Author: Your Tour Guide

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STARKWEATHER BUILDING / STARKWEATHER ARTS CENTER

219 North Main Street

c. 1865

This building was built in 1865 and has had many uses over the years. From the late 1800s until 1987, the building was owned by the Starkweather family.  Helen Starkweather, an art and drafting teacher in the Romeo schools for over 30 years, was the last person to reside in the building. Upon her death in 1987, the building was bequeathed to the Romeo Historical Society with the stipulation that it be used as a community art center. The Starkweather Society was formed and with contributions of time, labor and funds from many sources, the first floor was opened as an art center in November, 1999.

Helen Starkweather used this back space of the building as her living quarters, and she made many changes to the building.  The front angle door was added on Main Street, and the living space was changed into an “Arts & Craft” Decor with the addition of the bay window and fireplace in the fireplace room and pannelled walls and Craftsman windows in the dining room and kitchen.  The ceilings were also dropped.  The small room off the Dining Room was Helen’s bedroom, and is now used as an office.  It has a closet and a set of built in drawers.  The bathtub was removed from the bathroom and the room was reconfigured.

The upstairs Gallery was used as a warehouse and was converted into apartments in the 1940s.  The north side and south front rooms were one apartment and a two room apartment was in the southwest rooms.  A wall divided the front two rooms and has been removed, along with three layers of ceilings to create our upstairs gallery and music performance area.  The windows were restored in 2008 to their original “two over two” configuration and the flooring was replaced with block grant funding.

The pine floors in the Landing Room are original and were restored. The Starkweather Society said that it isn’t sure where the Victorian mantle is from…it may have been removed from the main floor when Helen added the Craftsman mantle.  We also have an art classroom and storage area.  Musicians use it as a “warm up” room on open mic nights.

The courtyard garden was restored by the Questers in 1995 and included the restoration of the three iron gates and window well grates.  An iron fence was added between the gates replacing a wire one.  Plantings were donated by Wiegand’s Nursery in Macomb.

The Carriage House dates from the 1930’s.  The building was designed by Helen using salvaged bricks from a demolished Romeo mansion – the same building where she rescued the fantastic iron gates.  The beams came from her family barns that sat on the current Village Park site.  Helen used this building as her art studio.  The pew is the Starkweather pew from the Methodist Church… half is installed in the upstairs loft and the other half is upstairs in the Gallery.

Note the iron work on the beam overhead and the brackets on the stairs.

The basement was dug out by Claire Tincknell, after the building was built. Claire worked as a handyman for Helen.  He said he was never allowed to purchase new wood, he was to use what she had salvaged! He and his wife lived in the large apartment in the upstairs in the 1940’s.

When Helen died in 1987 at the age of eighty-four, she left her estate to the ​Romeo Historical Society and the Village of Romeo. Her will stipulated that her home and studio at 219 North Main Street be used as an art and cultural center “…dedicated to promoting and fostering the appreciation of art and artisans and to support the preservation of the character and quality of the Village”.

In 1989, the Board of Trustees incorporated the Starkweather Society, a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to fulfilling the wishes expressed in Ms. Starkweather’s will. On November 13, 1999, Ms. Starkweather’s former home and studio was officially opened to the public as the Starkweather Arts Center. The Center includes two beautiful exhibit galleries and a sales gallery as well as a second floor gallery for art education and performance area. ​

To learn more about the Starkweather Art Center as wells as its hours, visit https://www.starkweatherarts.com/

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GRAY’S OPERA HOUSE

231 North Main Street

c. 1869 – Italianate

“The most costly and elegant building in Macomb County” proclaimed The Romeo Observer in July 1869. Financed by Hugh, Noah, and James Gray and designed by local architect Oscar S. Buel, “a young man of more than ordinary prom­ise as a designer and builder,” the Gray Opera House included three business stores, several professional offices, a ballroom and an audi­torium seating 1,200 “without crowding.” Elaborately furnished and fitted with lighting fix­tures and plate glass “imported from France,” the building played host to a number of prominent speakers and entertainers including Zachariah Chandler, U.S. Senator and leading Radical Reconstructionist; Elizabeth Cady Stanton, tireless promoter of women’s rights; Schuyler Colfax, Grant’s Vice President; the Fisk Jubilee Singers. a popular Negro university choir from Tennessee; and the ply Uncle Tom’s Cabin performed with a “full pack of spanish and Cuban blood hounds.”

Fire damaged a portion of the building in January 1876, and a second fire a month later nearly destroyed the entire complex. The Romeo Observer for 1878 noted that “Gray’s Opera House is dead property these days” and in 1885 the Gray brothers sold the place to John Smith, Jr. wealthy land owner and banker.

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CHARLTON NEWBURY HOUSE

241 North Main Street

c. 1845 – Greek Revival

Charlton B. Newbury (1809-1865) a native of Mansfield, Connecticut settled in Romeo in 1840 at the encouragement of Nathan Dickinson and immediately joined Dickinson and E. W. Giddings in their dry goods business. In 1848 Newbury established his own firm taking Dr. Watson Loud as partner in 1852. The Newbury residence, a Greek Revival was constructed c. 1845, and has a particularly fine entrance with fluted pilasters and an interesting circle motif above the door. The portico is a later addition.

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KEZAR MEMORIAL LIBRARY

107 Church Street

c. 1910 – Old English

The S. F. Kezar family, natives of Unger, Maine, lived in Romeo during the 1890s. After Mr. Kezar’s death, his wife and daughter moved to San Francisco where they acquired a considerable inheritance from Mrs. Kezar’s brother and donated the Kezar Sports Stadium in that city and the Memorial Library in Romeo. H. R. Whitfield, a New York architect specializing in library designs, developed the plan which was to imitate “an Old English Inn” and lumbterbaron Henry Stephens II donated $1,000 for books. The Romeo Observer rhapsodized in May 1910. “we imagine that when it ill partially overgrown with vines and surrounded by shrubs it will be ideally beautiful. A restful retreat for book lovers old or young, and the embodiment of all that is desirable in a library.”

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CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

102 Church Street

c. 1875 – Gothic

Organized in 1828, the Congregational Church has had three “meeting houses” all on the same site. The first was erected in 1833 by Charles Chamberlin and was eventually moved west on Church Street to be used as the Romeo Academy. The second was built in 1842 of Greek Revival design by Mr. Wilcox and was demolished in 1875 to make way for the present structure. The Romeo Observer noted that “a few felt disposed to shy a little when brought face to face with the matter” of replacing the old church. Nevertheless, “farewell services” were held in June, 1875 and “some very beautiful stereoscopic views of the interior . . . decorated and adorned in a beautiful manner” were taken so the parishioners could have “a picture of the old house so soon to be numbered among the things of the past.”

The designs for the present building were prepared by Charles H. Marsh, a talented 27 year old architect from Rochester, New York who was to establish a large and profitable practice in Detroit before his premature death due to heart disease in 1881. “In the whole design of the edifice,” noted the Detroit  Tribune for July 1875 “the aim has been not to sacrifice its dignity by the addition of cheap and tawdry ornaments. It is to be of the Medieval Gothic style of architecture, the exterior walls being buttressed, and the tower finishing at the height of 100′ without a spire …” The construction work was supervised by Romeo builder, R. F. Odion and the cornerstone was laid July 4, 1876. Even though the building was occupied the following spring, the interior was being completed as late as 1883 when the “Messrs. Wright and Co. of Detroit,” well known cabinetmakers, were “lettering the panels in the rear of the pulpit . . . at the expense of Mr. & Mrs. Hugh McMillan of Detroit.”

At this point in the tour, you can make a decision:

Return to the start, the Bancroft-Stranahan Museum  –>

Continue the tour by going to the Kezar Libaray –>

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NATHAN DICKENSON HOUSE

277 North Main Street

c. 1840 – Greek Revival

“This place is one of the most desirable in Romeo” noted The Romeo Observer in 1885. Similar praise seems to have existed ever since the Nathan Dickinson residence was completed c. 1840. Dickinson (1799-1861) a native of Amherst, Massachusetts, was a jeweler and silversmith by trade but after his arrival in Romeo in 1836, he established a prosperous dry goods store and invested heavily in timberlands. Although. self educated, Dickinson was a “firm supporter” of the Romeo Academy (1835·52) and the Dickinson Institute (1854-67) private schools in Romeo of exceptional quality. In 1872, Henry Stephens (1823-86) a native of Dublin, Ireland, and one of the most prosperous lumber barons in the state, purchased the Dickinson Residence as a “second home.” Extensive remodeling was done at this time with Victorian windows and doors, marble fireplace> and a kitchen wing being added. In 1885, dry goods merchant. Edward C. Newbury (1838-1920) acquired the property. The original craftsmanship is still apparent in the cobblestone foundation (an up state New York innovation), the finely carved entry mouldings with delicate top and side lights, and well rendered end pediments wil.h windows capped by Gothic “elbow” hoods.

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EDWIN W. GIDDINGS HOUSE

295 North Main Street

c. 1841 – Greek Revival

Edwin W. Giddings (1815-1902) a native of Preston, Connecticut entered the dry goods business in 1839 and became one of Romeo’s wealthiest citizens. He helped establish both local banks and was ‘a man of great artistic taste. His Greek Revival residence was constructed c. 1841 with beautifully carved ionic columns flanking the entrance and interior mouldings of excellent quality. In 1857, a large Italianate mansion was completed for Giddings on Prospect Street (demolished July, 1967) and he sold the smaller home to his brother Alden. Marble fireplaces and Victorian windows were added at this time and in 1870 the home was sold to the widow of Dr. Neil Gray (1806·1892). The kitchen wing was altered and the Roman ionic porch added c. 1900 by the Edward Sanderson family.

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LEONARD ELDRED HOUSE

349 North Main Street

c. 1901 – Late Queen Anne

This home, late Queen Anne in style, was frequently referred to as “the bird-cage bouse” because of its picturesque cupola. Leonard H. Eldred (1870-1951) a native of Bruce Township was a farmer resident in Romeo.

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GEORGE H. HOLMAN HOUSE

384 North Main Street

c. 1854 – Gothic Revival

This fine Gothic Revival residence with its angular bargeboard and stucco­ like wooden walls was constructed c. 1854 by George H. Holman a native of Marlboro, New Hampshire. Holman operated a sash and blind factory to the rear of his residence until 1854 when he “moved the building” to the business section of town and sold it to Albert Kennedy and Joseph Weller in 1865. The Holman residence changed hands severaI times during the 1860s and in May 1873 was purchased by Elijah W. Meddaugh a prominent Detroit lawyer and attorney for the Grand Trunk Railroad. The Meddaughs used the home as their summer residence during the 1870s even though they had sold it to Mrs. Meddaugh’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Aaron R. Maynard who lived one door to the north (destroyed). Maynard was ”one of the most successful jury lawyers in the state” and had served as U.S. District Attorney during Grant’s       Administration, taking several cases before the Supreme Court. In 1885, the Holman residence was sold to dry goods merchant J. J. Cochrane for $4,000.

 

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