Author: Your Tour Guide

421 North Bailey Street

c. 1862 (Renovated 1878, 1898) – Second Empire

It was constructed soon after McGill purchased his lot from Edwin W. Giddings on May 9, 1862 for $196. On September 15, 1873 John H. Brabb (1820-1894) purchased the home for $1775. The Romeo Observer noted on November 13, 1878: “Mr. John Brabb is renovating his residence.” It is assumed that the mansard roof was added at this time. On December 6, 1889 the home was sold to Mr. Ira Bride, a Detroit race horse enthusiast and gambler. Bride stabled his prize horses in the barn across the road at the Fearnaught Riding Park (destroyed) and kept on his own lot a two-story doghouse (next house to the north) for his pet dogs. The dogs had the run of this house and lived a “plush life.” A mysterious fire damaged much of the interior of the residence during the mid-1890’s and on March 31, 1898 Mr. Bride sold his home to George T. Hartung for $500. Hartung rebuilt the home and added the present Queen Anne porch.

104 West Gates Street.

c. 1870 Victorian Gothic

“This is a very fine iooking house,” noted The Romeo Observer in January 1871, “and is pleasantly located as it commands a full of all the travel on one side of our most busy streets.” The cost  was listed at $4,000 , including “improvements on the lot.” A smaller version of the Rowley-Gray residence on Church Street, the Tackels home has the same prolific brackets, a similar floor plan, but a more simplified window treatment. The porch is a c. 1900 replacement.Charles Tackels (1827-1906), a native of the Romeo area, acquired wealth through partnership with his neighbor Harvey Mellen in timber lands, grain transactions and real estate investments. He also served as county treasurer from 1878-1882.

440 North Main Street

c. 1886 – Queen Anne

“A home that ought to satisfy the most fastidious” proclaimed The Romeo Observer in September 1887. Queen Anne in style, the builder, R. F. Odion, combined picturesque exterior details (gracefully turned porch supports, decorative Japanese roof gable and porch balustrades) with quality interior woodwork (solid butternut). Charles M. Tackels (1858-1929) the son of Charles Tackels was casher a! the First National Bank in Romeo.

419 North Main Street

c. 1856 – Greek Revival

Alvan B. Ayer (1809-1883) a native of York County, Maine settled in Romeo in 1854 wealthy from his extensive investments in Maine and Michigan timber lands. In July 1855, he purchased a lot for $475 and had constructed one of the finest late Greek Revival residences in the county. Only the porches have been slightly altered and the fencing removed since the 1859 sketch of this residence with its pleasant “salt box” carriage house.

Elizabeth Cody Stanton, the famous nineteenth century suffragette, was a house guest of the Ayer family in January, 1871. The Romeo Observer noted that Mrs. Stanton “on Saturday evening … gave a free lecture to the ladies, the large hall (Gray’s Opera House) being well filled not withstanding the inclement state of the weather. She remained over the Sabbath, a guest at Mr. Alvan B. Ayer’s and attended services at the Congregational Church and left early Monday morning for Lansing … ”

418 North Main Street

c. 1859 – Greek Revival

407 North Main Street

c. 1896 – Queen Anne

This is the largest Queen Anne style residence in Romeo and was constructed in 1896 by William Russell of Davis for Harvey Eldred (1842-1899) a retired Bruce Township farmer. Freed of the restraints of earlier styles, this building boasts comer porches and spindled verandas, stained glass windows and shingled gables. During the 1920’s, the home was owned by Judge Henry McKay whose wife kept a herd of prize goats in the back lot much to the chagrin of the neighbors.

393 North Main Street

c. 1840 – Greek Revival

202 Minot Street

c. 1891 – Queen Anne

240 Minot Street

c. 1856 (R) 1871 Italianate – Second Empire

Moses A. Giddings (1824·1911) a native of Preston, Connecticut settled in Romeo in 1846 and entered the dry goods trade. When the First National Bank of Romeo was formed in 1863, Giddings became a board member and in 1871, he was elected president. His home built c. 1856, next to his brother’s large mansion, was of the Italianate style with interiors that include marble fireplaces, elaborate plaster cornices and ornate ceiling medallions. In 1871 Giddings decided to up-date his residence by replacing the shallow Italianate roof with the more fash­ionable “French” or mansard roof.

This mansion along with its two neighbors to the north had shared for over a century a park-like setting with scores of mature oak trees and acres of sweeping lawns that combined to create a remarkable visual impact. But “progress” demanded the demolition of the Edwin W. Gid­dings mansion (July, 1967) the destruction of many of the trees, and the removal of the natural slope of the hill. In its place an apart­ment complex has been erected.

187 Turner Street

c. 1939 – Cape Cod Style