'Walnut Grove' the Reuben Fenton House, Jamestown, NY

The Reuben Fenton House, Jamestown, NY. 1863 Photo: Wikimedia

The Fenton house, also known as 'Walnut Grove' was built in 1863 and is a particularly stately example of an irregular plan Italianate. Fenton was a significant mid-19th century legislator in New York state. The house has a stark brick facade, pierced by a bevy of arched windows. The main decoration in the brick is the Romanesque pilasters and drips on the tower, which recall the origins of the style in Italian monastic architecture. The windows on the projecting pavilion are three pointed shallow arches that enclose tombstone windows with columns supporting the arches. The other windows are almost all defined by Venetian tracery. Stone drip moldings complete the effect, carved with panels and heavy keystones and brackets. As far as woodwork goes, the stateliness and reserve of the design are reflected in the cornice, which has simple dentils, double s-curve brackets, and the porch which, though simply carved, displays a particularly crisp and finished level of carving and design. Notably, the house lacks an architrave molding which would create a stronger cornice. My favorite part of the house is the engaged gable on the projecting pavilion, where the actual point only slightly projects from horizontal moldings. It's a shape that gives the house much greater mass.

The John Kelley House, Cincinnati, OH

Kelley House, Cincinnati, OH. 1870s. Photo: Christie

Remaining Photos: HABS

The John Kelley house was built sometime in the late 1860s early 1870s (likely the 1870s when the rest of the street materialized). Little is known about the man it was built for, but like other houses on the street, it has the same Anglo-Italianate flair. The simple limestone facade of this rowhouse plan is not broken up into courses, and unlike most of the houses on the street, it has a Corinthian columned porch. The first floor has round arched windows while the second features segmental arches, a variation common to many houses on the street. The surrounds are the same on each window, with strong Renaissance acanthus leaf brackets and a molding. Spandrels are carved with the usual Renaissance vegetal designs. Uniquely on this house, the cornice has been elongated. Although it is of the bull's eye type, the windows are semicircular rather than round. The addition of the stone course with panels and incised carvings makes it seem much bigger than on other houses. All in all, this house has one of the finer and more finished facades on the street.

The Ferdinand Karrmann House, Cincinnati, OH

Karrmann House, Cincinnati, OH. 1870s John Smit Photography

Photos: HABS

The Ferdinand Karmann house, named after one of its most notable occupants, was built in the early 1870s on Dayton Street, and it is notable among the other houses because it is a full three stories tall instead of the typical two and a half stories. It thus breaks the mostly uniform height of the streetscape. The house, which has the typical rowhouse plan displays some of the Anglo-Italianate features of other houses on the street. The limestone facade's first floor especially with its simple arched windows with thick moldings and the door surround with the engaged arch, brackets, and pilasters echoes the Hauck house and most of the other buildings on the street. The second and third floors are a bit freer with their design, featuring segmental arched windows with eared moldings, strong paneled string courses, and projecting pilasters framing each floor. The frieze that runs between the window moldings with incised carving is interesting in that it creates the effect of having pilaster capitals. The cornice is simple with carved brackets and dentils. The house is currently a church.

The Chauncey Murch House, Cincinnati, OH

The Murch House, Cincinnati, OH. 1860s John Smith Photography

Other Photos: HABS

The Chauncey Murch house is another of the fine Anglo-Italianate homes on Dayton Street built sometime before 1868. The house is in line with the other limestone Italianates on the street, following the rowhouse plan. This house is notable for its rustication on both the first and second floors, increasing the horizontal flow of the house. It's not the amount of ornament in this house, but its careful application. The windows are all round headed; on the first floor simple moldings and keystones embellish them, while on the second, they are set in rectangular surrounds with moldings on top and simple carved spandrels. The decoration of the balcony (whose underside is even carved!) above the porch is particularly impressive. The thickly carved acanthus leaf brackets surround the arch which has a plaque in the center with leaves pouring into the spandrels. The balcony above is also of stone and displays the traditional oval and circle French balustrade design. The cornice is particularly elaborate. Little of the entablature can be seen because of the large windows that punctuate it. The brackets themselves are thick and paired, with a dentil molding in the center of each bracket and smaller brackets between. This makes the cornice seem rather ponderous, but nonetheless, this is in line with other houses in Cincinnati, with their overwhelming cornices. Inside, the interiors have all the elegance one would expect, although there is an odd arch in the parlor with a segmental arch enclosing a round arch.

The Charles Heine House, Cincinnati, OH

Heine House, Cincinnati, OH. 1870s John Smith Photography

Remaining Photos: HABS

This house, adjoining the Hauck house was probably built by John Hauck in 1874-6 as a residence for his daughter and her husband, Charles Heine, a grocer. On exclusive streets like Dayton Street, one can often find family relations and friends building and buying houses to form their own enclaves. Much plainer than the Hauck house and following the rowhouse plan, the Heine house shares some features with it; perhaps the same architect was used for both. The house's doors in particular have the same design, although there is less carving. The windows also follow the same pattern, with segmental arched windows on the first floor with pillars, a rope molding, and keystone, and round arched windows on the second in the same style. The cornice features paired brackets and dentils, and is of the bull's eye type, although instead of being round, the windows are only semi-circular.

The James Laws House, Cincinnati, OH

The James Laws House, Cincinnati, OH. 1860s. John Smith Photography

Photos: HABS

The James Laws house, built in the 1860s (many dates for the houses on Dayton street are unclear because of a fire that destroyed records) is an interesting brick house on a street of limestone mansions. James Laws' daughters were particularly famous as spinsters who established kindergartens and nursing schools. Planwise, the house is difficult to classify. One could call it a rowhouse with a short wing on the side, however, in looking at the volumes and fenestration, I might say that it's actually an irregular plan house in which the facade has been completely flattened and all the recesses and projections have been flattened out with the tower removed. Regardless, the house displays many Anglo-Italianate features in its simple design. The facade is brick with limestone trim, including quoins at the corners, a Renaissance limestone entablature, and rafter brackets that are closely spaced, suggesting dentils. The windows are segmental arched and have a rectangular surround with a simple strip of molding at the top. The main door is round arched with a molding that has carved floral "capitals" and a curved keystone. Simple and spare, the house is a model design on the street.

The George Hatch House, Cincinnati, OH

The George Hatch House, Cincinnati, OH. 1850 Color photos: Wikimedia

The George Hatch house is much earlier than other houses we have seen on Dayton Street. It was built in 1850-1 for Hatch, a mayor, land speculator, and soap manufacturer, and was designed by Isaiah Rogers, who was responsible for the Gaff House in Indiana. Like the Gaff house, it has similarities to Greek Revival design, but remains a firm example of Anglo-Italianate architecture. Although the plan is symmetrical, the limestone facade undulates boldly. The bowed bays are particularly characteristic of Rogers and can be seen in his work on Boston's Tremont House. The central section maintains the facade's restlessness with its bayed entrance porch surmounted by a bay window. In terms of ornamentation, there is a very low amount on most of the facade. The bows have very plain windows with a minimum of molding. A broad string course separates the floors, but is enlivened by paired Temple of the Winds pilasters at the ends of the facade. The porch is truly lovely. Although it looks like a three bay projection, it actually forms a hexagon because the projection is reflected by a three bay recess in the facade. Corinthian columns alternate with Temple of the Winds pilasters. Above, the simple bay window has round windows which very thin, almost Federal Corinthian pillars. The Greek Revival cornice is ornamented with simple rafter brackets, suitable for the 1850s. Notably, this house has an octagonal cupola and a port cochere with a room above.

The interiors of the house are particularly impressive because of the massive staircase hall which is entered through the port cochere. Additionally, the floors are inlaid and tiled and the interior arches have Corinthian columns. The house has been recently restored.

The following images are from HABS.

The Allan Gazlay House, Cincinnati, OH

The Gazlay House, Cincinnati, OH Late 1860s Photo: Christie

Photo: John S

The Allen Gazlay House was built in the late 1860s for a wealthy property owner and investor on Dayton Street, and it is probably one of the best examples of Anglo-Italianate in the area. It is symmetrical in plan with the side bays slightly projecting and the limestone facade is defined by quoins. The windows are simpler than in other houses on Dayton, with all of them arched with a thick molding and rococo details at the top. On the first floor, there are Renaissance stone balconies. The most exciting feature is the extremely elaborate Renaissance door surround, which has Corinthian pilasters supporting a full entablature that is deeply carved and a triangular pediment. The round arched door is surrounded by a molding with more vegetal carving in the spandrels. Carving continues on the bracketless cornice which has a deeply carved vegetal frieze and dentils. Rare for houses on this street, the side facades, although plain brick, have some limestone details around the windows. The house seems to have taken all its decorative inspiration from the Renaissance and makes for a design that looks much more like the 1880s Renaissance revival than 1860s Italianate. The grandeur is carried over to the fencing, which has pedimented newel posts around the entrance.
Images below are from HABS, including a couple of the interior.

The Andrew Hickenlooper House, Cincinnati, OH

Hickenlooper House, Cincinnati, OH. 1871. Photo: Christie

Photos: Wikimedia

This house at 838 Dayton St. was built in 1871 by successful Civil War general Andrew Hickenlooper, who was involved in Sherman's march through Georgia. The house, which follows the rowhouse plan is one of the most elaborate of the houses on Dayton. Its limestone facade is articulated into three strong bays, like the Hauck house, in which the central bay is slightly less bold than the flanking bays. The first floor features segmental arched windows, all with strong moldings and keystones. These are divided into bays by Ionic pilasters with floral carvings. Notably, the string course molding advances and recesses with the pilasters. The second floor is where the real variation begins. The flanking bays project slightly and feature segmental arched windows with eared moldings and a curved pediment on acanthus brackets. These are pulled straight from Renaissance designs and make this house a good example of Anglo-Italianate style. The central bay is recessed and has just the eared molding around the window, but the carved swags, a notably lavish element, emphasize it significantly in the design. Basically, this house is well balanced in its distribution of elements that attract and diminish. The cornice features paired simple brackets; the flanking bays have a simple paneled cornice, while the central bay has a bull's eye cornice, keeping the three bay distinction all the way up. The whole is topped by a fancy stone cresting that simulates Greek acanthus leaf crestings. As in the Hauck house, all is liberally carved on the front, while the sides are very very plain.