States than in any other country in the 19th and 20th centuries . . . .”S The Gothic home could be asymmetrical and picturesque in s more ”correct" fashion or it could be a plain home with a capricious barge-board and trimmings added. The American architectural custom of adding trim for visual and esthetic reasons dates all the way back to the seventeenth century New England houses with "Witches Balls" which hung from over- 6 hanging portions of the house. The amount and type of dec- oration on e Gothic styled house aroused much comment during h Gowsns, Imapes, p. 310. —-“— 5 Addison, Bgmsnticism. p. th. 6 For an example see the Person Capen House, Tepsfield, Mass. the nineteenth century. Lewis P. Allen warned farmers to "leave all this vanity to town folks--to amuse them- selves.”7 He felt that such decorations had no place on the modest farmer's house. Allen didn‘t like Downing- atyle ornament which was being applied indeecriminately to all types of cottages and homes. Downing himself clearly stated in his many books that ornament should not be used on all homes: ”Some uneducated builders, imagining that the whole secret of designing a cottage in the Gothic style, lies in providing gables, have so overdone the matter, that, turn to which side of these hogaes we will, nothing but gables salute our eyes. - Downing wanted every home to blend with its site. While Classic, stark white, architecture saw nature as some— thing to be conquered, the Gothic style by its own pictures- quencss blended with nature and therefore Romantically united man and nature.9 After A. J; Downing was drowned in a steamboat acci- dent on the Hudson River in 1552, his principles and ideas were carried on by his designer Alexander Jackson Davis, and by Calvert Vaux, one of the earliest landscape architects who along with F. L. Olmsted designed How York City's Central Park. Downing hadn't lived long enough to see the flowering of his idea and perhaps it was better that way because many of his basic principles were violated by his followers. If A. J. Downing had lived the whole history of American architecture 7 Russell Lynes, The Tnstomakers (New York, l95h): Po 2?. 5 Downing, Countrx Houses, p. hl. 16 might have been different, As it was A. J. Davis and his later partner, Ithiol Town, became the arbiters or style for the next generation. A. J; Davis (1803-1882) lived through most or the century and remained a Romantic to the very end even after his brand or Romantic architecture, as such, lost favor to s more ”correct' and mixed forms of architecture. The high esteem which Davis commanded during the mid-century can be seen in the magazine Brother Jonathan in which c review or 1 design or his was given in 18h3: ”These are some or the most beautiful creations of artisticsl architecture, that have done so much to infigzeiin.:2enpgblic mind, a pure and beautiful A. J. Davis presented a wide range of designs from rural ”Cottage Orne" homes to beronisl castles and exotic palaces. Downing had retained a certain amount or historical purity based on architectural personality and suitability but Davis felt free to mix styles and add picturesque touches hero and there as he felt like it. Part of the confusion Davis reproduced in his designs was due, in part to a lack of accurate photos and scale drawings of actual foreign buildings.11 The dagurreotype method or photography had 9 Gowans, Architecture, p. 72. 10 Richard H. Pratt, ”An Architect of The Romantic Era (A. J. Davis)," House And Garden, 52 (October 1952), 122. 11 Ibidog p. 1560 17 been invented by Louis Dagnerre in 1839 but by'mid-cen- tury had not been used extensively outside of portraiture. therefore, accurate cepying of exactness of detail and proportion did not become important until the last decades of the century. By that time it had become the practice to mix styles and details. A. J. Davis, who created many of his house designs by drawing from his own imagination, thought of himself as an ”architectural composer" and, for him, a home was a ”study in related masses“ and each house was in turn a variation of theme.12 12 Hawkins Ferry, "The Gothic and Tuscan Revivals In Detroit, 1828-1875,” Artguerterly. 9 (Summer 19h6), 253. IV ARCHITECTURE IN THE ITALIAN MODE ”There is a strong and growing npartiality among us for the Italian style ...." A. J. Downing, Countrv Houses (1852)1 "The Italian is the least derivative, the most indigenous of all Early Victorian styles ...." A. Gowans, ;m_ggg of American Living (196h)3 The second major mode of architecture which captivated the mid-nineteenth century was the Italiansto. While the contemporary Gothic style with all its offshoots, was often deemed eccentric, the Italianate represented a perfect blend and harmony between the Classic and Gothic. The Italian had a certain grace plus less direct historical associations and, according to some present day architectural historians, came closest to becoming the National style of American architecture in the mid-nineteenth century mainly because it was the most flexible of its time.3 Italianate architecture still retained the picturesque image and past associations but was adaptable to a comfortable individual expression. Actual examples of Italianate architecture varied from the plain cube-type house crowned with a bracketed cornice with perhaps a cupola, to Tuscan Villas with tall companiles to the rambling, many winged, towered, balconiod and perched residences. Italian homes could be constructed of any material 1 Downing, gountry Houses, p. 285. 2 Gowans, Ems as, p. 323. 3 ;§i§., p. 317. 18 19 and size according to the wants and needs of its owners. The villa could fit equally in a city or country atmosphere and therefore Italian architecture spread throughout the entire country}L Downing said that the villa represented the best do- mastic architecture in America.5 He wrote in 9&3; Egm: ”It is for such the Italian villa that the architect may safely introduce the tower and campenile-oand every feature that indicates originality, boldness, energy and variety of character ...." As early as 1835 A. J. Davis had begun to popularize villa architecture in America and around 1837 John Notman's villa “Riverside," located in Burlington, New Jersey, had both Italian and Gothic features,7 An earlier villa design had been presented in John Haviland's The Builder’s figsistggt, which was published in Philadelphia between 1818 and 1821. A variation of this villa plan was constructed outside of Philadelphia by John Cridland.8 While the Gothic style had emphasized irregularity in the form of verticality, intricate tracery and pointed arches, Italian domestic architecture with its simpler and clearer units of architecture, tended to have plain h Gowans, leases, p. 319. 5 Downing, Country gggggs, p. 259. 6 £223., p. 263. 7 Gowans, architecture, p. 77. 8 Lancaster,‘9lngrooklEn. p. 51. N 0 wells, round headed windows, low-pitched rooves with deep overhanging bracketed cornices, with a tower or cupola adding to the picturesque effect.9 The origins of the American Italian villas were hazy and varied. Some buildings had clear recollections of Medieval or Renaissance Tuscan villas while others seen to stem more from buildings seen in the Romantic landscapes of Poussin, Claude and Salvator Rose. The origins of the villa were more complex than the Gothic and in some ways were not a true revival as such but a more imaginative reconstruction which joined the Romantic and the Classic. In England, John Nash built a villa at Cronkhill in 1832 and thirty years later Washington Irving's “Sunnyside” showed a definite blend of Italian and Gothic elements.10 In America, Henry Austin as well as Alexander Jackson Downing and later the firm of Town and Davis popularized the Italian villa as a form of domestic architecture and made it the most fashionable architectural expression from about lBhO to 1865.11 9 Lancaster, 01d Erooklyn, p. 51. 10 Gowans, Ima es, p. 316. 11 C. L. V. Macks, ”Henry Austin And The Italian Villa," The Art Bulletin, 38 (June 19u8) 1&6. Pads and Pennies "we are divided today 1873 between the revivalists and the novelty-hunters." A. a. Oakey, rho American Architect a Building News12 With the limitless wanderings of the nineteenth century mind into the pest end far off Romantic places it was only natural that a series of architectural fads should result. The whole world was being Opened up by increases in commerce, travel and by popular low-priced engravings which appeared in newspapers and magazines.‘ with the wealthy as pace setters and the exotic and different as the keynote, American architecture was influenced by many fads, most of which were in the form of shapes and not styles.13 Eye catching touches of the exotic such as Chinese or Gothic gazebos. oriental gardens, or Moorish minarets appeared all over the country. The oriental influences stemmed from European ties originally but during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries American merchant ships returned from the exotic orient with all kinds of treasures.1h The deveIOpment of the jig-saw in midacentury made it possible for anyone who wanted it to have Swiss carving imitated on the front porch, Gothic tracery put on a gable or the whole house done in "Steamboat Gothic." The oriental 12 A. F. Oakey, ”The Possibility Of A New Style in Architecture," £22.American Architect g Building Rows (Jan. 19, 1878) 23. 13 Clay Lancaster, "Feds in Nineteenth-Century American Archi- tecture," Antiques, 68 (August 1955) 1&5. 1h Ibid., p. 1th. 22 influence was not a true fad because despite its connections with the exotic and picturesque m it left permanent effects on American architecture, landscape and decorative art. The true fads were the ”Saracenic,” ”Hindoo,” and “Mauresque” additions to homes which brought a touch of the exotic even to the drabest life.15 There were three distinct phases of oriental influences in America: the Egyptian, Hohammadan.snd the Chinese or Far Eastern which was the most influential of all three. In 1836 extinct Egyptian culture was revived in a design for the Washington Memorial done by Robert Hills, originally having plans for a 555' high oblisk with a temple base. Egyptian tombs and msusoles were briefly popular but had little reflec- tions in domestic architecture. The most enduring evidences of Egyptian influence were the city names of Karnak, Cairo, Thebes and Memphis, the city on the American "mile."l6 In America the Mohammedan or Pharsonic style, which chiefly consisted of bulbous domes and projections, first GPPORPBd in 1328-9 in Cincinnati with Mrs. Trollope's infamous "Bazaar.” Islamic, Moorish, Byzantine, Roman and Early Christian elements were combined and transformed in .Americs. Much of the Romantic interest in oriental fantasy 15 Lancaster, Fads, p. 1&5. 16 Clay Lancaster, ”Oriental Forms In American Architecture Iago-ég70,“ The Art Bulletin, xxxix (September 19h?) 1b -1 O 23 was fostered by John Nash's fantastic Brighton Pavilion which was constructed in England ca. 1815-1818.17 P. T. Barnum, the great showman, had an "Eastern Country Palace"-- "Iranistan' designed and built by Leopold Eidlits in Bridge- port, Connecticut. 'Iranistan” was officially Opened on November 1h, lBhB, only to burn to the ground less than a decade later. Barnum's Persian villa, with all its domes, spheres and pagodas as well as other ”follies” invoked the wrath of A. J. Downing who denounced such architectural novelties as being unsuited and unmeaning to American life and climate.18 Another pepular architectural "fancy" was the Octagon house developed and presented to the American public by the phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler's book A 10m Egg ill (1&8). He stated that the octagonal house had more room and was better suited to family living than the more conventional square or irregularily shaped house.19 Bis philosOphy resulted in a rash of octagonal houses, many of which still stand today bearing silent testimony to a man and his ideas, both long gone. The basic irregular and picturesque aspect of these various fads in shape were never copied completely, only isolated features were adapted to use. By the 1890's almost every American home had some kind of irregularity 17 Imncaater, ”Oriental," 185. 18 Downing, Country Houses, p. 22. 19 Lancaster, "Fads,” th. 2h such as a Moorish tower on the outside or a Turkish harem room inside. Moorish touches, such as bulbous domes, were often added to Italian villas and Turkish towers were added to rather plain houses to break up the silhouette and add visual interest.20 H. H. Holly stated in Modern Dwellings... (1878) that America could "take a lesson from the Eastern nations" in respect to the use of minarets, domes and pinnacles to break up the silhouettes of a building and to achieve "Chiaroscuro" effects with light and shade.21 By the and of the nineteenth century the exotic terms of verandah, alcove, pagoda and kiosk had become £110 in the architectural vocabulary of America.22 20 For an example of this see Appendix Bo-Dr. Long house, Ionic, Michigan. 21 H. H. Hudson, Vodern Dwellings ..., p. 25. 22 Lancaster, ”Oriental,” 193. HOMES FOR THE MILLION: THE BUILDER'S GUIDES "The accompanying designs are not brought before the public as model designs, to lessen the necessity for the exercise of individual taste, but as for as possible to increase its activity." Calvert chx, Villas And Cottages (1857)1 "To offset these crcheologiccl reversions we have the provincial builder with his jig-saw and balloon frame." A. F. Oakey, The inoricen Architect 2 Building News (1878)2 No accurate or complete picture of mid-nineteenth century American architecture can be had without stressing the importance of Pattern Books, Builder's Guides and popular magazines, all or which spread published designs and plans from one end of the country to the other. Builder's Guides have played a major part in American architecture since the 17h0 publication of Betty Lsngley’s ghg‘gigx and Country Builder:g_snd Workmenig_Treasury 2; Designs, from.which the banqueting hall window at Mt. Vernon was taken.3 Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Builder's Guides played s major part in the growth of American architecture. Guides published by such leading architects as Asher Benjamin and Minard LsFever spread the Greek Revival 1 Vaux, Villas, preface. 2 Oakey, "The Possibility,” 22. 3 Clay Lancaster, "Builder's Guides And Plan Books And American Architecture (From the Revolution To The Civil Her)," The gagszinelgg|Art, hl (anusry l9h8), 16. 25 26 style. Around 1830 a change occurred in the pattern books in which whole house plans were substituted for individual details. A. J. Downing led the way in these new house pattern books and four of the books he published ran into almost fifty editions which covered a period of from the early lShO's to the late 1880's. His most influential book was The Architecture .3: Country gogggg, published in 1850, in which he presented his philosophy of picturesque country living.h Downing had very definite rules which he wanted country architects to follow. His books were meant for the "carpenter builders“ who were building homes for themselves or for others in newly developed areas. Downing's major tenants were build to suit your income, use the soundest and best materials and workmanship, and build comfortable, useful and convenient homes.S Above all he wanted honesty and truthfulness in the use of building materials. ”The material should appear to be what it is . . . when we saploy stone as a building material, let it be expressed, when we employ wood, there should be no less frankness in evowing the material 0 e e 0"6 Downing abhored Gothic turrets and battlements made out or wood and termed them "paltry and contemptible" just as he disliked cheap imitations of nobler dwellings. Downing felt that "almost all imitations of castles must, as private dwellings, be petty in this country."7 9?? 2* Lancaster, nuilders." 19. 5 Downing, Country gguses, pp. 5-6. 6 we: Pp. 35-36- F Unfortunately most of the carpenter-builders of the time, being primarily self-taught, merely looked at the pictures and patterns and then went out and reproduced all or part of what they saw, feeling free to make their own alterations at will. As Mrs. Eartha Lamb wrote in 1879 "not infrequently the landholder is enough of a carpenter to erect his own castle."8 In many instances this was exactly what happened. Often trim, which was meant for larger, more substantial houses, was applied to smaller dwellings, and thus gave them a wedding cake appearance by being covered by ”Carpenter's lace." On the other hand some of the most charming and original examples of archi- tecture have come from the hands of such inexperienced builders. hhile the crenelatcd castles have a certain 'foreboding appearance, the farm or city homes with their lacy verge-boards and trim, approach a whimsical type of now extinct folk art. Several decades ago the "evils" of Victorian architecture were blamed on the middle and lower classes who tried to imitate the homes of the lavish spending rich, while, in truth, these cheaper copies were often more spirited and representative of the real spirit of nineteenth century American architecture. p ' Downing, gguntrz Houses, p. 26h (footnote). 4 ‘__~ 1 N. ._ , I" * Lamp, homes, pp. ciO-all. 28 John Mass has said ”In small towns where the costly Gothic manner was translated into clapboard by the local 'Carpenter & Builder' we find many homey and delightful designs . . . often highly original with a touch of whimsy."9 The Gothic mode was especially favored by those who looked at the Builder's Guides.' Gothic vergeboards and pointed arches sprang up all over the country and Gothic tracery was placed on the simplest box-like house in order to obtain the spirit of Gothic architecture. Samuel Sloan wrote of the Gothic style in one of his many books and stated that it was the spirit of the style which was being sought and not archeological correctness.10 Advances in printing processes were responsible for the rapid spread of house pattern books. Samuel Sloan wrote in yet another guide book: ”The art of Wood Engraving opens a field for the interchange of ideas by linear illustration totally unheard of in.fonner times."ll During the midonineteenth century Samuel Sloan flooded the market with his engravings and for years his designs were published in such popular magazines as Godex's Ledz's Book. A random selection from Godez's Ledz'a Book from a period 9 Mass, "In Denense," 35. 10 Samuel Sloan, Constructive Architecture: A Guide To The Lractical Builder And Mechanic (PEIadeTp‘h‘I‘aT 1397',” P0 “.5. 11 Samuel Sloan, Sloan’s homestead Architecture ... (Phila- delphia, 18705, preface. 29 of 1861 to 1872 contained Sloan's designs and floor plans as well as comments on a Suburban Villa. Cottage for Mechanic or Clerks, Suburban Residence. Cottage in the Rural Gothic Style and other exotic styles.12 The popular, wide-spread magazines or the day were responsible for the spread of the various styles of architecture which they variously labeled "Intellectual" or "Christian,” thus appealing to motives other thaniosthetic and artistic for the construction of such modes of domestic architecture. 12 See Godez's Lad~‘s Book, Vols. 63-85 (July. 1861 to December, i573} for house plans and line engravings. VI DOHESTIC ARCHITECTURE IN MICHIGAH ”Whatever the pattern-~Claesic or Romantic-«there is a common quality that indelibly stamps midwestern architecture as different, yet truly American. This quality is the abiding of the continum or that phenomenon which we call 'Anerican Architecture.” Rexford Heweomb, Architecture of the Old North- west Territq_1.1m The develognent or domestic architecture in Michigan kept pace with the migrations of settlers who came to Michigan and other states carved out or the Old Northwest Territory. Hichigan'e rise bepan under Governor-General Lewis Cass who negotiated treaties with.the Indians who deeded the lower peninsula to the United States in 1819- 1821. Due to false reports that Michigan was one vast swamp- land many settlers didn't come here until a decade later.2 i h the start of steam navigation of the Great Lakes, the building of roads west out of Detroit and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, the mass migration to Michigan began. A few powerless Indians remained and were eventually replaced by new white settlements under whose control the for trading and timber industries flourished. In 183h acting Governor Stevens T. Mason petitioned to the U. 8. Congress for a State governmentand a resulting census showed that there were 82,273 peeple living in the 1 Rexford Newcomb, Architecturet __z:______ “m- 99.1... Northwest Territory (Chicago, 19 , p. 2 richinan: AGuide To The Wolverine State, American Guide 35315: Tfiew York. I§495, pp .H3 -H7. 30 31 Michigan Territory, a number well over the 60,000 required for statehood. In 1835 s Constitution was formed and on January 26. 1837 Michigan was admitted to the Union as a state of l7h,h67 pscple.3 Architecturally Michigan developed almost overnight from s land or wigwams and log cabins to Greek Revival homes, castles and villas. The earliest homes of the settlers were clapboard homes.’4 With the rapid settlement of Michigan in the 1830's and lBhO's. settlers from the East and South brought the popular Greek Revival style with them. Greek Revival architecture blossomed in Michigan overnight because it was relatively easy and inexpensive to construct and met the needs of the people. It could be adapted to all incomes and uses. Many excellent examples or Greek Revival domestic architecture in Michigan are still to be round in such southern Michigan towns as Marshall, Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Monroe. Jackson, Grand Rapids, Adrian and Dexter.S By the middle decades or the nineteenth century Classic purity became diluted and the various modes of Romantic architecture became popular in Michigan. springing up in the newly formed towns.and along the countryside. As Rexford Rewcomb wrote ”Every considerable town in the Middle West 3 14101115311: A Gllidag p. 58. h Emil Lorch, ”The Development Of Architecture,” Michi i~anx Guide 22 The Wolverine State (New York, 19h? , p. H65. 5 Ibid.. p. 166. contains examples to illustrate a decade-by-docade chrono- logy of residential styles.”6 The Gothic Revival began in Detroit in 1528 with the building of St. Paul's EpiscOpal Church. Later the Gothic style was applied to domestic architecture with many charming results. Here again the pattern book influences were felt in the various styles which were blended and adapted to produce a unique form of architectural expression in the Midwest.7 Michigan, just as the other Eideeetern states, witnessed the rapid shifts in architectural esthetics and vocabulary from Classicism to the Picturesque Gothic and to the synthesis of the two which.was the Italian mode. The well known eastern architects such as A. J. Davis, Jordan and Anderson, and later Gordon W. Lloyd, built both ecclesiastical and private structures in the Michigan area.8 The fire of Town E Davis submitted many plans for University of Michigan buildings at Ann Arbor and many of Davis' and later Henry Austin's villas were build in or near Detroit. By the close of the Civil War and the decades which followed it, Michigan, as well as most of American architecture, shifted from the earlier so-called "revivals" to styles more truly eclectic. Formally trained European and American architects replaced the local carpenter-builder and an entirely new csthetic approach and visual products resulted.9 6 Bewcomb, Architecture, p. 160. 7 :bid.. p. 1u7. 8 Ferry, "The Gothic," p. 23h. 9 Newcomb, Architecture, p. 161. VII DEFINITION AND BEGINNINGS OF'THE BRACKETED-TOWER STYLE ”It is desirable to make the tower useful, as well as an ornamental appendage, and therefore the ground plan of the tower is used as a porch, and its second floor as a bed-room.” J; Bullock, Egg American Cottage Builder (lSSh)1 “A style with its broad, overhanging bracketed roofs, . . . sheltering . . . and pleasing . . . is well adapted to our northern climate.“ J. Bullock, The American Cottegnguilder (lBSh)2 Just as with any other style or mode of architecture, the Bracketed-Tcwer style did not begin exactly on January 1st, 1850 and come to an end on December 31, 1875, which are the general dates of the period under consideration. Both the forms of towers and brackets were old to American architecture and to architecture in general by the mid-nineteenth century. The tower*with its magical connotations, as well as necessary purpose, was one of the most ancient architectural forms. Brackets, which were used extensively during the Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods, were a revival of a classical form which was ancient itself. These two forms, the tower and the bracket, were often reeemphasized and became prominent features again and again throughout architectural history. It is also a mistake to assume that the Bracketed- Tower motif flourished only in American architecture during 1 John Bullock, The American Cottage Fuilder (New York, 185M) p. 50. 2 $3351.. p. 220. 33 3h the brief time span 1850-1875. The tower, which was used synonymously with the terms cupols and observatory, was first used in America in New England during the eighteenth century and was associated with the "atdou's Walk" or areas on the tops of homes where women could go and look out to sea honing to see returning ships. Sometimes these "walks" were merely that, a flat area with a hand railing, while other homes had glossed in areas so viewing could be done all year long. The tower form spread all over the United States. Many of the Greek Revival plantationuetyle homes built from about 1520—1860 in both the North and South had cupolas on top of them. Hany or these classic homes were situated near riVera, such as the great string of plantations up and down the banks of the Mississippi, while others were miles away from anything and the cupola, if used at all, would only provide a good View of the countryside and a place of retreat. The straight horizontal and vertical lines of Greek Revival architecture fell out of favor due totzhe search for the exotic and a yearnina for far off romantic places and eras. Soon hose straight lines were abandoned in silhouette and detail and picturesque American architecture began. One of the most delightful forms to he truly picturesque was the bracket which could be cut and<3arved into as many shapes and angles as there were patterns and carpenter- builders. The earlier brackets were associated with the various Italian modes and yore lace-like and often hung in 35 clusters from corners. Later, brackets took on a character all their own and dominated by being made larger and larger.3 The whole eethetic appeal of the bracket was closely interwoven with the pepulerity of the jigsaw and the belief that ornament was design. The earlier brackets were hand carved. just as were the early American-Gothic vergeboards, and were masterpieces of the hand carvers art, while later brackets were initially carved by machines. Strangely enough the eathetic approach to the bracket did not lessen because it was no longer made by hand, but heightened because the Victorians held the machine in awe and marveled at the products of the coming Industrial Age. To have machine made ornament was in as good taste if not better than having ornanents tnat a more men could produce. Just as with the houses, pattern books of ornamental design were profuse and many actual brackets may be traced to pattern book illustrations. ‘ The actual term "bracketed style" was often used after 1850 to denote homes which were more American than foreign in feeling and therefore homes which could not be properly termed Persian, Gothic Cottages or Italian Country places. In 1852 Oliver P. Smith presented a design for a cottage in the “Eracketed style" complete with an octag nel 3 Henry Lionel Williams and Ottalie R. Williams, A_Gvide To 013 ijcricnn Houses, l?OO-1900 (New York, lQCcS, ET i255 36 cupola in his book Domestic Architecture.“ In The Archi- tecture g£,Countgy Houses, A. J. Downing stressed the im- portfince of decoration in achieving variety by means of cornices, boards, moldings, towers and recesses.S Downing's disciple, Calvert Vaux, wrote much about the use of both the tower and bracket. He wrote in Villas And Cottages, ”Very much depends on the appearance of the roof in a country house, for it is the first and last feature that impresses the eye, and it should always be made an important part of every design."6 According to Vaux, what better way to give a roof a distinct appearance than to place large brackets along it. In the same book in a chapter entitled ”Alteration Of Old Houses" Vaux shows how an old house, in this case a colonial New England farm home, may be updated by projecting the roof all around and filling it with brackets underneath.7 A decade or so after Downing's premature death, the American architect-designer Samuel Sloan did much in the way of promoting the Brecketed style to the American public. He, too, called for the breaking up of roof lines and wanted to achieve interesting effects in wall and roof areas which would be picturesque.8 He disliked unbroken horizontal lines 5 Oliver P. Smith, Domestic Architecture (Buffalo, 1852), p. 85, 5 Downing, gountry Houses, p. 16. 6 Vsux, Villas, p. 153. 7 Ibide' Po 209. pl 8 e315“, waStfiad' Po 6;). 37 nd favored the introduction of the campanile (tower) which would be a beautiful and useful feature. In his many design books Sloan wrote of the American Bracketed style. In describing "Bracketed American Cottage" he wrote: "do mean what we say when we pay this design the highest compliment or calling it American, and we think our readers will sustain us in our application of this very comprehensive term.99 Years before. Sloan sang the praises of carved decora- tion and said that beautiful decorative art work, such as balustrades and brackets, were to be used as decorative motifs.10 It must also be renomoered that it was Sloan himself who felt free to mix all historical styles which often resulted in exotic hybrid architecture. This hybrid architecture was much criticised in its own day and was partly reaponsible for the reform movements or the last decades of the nineteenth century. with the demise of the pepularized forms of Greek Revival arch tecture in the midwest, especially in Michigan, we see the rise of the Bracketed-Tower style. Many fine examples of this style were located in the mid-hichigan area consisting of Inghnm, Shiawassee, Eaton, Ionia, Livingston and Clinton Counties. Most of the best examples were located in the pioneer towns which were rounded during the first three or four decades of the nineteenth century and were important towns by mid-century because of lumber, railroad and other industries. 10 Sloan, Constructive Architecture, p. 67. 38 The earlier examples of homes constructed in the Brecketed-Tower style in the mid-Michigan area, such as the Todd house in Owosso, Michigan, and the. Mall- owler house in Ionic, Michigan, are closely associated with the Italian villa style and yet they are un-Italian in their setting and represent & tyge of archi oecturc more ty,picelly American and especially Klaus Mt rn. The later homes in the Bracketed-Tower style, such as the Greeneway-Ballard house in Howell, Hichigan and the Hicks Mansion in St. Johns, Mi: higen repress est a trasit ionsl period which lead into the mansaad roof are of the 1870's. There was a great ariation possible within the brec keted-Tower style of doeestic architecture here in Hid-Richigen, as there were different sizes and shapes as well as placement of the brackets and towers themselves. In general, during the period of 1350-1575 brackets and towers were the two distinctive elements which were prominent in domestic architecture. Beth elements existed before and after this era but at no other time, especially in the Iidwe st, were th ey so oominate. For this brief time brackets and towers reigned svpreme and represented one facet of the ever changing pattern of American architecture. The following are separate monorrapts of six! .16 -Nfchigan homes which more or less fit into the Prccketed-Tower style.11 Each is described as it originally existed, as it exists toésy and some of the stories of their fascinating occupants as well. 11 See Appendix A for map. ”Handsome dwellings aiorn the resident streets, many of then surrounded by extensivo grounds or beautiful lawns, Among‘the most attractive are , those of 2“. £1. soul-5 . . .5an Albert Tocid ...."‘1'=3 D 1'. T-.' . - . 3‘- Q .»?t FPT1.'DL oeJes m "-1—.- c.“ I U {I} so And shiawossss gountios (159a) A few years after ‘39 city of Owosso, Michigan, was in- corporatod in 1339, construction was begun on what was to be one of the most beautiful mansions in Shiawsssee Couzty, the rosiisuce of the Albert Todd family. Tho Todd house, a large, square-ty;e gloster OVor brick rssidoncs with a Moorish spired cupola and a large overhanging roof with scroll brackets, was built on too southeast cornor of h. Shiawassae and w. Oliver Stroets and still stunos today (fig. 1). The town of Owosso, which was originally called Shiawassee Rapids, was a city of Indian eucaopments and open areas by the .1 ‘( sea river when the first white settlers arrived in 1335. U) ’Jl h L! 32:3 The city of Owosso, its name derived fron Russo, the Chief of th; Thinwasssa bani of Chipyawas, was officially founded in 1336 wh(n the first log cabin was erected. Because of its good locotioa Owosso soon grew and by the year 13h? it was promoted as the new capital 0 Kichigon but in the final voting lost by one vote. Loosing won and in that sans year the capital th MOVsd from Detroit to Lansing. 12 firt Work 22 Gsnessee enfi Shiawosses Counties (Chicago, 189M), 1". 8. . I f . . L . w “4 “'1’. ‘ a , a. . 0‘ «t | I '..’. }"I ‘ "er’l l‘ E I ' '.1 Iv a” '~ 0' .. 3... o O I . f. —I‘I ‘ . \‘fi 'q'r.t{ W" ’ ‘- . -. "I? ".x'] v .l'. n ,1". a Q. I ‘ 4. | “in. ... ‘ ' '1. ¢. 0 0‘. 'VI'O” I .| d I‘. I. ‘F :(o . \ .' I . 1 ' \‘3“ . I O u ,. ‘. hi Throughout the last half of the nineteenth century the Todds were one of the most prominent families in Owosso. Mr. Albert Todd married Miss Vary I. Gould who was the daughter of Col. Ebenezer Gould, a lawyer and outstanding Civil War hero who fought att5he battles of Hanover, Gottys~ burg} was wounded at Hagerstown and recovered in time to participate in the attack on Richmond. Various members of the Gould family were connected with the first banking and mercantile ventures in Cwosso and were leading citizens for generations.13 There were only two children in the Albert Todd family, a son, Lee Todd, and a daughter, Niss Nan Todd. Lee Todd died many years ago and Miss Todd moved away from awosso several years ago after selling the Todd mansion to the late Mr. Calvin C. Bentley. The present owner of the Todd property, is Mr. Alvin Bentley, the distinguished former United States Congressman. The Todd house stands at hl9 N. Shiawassee Street and, at least externally, had remained relatively unchanged through the years. The upper portion of the house, especially the cupola portion, bears a very close relationship to a design for a "Southern Mansion" which.was published by Samuel Sloan in The Model Architect, 3;, in 1852.1LL The upper portion 13 genresentative Men g: Michisan: American Biographical History 2£_Erinent And Self-Hsde Nen~-Michigsn Volume TEincinnati, 18737, p. 29. 1h SamuelSZloan, The Nodal Architect, I; (Philadelphia, 1852), p. o hZ of both the Todd house and Sloan's design are similar and the observatories are identical, bracket for bracket, except that the Todd house observatory had nine windows on each side and the design shows seven. The lower portions of the houses are different since Sloan’s plan was for a low-lying house on flat ground with extensions suited for a warm Southern climate while the Todd house is located in the North and is situated in town on a slightly rolling hill. One side of the land sweeps down on one side of the Todd house to make two complete floors and a raised basement area visible (fig. 2}. The floor plans and dimensions of both the actual house and Sloan‘s design are similar, in general being hd' square with rear extensions. The original floor plan of the Todd house consisted of a large central hallway with an open stairway leading first up to the second floor then to the third floor storage area and finally up to the observatory. On either side of this downstairs hell were two rooms approximately 17' x hS' which were the library and living room. The original kitchen and some servants quarters were located in the raised basement area which was visible on the south side of the house and had separate entrances under the main front porch and along the side patio area. The Todd house was constructed out of hand made bricks which were then plastered over and tinted, this being an architectural method employed more in the 1&3 South where the climate was warm and damp. Presently the house is a deep shade of rose red and has yellow trim. The first thing one notices upon viewing the Todd house is the graceful cupola with its bulbous onion domed spire (fig. 3). This cupola can be seen from a distance and once inside the enclosed tower one can see for blocks. Originally. when there were fewer homes in the area. an observer could go up to the tower, which.was directly above the central hall on the first floor. and view the town and the nearby Shiawasaee river. Because of its 36 round-arched glass window panes the cupola is well lighted and manages to light the curving stairwell beneath ita Legend has it that some of the people who came to the many parties given by the Todd family used to come up to the tower to see the view and to dance to the music drifting up from the first floor. The other noticeable feature of the Todd house is its great over-hanging roof cornice which is supported on each side by four pairs of carved brackets. Sloan labeled this style of roof Tuscan and the house generally Italian in feeling but without being any one clear style.15 Sloan Justified the over-hanging roof for two general reasons. The first was practical, the roof was needed to protect the occupants from the rains and the rays of the sun, both 15 Sloan, Model. p. 56. hh keeping the house cool and dry. The second reason was for the shadows which the projecting roof created as an ”archi- tectural effect."16 It is not possible to give an exact date of building for the Todd house because the descendants are no longer available and the old pre-1880 Shiawassee County tax records no longer exist. It is known, however, that the house was built sometime during the early part of the Civil War because the ”Ladies Library," which eventually evolved into the Owosso Public Library, was formed at a party given by Mary Gould (Mrs. Albert) Todd in 186h.17 An account of that founding party was given in the local newspaper, The Owosso 25233, Vol. III#19. Saturday. Jan- uary 1h. 1865. A newspaper article published during the Owosso Centennial and now a part of a "1836-1936 Centennial Celebration Scrapbook” in the Owosso Public Library, states that one of the proudest possessions of Miss Nan Todd was a scrapbook which her mother kept from the 1860's and 1870's which told of all the major social happenings in Owosso, many of which took place in the Todd house. Externally the Todd house hasn't changed too much over the years. An 189h book, £33.!255‘gg Genessee and ghiawassee Counties. contained a photo of the "Todd 16 Sloan. yodel. p. 56. 17 Official Pro ram of the Owosso Centennial Celebration “0880. J“ y I636). no I). 1&5 Residence” showing the original barn at the rear, now long gone. and without the north verandah which was added later to cover a coal bin. About 30 years ago the Todd house. which is now known as the Todd Apartments. was converted into six apartments which meant that the entire interior was drastically altered. Ceilings were lowered and larger rooms cut up into apartments on three levels. The only inside portion of the house besides some door moldings which remains unchanged is the stairway which begins in thetaasement and ascends to the 15' square cupols on top of the house. The bulbous spire on top of the cupols is unchanged and the original brick chimneys are on the roof. The double arched and cartouche window moldings on the exterior are still intact as is the original elevated front entrance porch with its lotus base columns. The series of verandahs on the south (left in photos) are also original.18 The Todd house remains as an excellent example of the Bracketed-Tower style of mid-nineteenth century architecture in this area because of the prominent places which these two features occupy. Justification for both the bracketed roof and the tower-observatorwaere given by Sloan in his 1852 pattern book. The cupols and brackets represent the blending of the useful and ornamental at the hands of a now unknown carpenter-builder. true to the spirit of the time. 18 Information about the history of the Todd house as well as the original and later additions provided by Mrs. J. M. Oswald, a tenant. h6 Hall-Fowler House (Library) "Hisifirederick Hall'ajresidence, on Main Street, Ionia-cone of the most elegant in Western Michigan. -~is built entirely of variegated sandstone obtained from Ionia Quarries.” Representative Men 2; Michigan (1878)19 In 1869 Mr. Frederick Hall. the wealthiest man in Ionia. Michigan and inwthat part of the state. decided to build a suitable mansion for his family. He chose a large site on Main Street in downtown Ionia, went to the sandstone quarries in nearby Lyons, Michigan. hired a Grand Rapids man to plan the house and contracted Capt. Lucius Mills to construct the mansion.20 The city of Ionia. Michigan, located in the heart of timber and valued railroad territory, was founded on May 28, 1833 when the ”Dexter Colony,” which was a group of 63 peeple representing six families, arrived there from Herkimer County. New Yerk. The leader of the colony. Samuel Dexter, purchased gardens and wigwams from the Indians in order to have food and shelter, thus, the city of Ionia, destined to be the County Seat of Ionia County and one of the most important cities in nineteenth century Michigan history began. Frederick Hall, who was destined to be one of Ionia's and Michigan's leading citizens, was born in Shelburn. 19 Representative Men. p. h7. 20 Information taken from a plaque in the Ionia Public Library (formerly the Hall-Fowler House). ’47 Vermont in 1816 and after traveling, came to Lyons, Michigan, in Ionia County in 1837 when.he was appointed Deputy Register. In the spring of 18h2 Hall and John Ball of Grand Rapids received a U. S. land grant for 500,000 acres and also in that same year he began various mercantile ventures, which, over the following years yielded him a fortune.21 'He served ; as Register of Deeds in lth, became a Justice of the Peace and later a member of the Michigan State Legislature. In 1853 President Pierce appointed Hall Receiver of Public Monies. In 186h he‘was nominated for the U. 8. Congress and in 1873 he became Ionia's first mayor. In l87h Hall was a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor of Michigan and two years later he'became a State Elector. As the Director of the Ionia and Lansing Railroad, and first President of the First National Bank of Ionia, and with combined lumber, land, banking and railroad interests, Frederick Hall became the uncontested richest man in Ionia 22 Even today, over eighty years since his death, a County. permanent memorial to Frederick Hall and his family exists in the Hall-Fowler Memorial Library. The mansionnwhich Frederick Hall built for his wife Ann Eager Hall and their only child, Marian Hall, is located at 126 E. Main Street, in Ionia, Michigan.) It was built 21 Representative Men, p. h7. 22 Ibid. h8 partially in the "Italian mode" which was still popular in the late 1860's. The beauty of this historic home brings to mind A. J. Downing's thoughts on the villa as a home: "The villa . . .is the most refined home of America--the home of its most leisurely and educated class of citizens."23 The large two storied home (fig. h) with its octagonal cupols on top and lace-like brackets and wood trim, was built of yellow brick covered by various shades of gray variegated sandstone. The exterior consists of a large central portion with symmetrical side additions and a smaller rear service wing with various porches around the house. Most of the original square block of land remains as an adequate setting for this imposing house. The symmetrical front facade of the house has a central portion which projects from the facade and extends from the ground level to the overhanging gabled roof. This projection contains the front entrance portico and the double round- arched windows on the second story with their deep moldings. All corners of the house are articulated with rusticated angle quoins which project from the smooth surfaces as do the window hoods with their cartouches. The house has a large flat roof with only an extended gable over the facade projection. A wide overhanging cornice encircles the entire house and is supported-by clusters of ornate brackets located.at'the corners and at angle 23 Downing, Countgy Houses, pp. 257-258. SO turnings and has plainer brackets between the more ornate pairs (fig. 5). The octagonal cupols, which is reached by going up to the'very low-pitched attic and then up another staircase, has 16 round arched windows and is about eight feet across. Originally this cupols had a small spire on the top which no longer exists. Because of its position the cupols does not light any major part of the house and because of its size only one or two people can be comfort- ably accommodated in it to see the view after a hazardous trip through a low beamed attic. It is said that Capt. Lucius Mills, the man who contracted and built the house, carved the stone balustrades on thleront entrance porch himselfah and much the same carved motif is to be found in wood on the small brackets extending around the cupols on all eight sides. Old photos of the Hell-Fowler house, which are not a part of the Historical collection in the Ionia Public Library, itself beingizhe former Hall-Fowler house, show very little change in‘the appearance of the house over the past years.25 A photo taken in the 1890's shows the house much as it is today but with a high cast iron fence around the yard and an old cobblestone walk in front, both of which are long gone. Another, still older, photo in the form of a steroptican card taken in the 1870's shortly after the 2“ Library plaque. 25 Both photos are located in the Historical Collections room of the Hall-Fowler Memorial Library, Ionia, Much of this informationnwas included in the H.A.B. survey last year when this housettas recorded for the National Archives. 51 house was completed, shows the housetvith a plank fence and a dirt road (Main Street) in front of the house. The interior of the Hall-Fowler house is mostly intact and consists of a large central hall plan with.rooms on either side of it. 'The large central hall, complete with a winding staircase to the second floor, is entered from a vestibule. The original living room and dining room are on the left side of the hall and another~parlor, glassed in solarium and a master bedroom are on the right side of the hall. The solarium is balanced on the exterior by an open porch which has much tracery work on it (fig. 6). Miss Marian Hall's suite of rooms were located up- stairs on the second floor and consisted of a large front bedroom with a black marble fireplace, a guest room across from the billard room, and a charming library which is in the bay located in the center of the house,‘behind the second floor portion of the projecting facade. Today this room remains much as it was when it was decorated after Miss Hall's return from a lengthy "Grand Tour" of Europe. The ceiling and walls of this room with its round arched Italian windows, contain hand done paintings and wall paper covered by various frieze patterns and designs. The coil. ing and some of the walls contain gold painted spider webs and large hovering bees which.circle the ceiling medallion and gas chandelier. Small round arched bookcases were built into the walls of this room and, just as there are in all the 52 major rooms, there are folding inside window shutters and sliding doors. Throughout the entire house there are deeply molded cornices with frieze patterns of scanthus leaves and other motifs and the principal rooms have beautifully molded ceiling medalions.26p Miss Marian Hall was married in the large front parlor to Joshua Lonnsbury Fowler on March 28, 1878. Twenty years later, after the death of Mr. Hall in 1881 and the death of Mrs. Hall in 1897. during the Spanish-American War, Mr. Fowler, then a Major in the U. 8. Army, died of a fever on board a ship returning from Cuba. He was buried at West Point Military Academy in New York. Mrs. Fowler left the house in Ionia and moved to Califonnia‘with her son, leaving the mansion closed for years. In 1903 she was persuaded to donate the family house and grounds to‘the city of Ionia to be used as a public library dedicated to the memory of her parents and husband. The library still has the 1903 Ignig_ggily_§£§§gggg newspaper article which tells of the gala Opening of the library which was then valued at $25,000.27 Over the years the HalloFowler house, despite the fact of being used as a library for over 60 years, has maintained much of its original flavor and character of the era in which it was built. Only one wall has been Opened up and with this exception most of the house remains as it was when it was the social, economic and political center of central Michigan. 26 Information provided by Mrs. Bergeon, a librarian. 27 Vol. xvi #239-Sat., Oct. 18-1903, front page story. 53 Lovell-Webber House The large green house with its many porches and arcaded galleries located at 111 E. Main Street, Ionia, Michigan is one of“the most interesting houses in Michigan from both an architectural and historical viewpoint. In reality this, the Lovell-Webber house, is two houses, not one, and represents two distinct generations and personalities as well as the area in*which they prospered; the first occuring in the 18h0's and the second in the early 1870‘s. Around 1870 the original house, itself now forming a tower-like portion with a lower story and side wings, was raised and an entire new first floor, complete with arcaded verandahs and balustraded galleries on several sides, was built underneath the older structure.28 Both the original owner, Cyrus Lovell, and the second owner-builder, George w. Webber, were prdminent in Ionia and Michigan pioneer life. The builder of the original house was Judge Cyrus Lovell, who come to live in the city of Ionia County Seat29 in September of 1836, after being one of the first residents of Bronson (later Kalamazoo), Michigan, in 1833.30 Cyrus Lovell, whose five sons and five daughters and other holdings were first recorded in the 1837 Ionia census, rought law 28 Historical information provided by Mrs. Ada Owsley. 29 The name ”Ionia" was not adapted until 1863. 30 John S. Schenck, Ristor pf Ionia And Montcalm Counties-- Michigan (Philadelph¥a, 1881), p. 138. 5h to Ionia and was the only resident lawyer in the new village until 18h1. Cyrus Lovell built a residence on Washington Street upon his arrival in 1836 and kept his law office there.31 A history of Ionia County written in 1881 states that the town was platted in July 18hl and that one line of surveying extended from a stump near a portion of a house built by Jeseph W. Brown and "now occupied by Cyrus Lovell.”32 It is not known if this statement refers to the Washington Street house or the Lovell house on Main Street which Lovell was known to occupy by 18h3 when a business directory*which was originally printed in the December 27, 18h3 issue of Thg_lonia Journal, stated "Cyrus Lovell, Attorney-At-Law. Office at his residence on Main Street.” Over the years Cyrus Lovell had a very distinguished legal and political career. In November 18h8 he was elected a State Representative, in 1850 he was elected a Delegate to the State Constitutional Convention and in 1855 he took office as the Speaker of the Michigan State House of Representatives. The second owner of this historic house was George W. Webber whose interests included politics, banking, lumbering and mercantile adventures. George w. Webber was born in 'Vermont in 1825 and by the time he was 20 he was a lumber 31 Schenck, History, p. 155. 32 Me. Do mze SS dealer and manager. He came to Manistee County, Michigan, in 1852 where he invested in lumber interests. In 1858 these investments brought him to Ionia County where he also had an interest in a mercantile business run by his brother in Lyons, Michigan. Later in the city or Ionia, George Webber went into partnership with Mr. Frederick Hall and rounded the lumber company of "Hall and Webber.” In 1870 Mr. Webber began a banking establishment in Muir, Michigan, and later was connected with the First National Bank founded in Ionia by Mr. Frederick 3.11.33 George w. Webber served as mayor or Ionia in 187h and 1875 and in 1880 he was elected to Congress from Michigan. One year before his election to Congress he constructed the “Webber Block” or commercial establishments in downtown Ionia at a cost or $15,000 and in the year 1880 he had the "Webber Brownstone Block" built downtown at a cost or over $30,000.3h George Webber was intimately connected with the commercial life or Ionia snd.with politics in the state of Michigan for several decades. An 1881 line engraving or the ”Residence of the Hon. Geo. W. Webber,' published in.a County Atlas, shows the Lovell-Webber house much as it is today (fig. 7). The orig- inal house built in the 18h0's consists of a complete two 33 Schenck, Histo , p. 159. 3h Ibid., p. 160. ' . H A, ~.'~ 1 ‘1! 6' .4. . .. '. A) ‘ '\ f“. . .m‘fif“ ’1' i. ‘ I l 1‘. r "‘ ’ a J ‘. ‘ S7 storied house and now serves as part of the second and the entire third story of the present house. The lower story was added around 1870 and remains as one of the most elaborate and beautiful interiors and exteriors of the period. The most elaborate and beautiful areas of the present interior of the house are the large entrance hall with its elegant curving staircase, simulated leather wall panels and bronsed ceiling medallions, and the large living room. This main drawing room, approximately 18:33, is magnificent with its central oval molded ceiling medallion, molded decorative wall frieze, mirrored black marble and gold leaf fireplace and inside folding window shutters at both ends of the room. Altogether the house contains a total of about 20 rooms (fig. 8). The older portion of*the house contains a different type of woodwork, floor construction and ceiling height which attests to the two distinct periods of the house's construction. The old second story with its hall and bed- rooms are now used for storage and the exterior projects like a large tower in comparison to the main block of the house. When the 1870 addition was begun many porches were added to the house on all sides. Porches on the front of the house form a two storied arcade reminiscent of the Grand Union Hotel at Saratoga Springs, New York mad wrought iron grill work translated into wood. The first story piers are the most elaborate with their brackets and scroll 58 work while the second floor colonettes are somewhat lighter and the third floor is articulated with "C” shaped brackets with various tear drop hangings (fig. 9). Presently this imposing house, located almost across the street from.the Hall—Fowler Library, is owned by Mrs. Ada Owsley who inherited it in 1957 when her sister who was George H. Webber's daughter-in—law. George W. Webber was married three times and was survived by his last wife and two sons by his last marriage. This house has been in the possession of the Lovell and Webber families and their descendants and ironically Mrs. Owsley's greatagreat uncle was Cyrus Lovell the original builder. Today the house is beautifully furnished with original antiques, many of which belonged to the original Lovell and WebberJfamilies as well as the Osmond Tower family, another prominent Ionia pioneer family. George Webber's original upstairs bedroom still contains his massive dresser while his matching bed is in another bedroom. There is an excellent oil painting of Mr. webber as a young man in the main drawing room.as well as other paintings, books, curios and pieces of antique furniture. One side of the house has been used as an apart- ment for over 20 years but because of the sise of the house almost no changes were made since there was a complete stair- case added to that side of the house after the 1870 remodeling.35 ‘The Lovell-Webber house retains much of its original beauty and remains as an excellent example of local craftsmanship. 35 Information about alterations provided by Mrs. Owsley and Mrs. Brixton. 59 Squire Havens "1861" House On a hot July afternoon in the year 1861 Squire Champion Havens and his workmen drank a toast to the completion of his new mansion on Grand Avenue, Lansing, Michigan. After the toast was over one of the workmen took Squire Havens' goblet, climbed up on top of the ornately carved cupola atop the stately brick house and placed it on the spire. Eighty-eight years passed and in 1950 the new owner of the Havens house, known as Brauer's "1861" House Restaurant, Mr. Stan Brauer, climbed up on top of the cupola and found the original goblet still intact and covered.with many layers of old paint. Today that historic goblet may be seen in a glass case on top of a mantle inside the "1861” House where it adds to the general Civil War atmosphere of the restaurant. The mansion which Squire Havens built over a century ago in what was then the bestresidential area of the city of Lansing, is now surrounded by commercial glass and steel buildings and parking lots yet it continues to cling to its colorful past (fig. 10). This house has undergone countless alterations and changes in purpose over the years. Its construction was‘begun in 1859, the year Lansing was incorporated, and was finished in July 1861. IFor decades this large rectangular brick house with its .36 Hayden R. Palmer, ”1861 House Celebrating-uEarly Days of Mansion Are Recalled," The State Journal (Lansing, Michigan), Tuesday, July 25, I551, p.-I§. 61 front portico of four two story high piers and ornate cupola on top, was the center'of Lansing's social life. In 1902 the preperty was purchased by G. E. Lawrence who, with his son Charles E. Lawrence, maintained a bakery in the rear of the house overlooking the Grand River. The bakery was moved to another location in 1922 and the house was used as a residence by Charles E. Lawrence until his death in 1937. Since that time this historic house has served many purposes including a series of restaurants and clubs. In l9u8 Max Brauer and his son Stan, already well known in the restaurant business, took over the ”1861" house restaurant which they later purchased from the Lawrence family heirs. The house has had many alterations including side, front and rear additions since it has been used as a restaurant with offices on the second floor. The old basement floor game room with its large fireplace has been turned into a pOpular Rathskeller which is probably closest to its original purpose. The house was constructed.with brick walls over a foot thick so it has held up well over the years. The flat roof is articulated by a series of pairs of ornately carved wooden brackets (fig. 11). The brackets are a series of scrolls which have tear drcp-like hangings, all in all giving a vertical accent to balance the horizontal roof line. The brackets along the two long sides of the house are three dimensional and have recessed carved areas while 62 the brackets at the rear of the house are merely flat silhouettes. The original brick has long been painted and now is an iron gray color while the brackets and ornate cupola are painted white in contrast. The most beautiful portion of the "1861" house which has remained untouched through the past century is the ornate cupola on the roof (fig. 12). This square cupola- observatory with its spire has pairs of carved brackets attached to its own flat roof, making a total of eight pairs of brackets which match the brackets beneath the main roof. The windows on the front and back (West and East) side of the cupola have a fan light shaped piece of glass with hanging pendants above them while the side (North and South) windows have four large vertical pieces of glass with pointed arches. Although there is no real proof of it, the Squire Havens house may have been planned and built by Lansing's first architect, James Jeffries, who was active at this time. Jeffries became a member of the Michigan Fourteenth Infantry Regiment-Company Sharp-Shooters (Lansing Rangers) and was killed in action in 1862 during one of the early battles of the Civil War. His memorial is in the form of a large stone statue, located on the southeast corner of the State Capitol grounds, which is dedicated to the Lansing Sharp-shooters. James Jeffries had an office in the old "Middle Town” area of Lansing and was Just finishing the Daniel L. Case mansion ’u It'll-u!!- *lllqlllIIdI'l-JJ. I a. I I. s . .I ‘.lll.|‘ (1|. pill . 63 at 827 N. Washington Avenue in April of 1861 when news arrived that Fort Sumpter had been fired upon.37 The Daniel Case mansion which James Jeffries designed ‘ and built was one of the most beautiful homes ever to be erected in the Lansing area. It was a large square house built of brick covered over with yellow tinted plaster and was raised off the ground in the manner of Southern plantations. It has a raised ground floor, a cupola on the roof, iron grill werk balconies, rusticated angle quoins and a classic cntablature resting onflbrackets wifla arched oorbel tables which.surrounded the house. This magnificent home was used as a hospital by the Sisters of Charity in about 1880 and later became the home of JUdge Howard Wiest who was the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court for many years. After its abandonment in 1959 and years of severe vandalism and neglect beautiful house, which was by this time reduced to a mere shell, was razed in 1962 and remains only a memory. Much of the classic beauty of the Case-Wiest mansion may be seen, although to a lesser degree, in the Squire Havens ”1861” house. They both may have been designed and built by the same mane-James Jeffries, whose homes built in the 'wilderness of Lansing's early days, had a feeling of such refinement and grace combined and inherent in Italian classi- cism.reinterprcted in the mid-nineteenth century. .37 Birt Darling, Cit In The Forest-~The Stogy Of Lensigg (New York, Fislo )Tp‘p."'h3«'-EE.' "" i.vi~.’thuuah§§ “1.1...- In"! ‘. ¢.i.lI”-‘.. .. .. I I m! I- ll...l1|s.lulell.ll'-IIIII.II‘I.II .Ir .-.I.| Ir I In..." 6h GreenawayeBallard House The Greenaway-Ballard house, located at 1015 N. Michigan Avenue in Howell, Michigan, is one of the most interesting houses in the mid-Michigan.area architecturally and historic- ally. This large brick house with its bay window areas and striking third floor tower was built by one of Howell's pioneer merchants, Mr. George Greenaway, around 1870 and has remained in the same family up until a few months ago. Much of the past history of the Greenaway-Ballard house and the land on which it stands is contained in the Abstract of Title from the Livingston County Abstract Office, Howell, Michigan, and now held by the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Livingston County. This abstract contains the names of the land owners as well as all legal actions which affected the property, such as wills and deeds, from 1835 to the present. The area where the city of Howell was founded was in- habited by a branch of the Chippewa Indian tribe which had come there after the war-like Sauk Indians had been driven out. The first settlement in the area occurred in 1833 when the first pioneer families arrived from New York.38 In 1835 Moses Thompson and his family came to Howell from Herkimer 38 A. Riley Crittenden, A Histor or The Townshi And Village Q£_Howe11, Michigan (Howel¥,-19117, p. 7. 65 County, New York, and settled on an eighty acre tract of land which they were deeded from the U. 3. government on July 10, 1835. This area, located on what was long called Thompson's Lake, was later to be subdivided and would eventually become the site of the Greeneway-Ballard house. Moses Thompson died in 18hl and his property was divided among his widow, Margaret Thompson, and his children. The abstract contains a notice of Quit Claim Deed changing ownership of the land from the Thompson heirs to Charles Clerk in lBhl. A Warranty Deed,ldated.April 26, 1867, transferred the land from Charles and Caroline Clark to Henry H. Harmon who in turn deeded the land to George Greenaway on May 1, 1880. George Greenaway was a Howell blacksmith who later went into the mercantile business which prospered for many years. A business directory included in'the 1875 53131 g; Livingston County lists under stores: 'Greenaway G; and Son..Dealers In Dry Goods, Groceries, Hats, Caps, Crockery, Yankee Notions, a etc."39 That same 1875 atlas shows that the Greenaways already occupied the site on what was then called Mill Street (later to be renamed Michigan Avenue) because of Moses Thompson's sawmill located on the lake. No exact date exists for the building of the house but it was probably built around 1870. .39 F. W. Beers, Atlas of Livingston County, Michigan (New York, 1875). p. 117. 66 The architects were the Grand Rapids, Michigan, firm of "Robinson dBarnaby." w. 3. Robinson was listed as a Grand Rapids carpenter as early as 1867 in the Michigan §££t2_Gazetteer.égngusiness Directory. George Greensway was listed in that same 1867 directory as part owner of a store known as ”Greenaway & Williams." Two years earlier the store had been known as "Greenaway & Clark's General Store." The Grand Rapids architectural firm of Rebinson & Barnaby had a full page listing in the 1875 Michigan Gazetteer And Business Directogy with a line engraving of the Ledyard business block which they had recently completed in downtown Grand Rapids. It is a coincidence that the tower on the Greensway—Ballard house is almost identical to the towers built on school houses in both Howell and Grand Rapids around 1870-1875.ho Robinson & Barnaby may have been responsible for all these buildings or the particular tower might merely have been a pOpular pattern to follow. George Greenaway, who was married three times in his life, died in 1892 and his will of February 10, 1892 was recorded on July 26, 1893. George Greenaway‘s will, which is included in the abstract, is very interesting in the way his property was disposed of among the heirs: ”I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved wife Helen A. Greenaway (to whose love and devotion I am entitled for'the principle comfort of my life during my declining years) my dwelling house and 10 acres of land ... .hO Photos of old school houses located in various pictorial histories of Howell and Grand Rapids, Midiigan. 67 "I also devise and bequeath to my wife Helen A. Greenaway all my household furniture of all description, also my horses harnesses and buggies and vehicles of all kinds together with $1000.00 in money in addition to all the above specified. ”I also give to my son Henry, $500.00 in money or good paper. I do this in consideration that I have advanced to him help and assistance running along for a great many years by letting him have my half interest in the Fowlerville Grist Mill at $100.00 a year less than it was worth for about 20 years. I also helped him hundreds of dollars when he succeeded me in the blacksmith shop and various other ways all of which he has never thanked me for, or made the least acknow- ledgement, and his prof-legacy and ggtravagenoe in continually riding on the railroad and board- ing at hotels have been extremely annoying to me.” George Greensway also left $1000.00 and land to his son George T. Greenaway and property to his daughter Emma E. Greenaway. The rest of the estate was shared by his other four children, Anna, Tillie, Sarah and Edward.“1 In 1913 Helen Amanda Greenaway deeded the house and land to her daughter Emma Greensway Ballard and it was at this time dust the house became the property of the Ballard family. Mr. Frederick G. Ballard operated a lead pencil factory in a structure located at the rear of the house. The famdly lived in Howell during the summer and wintered in New York. Mrs. Ballard and the Ballard children, LaVerns, Merlin and Geraldine, were Vaudeville stars and toured the country with a roller skating and ballet actJ‘2 “1 Abstract information courtesy of the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Livingston County. ‘hZ Historical information provided by Mrs. w. H. Erwin. 69 In 1953 the Greenaway-Ballard house was sold and the contents were disposed of at a large public auction held on the grounds in July. The house was sold to Mr. Wilfred H. Erwin, a prominent Howell attorney, and Mrs. Erwin, who was a relative of the Greenaway family. After the household accumulations of over three generations were disposed of Mr. and Mrs. Erwin began to refurbish the house and con- tinued to live there until they sold the property to Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Roberts in the summer of 1966. The Greenaway-Ballard house has undergone some changes over the years, but, since its rejuvenation, remains in excellent condition and occupies an impressive site in Howell (fig. 13). The house is very irregular in silhouette, having a number of wall projections and large bays which extend on two sides of the house. The house was built of orange and yellow brick which was painted gray over a decade ago. When.the remodeling was started in 1953 several porches which were labeled ”piazzas” on the original architects drawingsh3 were removed. The piazzas, which gave the house an Italian flavor, were located on the front of the house and on the south side. The front piazza was com- pletely taken off but the side one was rebuilt because of the two entrances which lead to it. The front facade faces west and at thet>ack of the house the land leads down to a large pond formerly known u3 The original architects drawings were recently found by the new owners of the house. 70 Thompson's lake. Besides the irregular shapes the one architectural feature which makes the house so distinctive is the third floor tower with its own smaller tower topped by iron grillwork and a weathervane (fig. 1h). The tower is made of wood and at the first level is about 11 feet high and has inside window shutters on all four sides. Because of the house being raised off the ground by a high basement story and being located on a small hill, one can see for a long distance in any direction from the tower. The second level of the tower may be reached by climbing a vertical ladder. The tap level is all open frame work and is lit by four circles ofhred glass which gives the upper area a red glow. The entire irregular silhouette of the house is topped by an extended cornice with a series of carved brackets. There are a series of larger brackets with smaller brackets between. This rhymthmic articulation follows the outline of the house and tower. The south side of the house, which contains the original sitting room and second floor master bedroom, has a large three sided bay area (fig. 15). On the opposite side there is another bay area, this time only one story high, projecting from the dining room. A service wing which is at a slightly lower second floor level, is located at the back of the house and in turn has a lattice work porch built on to this area. Other than being reinforced and redecorated, the inside of the house has not had many drastic changes since it was built over ninety years ago. One of the most unusual features of the main floor rooms are the tall shuttered windows which.extend to a few inches above the floor. These elegant windows give much light to the rooms and an airy feeling to the room arrangement. Only minor changes have occurred in the floor plan according to a comparison made between the original architects drawing and the present floor plan. The sitting room, now the main living room, has high ceilings just as the other rooms do, and has an ornate fireplace and a beautiful, deeply molded ceiling medallion in the form of a fruit basket. There are also 'a series of projecting ceiling moldings which go around the room and extend into the bay area at the end of the room. This same ceiling medallion motif is repeated in the large central hallway, library and dining room. Up until 1953 large solid walnut doors closed off the main downstairs rooms but they were removed to provide more of an cpen feeling. The dining room has a high molded wood baseboard and a built in china cupboard. A room behind‘thc living room, originally intended to be a bedroom, was for many years used as a children's play room complete with a play house and furniture made to scale. The kitchen, pantries and back.service rooms have been refloored and changed extensively. There are two staircases in the house, an ornate curving stsircasewvith a landing in the front hall and 72 a smaller servants stairs in the rear. The upstairs area of the main part of the house consists of a number of bed- rooms, the main‘bedroom having a bay area located directly over the first floor living room. Another'bedroom.and a large remodeled bath are on the other side of the hall. A smaller side hall leads to the service wing which contains more bedrooms. The house has a total of about 12 rooms plus service areas. The third floor attic is reached off the‘back hallway stairs and contains the area under the steeply pitched roof. The original colors of the orange and yellow brick can be seen in the chimneys and thick walls. This unfinished story has the original wide plank flooring and the stairs which lead to the first floor of the cupola. The Greenawsy-Ballard house remains as one of the most stately houses in the Mid-Michigan area and through the efforts of its owners has been restored.with.much care and attention. It is hoped that this house with all its spacious yard and shady trees will continue to be a showpiece as it has been for nearly a century. I .. I! r, I» I In!!! I.Il .1 «belts {.‘Av It"- I. . A .. .. (u v I . . s . 9| .II-Il.o|£..vlllv 3.1.8131} ill-111.813.:Iilllll lull 73 Hicks Mansion ”John Hicks is building a fine two-story home at an estimated cost of $15,000. When finished the home and grounds will be the finest in the county." 1g: Detroit Daily Post, May 30, 1873hh Over ninety years have passed since John Hicks, Sr. built his mansion at 205 w. State Street, corner of Ottawa Street, in St. Johns, Michigan. Today it remains an archi- tectural showpiece just as it was intended to be back in 1873 (fig. 16). This large two-story home built of white and yellow brick made near the site, was intended to be the showplace of all Clinton County. Behind the facade of this great house lies the wierd story of the man who built it, John Hicks. John Hicks, Sr. was born in Kingston, Ontario in 182h and came to Toronto by stagecoach in 18h9 sndf rem there he went to Detroit by best. He came to DeWitt, Michigan, to help his uncle, Davis Sturges, run a log cabin store, a grist and sawmill. In 1856, after buying out his uncle in DeWitt, Hicks came to St. Johns where he again joined his uncle in a mercantile'wenture which prospered back in the days of a bartered economy. From that time on John Hicks became connected with anything that went on in Clinton County, including'the founding of a series of hh'ghg Detroit Dail Post, Vol. 8#56, May 30, 1873, front page news story. 7h department stores, starting a brickyard, becoming part- owner and manager of the St. Johns Foundry and Agricultural Works and in 1865 he helped to organize the St. Johns National Bank. The most lasting product of John Hicks' was the department store he began in 18h9 which only ceased Operating a few years ago and the several buildings he erected in downtown St. Johns.h5 The strange part of John Hicks' biography which is usually omitted, is the fact that his face was so deformed and discolored that he always wore a heavy veil whenever he left his palatial home. Despite Hicks' deformity his mansion was the center of social life for decades. The Hicks empire passed on to John Hicks, Jr. mad a surviving daughter, Ida, in 1903 with the death of the elder Hicks. Another daughter, Mrs. Jennie Hicks Vaughan, had died in 1895. John C. Hicks, Jr. continued in the mainstream of St. Johns business and social 11:. until his death in 1935.“6 The Hicks mansion has seen many ups and downs in its day ranging from'before the turn of the century when its "Gold Room” was a social center to the mid-1950's when the mansion lay abandoned and decaying, stripped of most of its former glories. John Hicks, Jr. was survived by four daughters in 1935 and soon the house passed out of the #5 Judge 3. B. Dabole, Past And Present or Clinton County, Michigan (Chicago:"19057:'fit-21:??? #6 William J. Duchaine, "St. Johns Mansion's Past Recalled,” The State Journal (Lansing, Michigan), Sept. 10, 1965. 75 family and overwthe years 1935 to 1955 the house had a succession of owners including the L. R. Hull family, the Maiers, Wm. Smith and John Erattin. In 1955. after being empty for some time, the house was bought by Dr. and Mrs. R. W. Smith who have started tor'efurbish the house and its acre of grounds. Dr. Smith has his medical offices in the remodeled basement andnvarious changes have occurred inside the house over the past decade.)47 A line engraving which appeared in the 1880 History‘gf Shiawassee ggQ,Clinton Counties. Michigan, shows the J. Hicks home as it appeared shortly after it was built. The trees which are now so large as to almost hide the house were only saplings then and all the yard had little shade. The house was much the same as it is today except that all the cast iron grillwork was still in place and the ports cochere had not yet been built on the west (right side in photos) side of the house (fig. 17).' The engraving shows the rear barns which are gone now and the large brick carriage house which still stands. The Hicks mansion is basically a large brick rectangle ‘with a rear service wing and a series of porches, porticoes and verandahs which have been added to all sides. 'With all these additions the silhouette of'the house becomes very intricate and complex. The large mansard roof is covered with gray and colored pieces of slate “7 Information supplied by Mrs. P. w. Smith. 76 laid in patterns. The central portion of the front facade projects, the upper (3rd) story containing a raised tower, while the lower'stories are extended hallways. The manasrd roof, one of the first in the Mid-Michigan area, has many dormer windows which light the third floor. The house has a series of overhanging cornices which encircle it. These cornices are supported on a series of similarly machine carved brackets which have been reduced to simple wedge shapes. The older free flowing bracket forms have been abandoned in favor of more of an all over intricacy of pattern and design. The house has now become a tremendous jig-saw puzzle with many parts. The entire house was built on a high foundation as was the building custom at the time. Not long after the house was completed a matching porte cochere was added to the west side of the house at an entrance. This portc cochere was extended over the large driveway and provided protection for people getting into or out of . carriages. The original carriage house is still located at the rear of the large lot. The west side (left side on photos) of the house has a series of porches which are ornately carved and decorated. Carving abounds on the house in the form of the sandstone window hoods, pilsstera and moldings on the third floor dormerwwindows and tower and aroundthe arched pediment over many of the lower 78 windows. Originally the roof, bay windows and.porches were topped with lace-like cast iron railings but most of them have fallen off over the years. The main (front) entrance opens into a large, tile floored entrance hall with a curving staircase leading to the second floor. The main front door is ornately carved wood and contains lower window panels of frosted etched glass. The upper windows are red etched glass and were probably imported from Europe when the house was built. The room which is presently used as a living room is located on the left side of the entrance hall. Originally there were two smaller irregularly shaped rooms which were joined by a series of large mahogany sliding doors. These doors and the wall they fcmed were removed several years ago. The one room still contains its ornate multiple egg and dart ceiling molding which extends all around the room. The room which remains much the same as it was before the turn of the century is the ”Gold Room” located at the northwest corner of the house, on the:right side of the front entrance hall. The ”Gold Room” has a large gold leafed imported pier mirror ten feet tall with a white marble base. This pier mirror is between two windows on the:front of the house which are inframed by a gilded cornice molding.r The pier and window cornice are one complete built-in unit. The bay window in this room v a! ‘11.. 79 also has a built-in wooden gold leafed cornice. There is a white marble fireplace, probably imported from Italy, along one wall, cpposite the bay window. The ceiling of this room is decorated with a series of clusters of hand- painted roses done in pastel colors. The original gaslight chandelier was removed several years ago but it is still easy to imagine the soft beauty of this room during its own golden days .' The rest of the downstairs portion of the house includes a large dining room, side hallways, a back staircase, modern kitchen and other service rooms. ‘The rear extensionnwas remodeled in 1961 and a new mansard roof was constructed in shingle to blend with the original roof. The second floor consists of approximately eight bedrooms and miscellaneous rooms, several of which lead onto balconies and contain the original white marble topped commode-sinks. One of these bedrooms has a tile fireplace with a swag patterned woodwork which was probably added around 1900 at the same time the upstairs bath was remodeled. The third floor consists of a large unfinished room approximately 140' square with a high ceiling, many dormer windows and four large wooden piers which support the roof in the center. The mansard roof, which was a re- populsrisation of the original roof developed by the French architect in the seventeenth century and then 80 revived in France under Napoleon III, became fashionable in America shortly after the Civil War. This type of roof provided for a more spacious top story which could be well lighted. Often the mansard story of these large old houses was finished off into a large ballroom but this was not the casewith the Hicks mansion. One of the most interesting features of the third floor on both the exterior and interior is the central projecting tower (fig. 18) which is located a few steps up from the attic floor. One can go up to this tower which provides a view of the whole town. There are only windows in the front of the tower and not on all four sides. There is also a trap door'which may be lifted and it is possible to go up on top of the tower where there originally was a walkway surrounded by cast iron railings. The Hicks mansion represents the last phase of the Bracketed-Tower style. The brackets have been reduced to a series of blocks resembling dentils and appear over and over again at several levels. The tower is still centralised and projecting but is gradually being absorbed by the mansard roof. The over all effect is becoming cluttered and less unity is achieved because of the additions on all sides. The picturesque effect has taken over completely and the house begins to look like a ”layer-cake." Several period styles are being drawn from and freely mixed to give a totally new visual esthetio to domestic architecture. VIII DECLINE AND DENISE OF THE "BRAChETED-TOWER" STYLE There were many factors which contributed to the decline and demise of the Bracketed-Tower style in the 1870's. To use Henry-Russell Hitchcock's terms, the 1870's saw 'Eclecticism of Taste,” that is, different styles used contemporaneously but each building being all in one style, replaced by ”Eclecticism of Style," or the free mixing of different styles in one building.1 In this sense, the naivete of Romanticism was ended and with its death.came an onslaught of architectural hybrids. This early phase of Romantic architecture had tried to capture a complete mood in one building be it a Gothic castle, Italian villa or Swiss chalet, but after 1875 all moods and styles were thrown together. 0n the other hand, complete architectural accuracy, which would hit its zenith with such architects as Richard Morris Hunt, could now be achieved because of good photography of existing foreign structures and European trained professional architects. The era of the<3arpenter~builder was drawing to a close and would only remain in the small towns and rural areas until the twentieth century. Another major death blow'was dealt by the mansard roof which was a reflection of more contemporary European trends than a look back into the past.2 The mansard 1 Hitchcock, Modern Architecture, p. 6. 2 Wilbur D. Peat, Indiana Houses Of The Nineteenth Century (Indianapolis, I952), p. 127:" 81 82 roofed house began to be popularized in such magazines as Godez's Lady's gggk shortly after the Civil War. More ornate and costly homes were shown in the magazine illustrations andwthe small ”miner's cottages" of the previous decades were all but forgotten. A feeling for bigness and show began to come to the forefront at this time. More and more imitations were being made and Downing's honesty of building materials was all but forgotten until the reform movements late in the century. By examining some of the better examples of the Bracketed-Tower style in the Mid-Michigan area a general rise and decline of therstyle may be seen. The earlier examples, such as the ”1861' House a nd the Todd House, tend to be ”Italian" in feeling and classical in appearance. The brackets and central tower dominate and both are major elements. Towards the end of the period, with such.examples as the Greenaway-Ballard House and the Hicks Mansion, the brackets have been reduced to machine made dentils and the tower, though still a major feature, is in competition with the roof for attention. The tower continued to be a popular form but became more exotic in shape such as the Turkish and Saracenic towers which were added to older homes and built on new ones. Instead of having just one tower, domestic structures began to have several towers and turrents located at corners or bays. The brackets 83 which had previously bordered on being examples of native folk art, were lost in an onslaught of machine made ornaments such as broken pediments, cornices and other exterior detail work. The earlier Romantic naivete was abandoned in favor of a more worldly form of domestic architecture, the only surviving Romantic element being the concept of the picturesque which became all-encompassing in the last decades of the nineteenth century. APPENDIX B While the initial research for this thesis was being conducted many homes located in the Mid-Michigan area dating approximately from lBhO-lBBO were located, but, because of the limitations of the general consideration of the “Bracketed-Tower” style, could not be included in the main body of the thesis. The following is a list of homes which are fine examples of the many modes of architecture which flourished during the middle and later decades of the nineteenth century. They, too, deserve to be recorded before many of them pass out of existence. The following list contains the name of the county (refer to Appendix A for map), city, particular address and some brief comments as to style, owners and approximate date of construction. Eaton County Eaton Rapids, Michigan 722 S. Main Streetn-Large three storied red brick house with rear extensions, large brackets under roof, front portico with four Ionic columns and side porticoes with Ionic colonettes, beautiful condition, built by Dan Gould in 1857, portico added later. 123 H. East Street-~Former Isaac Reynolds home, one of the best examples of a Gothic ”cottage” with vergeboards, vertical siding and tracery in the area, built ca. 18h5 (fig. 19). Ingham County Dansville, Michigan 1397 E. Main Streeto-Brick octagonal house built by Dr. D. J. Heston in 1863, belived to have been a station for the Underground railroad during 85 ll- ......lillii.111|! . ... II . .Ilil- ll ‘ ' V . > , . {a . ‘. .1 \l ..e l\ e. | I - u |. l .I y \ l \ F‘rl'i {Alllll-lnilll .I i I.» I.‘ .l| 111‘. 1 .. ll- 0 1 l. 1.: V . l 'l .l 1:1 -II .. .lslli.l|||l [I III] 1.." ‘I: - -. - - i . -. il r | i . - - .. - L}- -.i- c - x - I ~ I x r u I- 13-: .4 --l. a In! 1...! 111‘ Ill- i, I ... III." I]; v'.tlv".e'tasv 86 the Civil War, original octagonal cupola on top. Lansing, Michigan 528 S. Washington Avenue-~Ornate wooden mansion with much exterior decoration, Chinese pagoda tower, 17 rooms, three floors, built by Benjamin Franklin Davis, Lansing's first industrialist, in 1889, remodeled in 1909. still in fine state of preservation, owned by Mrs. Edith Eve Davis. h29 N. Cedar Streetc-Fonmer Charles Mead family home, later used as a hospital and now a recreation center, brick Italian villa style with cupola on roof, much altered but in sound condition, built ca. 1850-1860, scheduled for demolition in 1970. Ionia County Ionia, Michigan lhh E. Main Street-oFormer Dr. Oscar Long house, brick, two storied, brackets, bays, built ca. 1875 and wood Turkish tower added on top of front facade ca. 1890; now owned by Dr. L. D. Benedict. llh/ll6 E. High Street--Brick two storied Tuscan villa type house, three stories high square tower, formerly home of Isaac Thayer family built ca. 1860, now badly run down (fig. 20 . 237 High Street--Pormerly known as ”Yeoman's Castle," a castellated home built for one of Ionia's founding families on a sloping cliff side: now known as Our Lady of the Pines Convent, much exterior decoration removed. h83 E. Washingtono-Former General T. H. Kidd house wood, two stories, brackets, square tower, ca. 1880. 253 E. Main Street-oFormer home of prominent J. C. Blanchard family called “Palistina,” formally opened in 18 1, pink varigated sandstone with brown trim, iron work on roof and gates, French windows, beautiful all over design exterior and interior; in process of being restored by present owners Mr. and Mrs. Leon Lockwood of Ionia (fig. 21). 8? Livingston County Gregory, Michigan (just outside)--Cottage built by John Marshall in 1860 with Gothic vergeboard; decoration and original picket fence still remain, now the residence of Mrs. Bess Marshall, a decendant of the original builder. Howell, Michigan 92h W. Grand River AvenueooLarge frame two storied house with Greek third story entablature, porches, bay windows; built in 1876, now empty and rapidly deteriorating (fig. 22). Shiawassee County Corunna, Michigan 570 N. Corunna Avenue-~A large Gothic type house with vergeboards, vertical siding, built in 18h6 by John N. Ingersol, who started a newspaper and was later a friend of U. S. Grant's; recently purchased from Dr. Lyons family and scheduled for demolition this summer (19 6) to make room for a parking lot. Owosso, Michigan 715 w. Olivero-Dimmiok family home, brick, square third floor tower, towered brick carriage house, built 1880; still in possession of builder's family. 515 N. Washingtono-Former Amos Gould house, brick, mansard roof, very interesting history, exterior built around older house, ca. 18h0 and 1865, in good repair, supposedly beautiful on inside. BIBLIOGRAPHY Adams, Richard P. "Architecture and the Romantic Tradition: Coleridge to Wright,” American Quarterly, 9 (1957). h6-62, Addison, Agnes Eleanor. Romanticism And The Gothic Revival. Philadelphia, 1938. Andrews, Wayne. Architecture, Ambitions And Americans. Glencoe, 196k. "Archeology And American Architecture,” The American Archi- toot And Building News, IV # th (Octmoberm, JTIIII- 0 Art Work‘gtheneasee and Shiawassee Counties. Chicago, 189h. Beerg,5F. w. Atlas 3;,Livingston Count , Michigan. New York, 1 7 . Besinger, Curtis. "Fantastic Splendors For Your Pleasure," House Beautiful, 102 #7 (July 1960), 80-85. Bullock, John. The American Cottage Builder. New York, lBSh. Burchard, John and Albert Bush-Brown. The Architecture 2; America-g§_Social and Cultural History. Boston, I951. 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