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Ypsilanti Historic Walking Tour |
4. Now proceed next door, south to 411 N. Huron. This is yet another Italianate Style home built in the 1860s. Green in color with white trim, it features tall double hung windows which are symmetrical, and a side entrance with a porch that features slender columns. The roof is low sloping with scrolling double brackets to support its wide overhanging eaves. Note the decorative lintels over the windows. Inside is an open wooden stairway. The building is almost 3000 square feet in size. The home was once apartments and has been returned to a single family home.
Continuing south, the Michigan Firehouse Museum stands at the northwest corner of Huron and Cross Streets. This can be another interesting detour on the walk. Otherwise, go back across Cross Street, continuing south on Huron Street.
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5. The next official stop on the tour is 303 N. Huron. The Towner House is the oldest house on its original foundation in the city. A stark contrast to some of the surrounding mansions, it exists to show an older more common type of home in the city. It was built in 1837 and is Greek Revival in style. This style has symmetrical windows and doors and a front facing gable roof. There are eave returns at the edges of the roofline. All of this is seen in the Towner House, which is a one and a half story building. There is a pediment over the front door, thought to be original. The door trim and pierced porch supports are reminiscent of Gothic Revival Style and were added later when these styles were popular. The home is sided with wooden clapboards. The first floor windows are six over six panes. The top floor windows are now eight over one paned, but were originally eight over eight panes.
Inside, it has a marble fireplace, but this is not original to the home. There are low ceilings and a small stairway to the upstairs. There is a "Michigan basement" in the home, which consists of fieldstone walls and a dirt floor. The front porch was added c. 1850. An addition on the back of the house was recently removed because it was not in good condition or original to the home.
Once owned by the Cross family, its namesake, the Towner family, owned the house from 1851 to 1951. It was once a children's hands-on museum but this was closed due to lack of funds. The home is reopened for special events such as the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival in August. At the center of controversy for many years regarding its use and location, it now is safely preserved and out of danger of demolition.
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6. Continue south on Huron Street to 203 N. Huron. This imposing brick home was once thought to be the largest home between Detroit and Chicago. Known as the Cornwell residence, it was built in 1883. It is high Victorian Gothic Revival in style with Queen Anne elements. It is generally square in shape with symmetrical fenestration. (Fenestration is the pattern of the windows) Originally one entered the building in the central projecting bay through a door which is now a window. This central bay features a small pediment. Small brackets support the many gabled roofline; there are many chimneys. A polychromatic brick course runs along the cornice of the building for decoration. There is some stained glass in the windows.
The Cornwells built a huge paper mill along the Huron River, and with 500 employees it was the largest in the state. The home had the first telephone line in town which was a direct line to the paper mill. In 1886, Cornelius Cornwell was the mayor of Ypsilanti.
The Cornwells were very enterprising and also built a sanitarium in town, based on water they found when drilling a new well for the paper mill. There was nothing special about this water, however. The sanitarium became known as the "Occidental Hotel", but it was put out of business in 1907 with the advent of the Federal Pure Food & Drug Act. Some of these spring water bottles, as well as others from the time when the city was popular as a mineral springs site, can be seen at the Ypsilanti Historical Museum.
In the late 1970s the building experienced a fire, and then fell into disrepair before being turned into twelve apartments. At one time there were twenty-four apartments in this house!
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7. Continue south. The next stop on the tour is just across Washtenaw at 125 N. Huron. This is the Ballard/Breakey House. A Greek Revival Style house with colossal columns, it is white painted brick. Built in 1830, the columns were added ten years later. They are unique in that they are Doric in order, yet are fluted. The Doric order is a very simple classical architectural order with non-fluted columns. Flutes are the vertical channels seen in the columns. The home has the distinction of being listed on the federal Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). Arden Ballard, the last village president, built the home. The Breakey family lived here from 1956-66; he was a family doctor.
The home features many fireplaces, each one unique; original pine woodwork; and an open stairway with a newel post with inlaid mother-of-pearl. There was even a ballroom on the third floor.
Outside, small columns echo the large porch columns and frame the door. The columns, entablature (the part of the building supported by the columns, which includes the pediment and cornice), and pediment are all made of wood. There are not many other details on the front of the building. The columns take precedence in Greek Revival homes as the look of an ancient Greek temple was desired. This style was popular in the early 19th century when the U.S. wanted to follow the example of early Greek democratic values, and even architecture.
Many additions have made the home larger over the years. The building was once falling into disrepair and was restored in the late 1960s by the Haab family. In the mid-1990s, there were plans to make it a bed and breakfast; however it is now lawyer's offices.
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