Category: South Tour

221 West Saint Clair Street

c. 1850 – Greek Revival

Charles F. Mallary (1811-1890), a native of Albany, New York, arrived in Romeo in 1843 and soon became one of the most successful hardware merchants in town. “C. F. Mallary & Co.”, noted an 1873 ad, offered “shelf and heavy hardware.” Many of the stoves in Romeo came from his store as well as much of the cast iron garden furniture. Mallary served as Justice of the Peace and from 1863-65 he was a State Legislator backing the “railroad bill” for Romeo. During the 1870’s, he was the Greenback Party’s nominee for Congress, “polling more votes than was generally expected,” but going down to defeat. Some very stimulating political discussions must have taken place at Mallary’s store around the “Big Stove” where “you can go … and get warm whether you buy anyt ng or not.” Mallary’e superb Greek Revival residence has changed little since it was built c. 1850. The Mallarys had purchased the property in December 1846.

208 West Saint Clair Street

c. 1854 – Greek Revival

On May 20, 1854 William T. Badger acquired a lot on West St. Clair Street for $275. Presumably he constructed a small residence on the lot before he sold it to George Green on November 19, 1855 for $625. Badger was bom at Alburgh, Grand Isle County, Vermont on June 12, 1823. He migrated to Norwalk, Ohio in 1850 and arrived in Romeo in 1851. He was a painter by trade and politically a Democrat casting his first presidential vote for James Buchanan. The property changed hands frequently over the next decade and was finally purchased by William Bames (1835-1906) in May, 1867 for $2,400. Barnes, a carriage painter, lived _in the home until his death in 1906. The house is very similar in size to the wing of the Phelps-Durand residence at 213 Church Street.

 

202 West Saint Clair Street

c. 1848 – Greek Revival

Cecilia Vannater purchased a half-acre lot on December 8, 1840 for $75 and probably had her Greek Revival cottage completed during the late 1840s or early 1850s. The cottage was sold for $400 in 1854 and changed hands several times again before it was acquired by David Greene in March, 1869 for $1,500. Greene (1808-1875), a native of Berlin, Rensselaer County, New York had arrived in Romeo in 1845. Mrs. Greene, a sister of Mrs. C. F. Mallary, retained ownership of the home until her death in 1897. The central Greek Revival entrance has been replaced by a aide entry rem· inescent of colonial Williamsburg.

209 West Saint Clair Street

c. 1863 – Greek Revival

George B. Morton (1831-1890) a Romeo hardware merchant, purchased a lot for $100 in September 1862 and presumably constructed his Greek Revival  residence the following year. In 1866, Timothy A. Smith. owner of the “Bee Hive” dry goods store acquired the residence for $3,000. Smith’s son, Merton, became the publisher of The Romeo Observer from 1894-1934. In October, 1875, John Phelps, a speculator in timberlands traded residenccs with Smith paying $4,250 for the Smith residence. “Lawn socials” were popular during the 1870s and the Phelps family held one of the largest during the summer of 1876 entertaining the members of the Congregational Church. “The lawn in front of the home was lit with lanterns which together with a head light borrowed from the Air Line Railroad illuminated the grounds in a very pleasant manner.” In 1878, Phelps moved to Wisconsin to oversee his pine lands there. Two years later the home was sold at quite a loss ($2,500) to William H. Brabb (1826·1910), a native of England, and a wealthy Bruce Township farmer. Brabb’s daughter, “Miss Alice,” was a graduate of Bennett Medical College in Chicago and had her office in a wing of her father’s residence for many years.

195 West Saint Clair Street

c. 1868 – Victorian Gothic

William Anderson (1836-?), a prosperous Bruce Township farmer, built             this Victorian Gothic residence in 1868 for $5,000. Mr. Anderson was the owner of a number of racing horses including a famous trotting horse, “Jim Fiske,” that brought $4,250 when sold in 1875. John S. Flumerfelt (1819-1892), Anderson’s father-in-law, purchased the pretentious Anderson residence soon after it was completed in I 870 for $5,500. Severe alterations during the twentieth century have destroyed the charn of this once handsome building.

188 West Saint Clair Street

c. 1850 – Transitional Greek Revival – Italianate

Edward S. Snover (1813-1885) a native of Warren County, New Jersey, came to Romeo in 1838 “possessed of but little capi­tal” A blacksmith by trade, Snover was fre­quently referred to as the ”Goliath of Romeo.” His shop, due to “the diligence with which he applied himself, and the many hours he extracted from 24, for work” made for him a fortune that “will not fall below one hundred thousand dol­lars.” Snover purchased his lot on West St. Clair Street in 1847 and presumably his home was constructed by 1850. Transitional in design, the Snover residence has an Italianate cube shape and hip roof but Greek Revival entablature and entrance teatment. Originally, a porch extended on three sides of the residence end consisted of well rendered doric columns similar to those’ that remain on the side porches today.

170 West Saint Clair Street

c. 1853 – Greek Revival

David Buel was probably the most important architect-builder in Romeo during the 1840’s and 1850’s. It is likely that the greatest majority of the Greek Revival and Gothic Re­vival buildings that stand in the village today were of his design. In 1854 Buel declared this house his homestead. The “M” shaped bargeboard at the roof line can be found on many other transitional buildings throughout nothern Macomb County. In 1862, David Buel sold his home and left Romeo. His son, Oscar Sterling Buel, remained in town until the 1870s designing the Romeo Opera House in 1869.

157 West Saint Clair Street

c. 1895 – Queen Anne

This unique Queen Anne residence was built. in 1895 by Romeo builder Frank Parker and was later owned by Mrs. James Hosner, widow of a wealthy Bruce Township farmer. The front porch is Japanese in every detail with its pargoda·like roof, spindeled “ramma” screen along the ceiling, oriental balustrade and unsupported cantilevered base. The remainder of the house is essentially Gothic.

117-119 West Saint Clair Street

c. 1870 – Italianate

This Italianate block with its rhythmic arches and contrasting brick was com· p]eted in 1870 at a cost of $6,000. The store to the east was first occupied by Issac Crawford and Timothy Lyon who engaged in “blacksmithing, wagon making and repairing.” In 1874, The Romeo Observer office was established here for a short time and in December, 1880 Wellington Jersey purchased the store and established his marble showroom and work shop on the first floor and turned the second floor into a “hall (Marble Hall) … well adapted for society meet­ings and the like” with a floor composed of alternate strips of maple and cherry carefully planed and oiled . . . absolutely perfect for dancing.” The store to the west was originally occupied by Horace Bogart, a manufacturer of “carriages, buggies, wagons and sleighs,” whose firm “The Old Reliable” had been in business “longer than any other” of its kind in Romeo. The Panic of 1873 evidently caused its failure and in 1875 the Ketchum Brothers, a rival firm from across the street, rented the property for a few years before The Romeo Observer was established here in 1880.

209-215 North Main Street

c. 1856 – Greek Revival

After a fire in 1856 which destroy­ed the original business structure on this site, the present Greek Revival building was con­structed. Known as the North Brick Block, it was the most prominent address in the business district for nearly a decade and housed four stores as well as the Masonic Hall on the upper floors. The large skylight visible on the north side of the building provided light for the studio of Ben Cuyler local photographer from 1870-1884 who advertised “the french Rembrandt photograph, a beautiful velvet-like picture which no other artist about here can take.” Starkweather Alley which separates the North Brick Block from its more recent neighbors is a pleasant passageway, reminiscent of the old New England commercial districts.