WALKING TOUR INFORMATION
Print the Walking Tour Brochure
1. 118 W. Lincoln, The Museum
This 1880 Gothic Revival cottage, built for Rev. Byron
Pratt, showcases a complete restoration by the Grand
Ledge Area Historical Society. The Museum is open
Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. and by appointment. Call
627-5170 or 627-2452.
2. 410 Harrison Street, Shane-Baptist
Parsonage
This house was built in 1906 for Willard
Shane, a local businessman, by his father
George. It is a fine example of Queen Anne
architecture. This style is distinguished by an
asymmetrical shape adorned with turrets,
porches and gables.
3. 411 Harrison Street, United Methodist Church
This fine example of Romanesque Revival architecture
was dedicated in 1912.
4. 321 Harrison Street, Kent-Winfield
Edwin Kent built this Eastlake style house, one in a row
of three, in 1891.
5. 315 W. Jefferson Street, Turnbull-Mulvay
This stately brick home was originally Italianate in style.
In 1899 Edward Turnbull, owner of Grand Ledge Chair
Company, altered it to Colonial Revival and added a third floor. It is now divided into apartments.
6. 316 W. Jefferson Street, Rawson-Diebold
Built in the late 1880's for a local business family, this
house features an interesting square tower with
small-paned, multi- colored glass windows.
7. 304 W. Jefferson Street, Campbell-Wirbel
Surviving original features indicate that this was a Stick
style house when first built by local carpenters in 1886.
Note the sharply pointed gables bearing wood
decoration common to the period. The addition of the
wrap-around porch with turned spindles occurred
around the turn of the century.
Note other examples of added wrap-around porches at
207 and 315 E. Jefferson Street.
8. 238 W. River Street, Latting-Porter
This picturesque bungalow, which has a lofty view of the
Grand River and Island Park, was built by the owner of
the adjacent house for his daughter in 1913. The house
is simple
in design, with wide overhanging eaves that extend
outward over a large porch.
9. 219 W. Jefferson Street, Sheets-Fitzgerald
A state historic site, this house was the official
residence of Gov. Frank D. Fitzgerald from 1936-1939.
Built in 1909 for a local merchant, this brick house is of
the Romanesque style with a tile roof, massive chimney,
and rounded bay windows. The original owners, who
were Spiritualists, used the third floor to conduct
seances. Note the variety of window styles and the
rounded dormer flanked by two additional dormers with
triangular roofs.
10. 211 W. Jefferson Street, Edwards-Stout
This structure and the adjacent house at 207 W.
Jefferson Street were built by Elmer Edwards in the
early 1900's from unusual "rusticated" cement blocks
produced by the William Devine and Sons Cement
Company. These are two of many cement
blockhouses in Grand Ledge made from local blocks.
11. 210 W. Jefferson Street, Bryce- Congregational
Parsonage
This large Vernacular Victorian brick home was built
at the turn of the century for the cashier of a local bank.
The simple lines and the absence of ornamentation
are
characteristic of this style. The structure at one time
served as the parsonage for the Congregational
Church.
12. 119 W .Jefferson Street, Kent-Trinklein
Built in 1893, this brick Eastlake Victorian home has
high gable ends and a recessed porch with clusters
of pillars painted to enhance the architectural detail.
Note the
characteristic Eastlake carving on the front door. The
belvedere atop the house was added in the 1970's.
13. 118 E. Jefferson Street, U.S. Post Office
Built under the Emergency Construction Program Act
in 1938, the Post Office depicts a traditional design of
that era for public buildings, having a stylized
Classical order with stone base, brick exterior walls
and stone trim. The interior wall mural, painted by
Detroit-born artist James Calder in 1939, depicts a
rural scene in Grand Ledge with the water tower and
possibly the Grand Ledge Chair Company and tile
factory.
14. 131 E. Jefferson Street, Public Library
Built in 1931, 20 years after the inception of the
Ladies' Library Association, the Grand Ledge Public
Library is typical of the Classical style of architecture
popular during period. The symmetrical design is
enhanced with a soft green tile roof, many-paned
windows, and a formal entrance with an elliptical
pediment. The brick used in construction was from
the Grand Ledge Face Brick Company, a local
concern that ceased operation in 1947.
15. 201 E. Jefferson Street, Trinity Episcopal Church
Built in 1911, the Trinity Episcopal Church is a fine
example of the Eclectic Gothic style with its arched
windows, buttresses, and square bell tower. Take
particular notice of the 12 Belgian leaded glass
windows showing the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
16. 207 E. Jefferson Street, Smith Bros. Law Office-
Davis Building
One of several beautiful examples of Italianate
architecture, this structure is unique in Grand Ledge in
that it retains its original crowning belvedere. Built in the
1870's for a local physician, it has served as a Catholic
rectory, a law office and now an office building.
17. 220 E. Jefferson Street, Fitzgerald-Moyes
An excellent example of the Stick style, this house was
built in 1890 for a local businessman. Note the wood
trimmed upper floor, an adaptation of the English half-
timber style, and bold use of colored glass in the upper
portion of the windows.
18. 302 E. Jefferson Street, Wareham-Wade
This is another example of the popular Italianate style
with a wide overhanging cornice supported by heavy
brackets or corbels. Note the decorative fanlight window
above the front doors. Built in two stages during the
1850's and 1860's, it was the residence of the Wareham
family whose son, John"Dee," was president of Rookwood Art Pottery of Cincinnati, Ohio.
19. 315 E. Jefferson Street, Berry
This structure was also built in stages, the rear portion
in the 1870's. The front about 1900, and the wrap-
around porch still later. Occupied at one time by Fred
Berry, a prominent banker, this Colonial Revival House
is one of several in Grand Ledge with a third floor
ballroom.
20. 328 E. Jefferson Street, Tucker
Built in 1911 for a Grand Ledge merchant, the house's
exterior is embellished with bay windows, beveled and
leaded glass upper windowpanes, and heavy finished
wood.
21. 406 E. Jefferson Street, Granger-Garlock
Built in 1881 for Sylvester Granger, a local
businessman, this two-story home is in the Georgian
Colonial style. The porch is of particular interest with
Ionic columns and
displays dentil molding and turned balustrades.
22. 424 E. Jefferson Street, Spencer-Oding
This house was built in 1900 and later owned by the
Oding family, local grocers, and is an example of
Queen Anne architecture. Note the leaded glass
window treatments,
projecting bay windows on the first and second
stories, and inviting front porch with clustered
Classical columns.
23. 428 E. Lincoln Street, Stobel-Huhn
Known as "The Homestead. " this Georgian Colonial
house was built in 1930 as a funeral parlor for the
Stobel family who lived in the adjacent cottage. It was
converted to private residence in the 1960's. The use
of a symmetrical design with cornices and chimneys
located at either end is this typical of this style. Note
the portico surrounding the front door trimmed with
dentil molding and Doric columns. Behind the
structure is a 1909 carriage house (visible from Kent
Street), which is constructed of conduit tile from the
Grand Ledge Clay Products Company.
24. 502 E. Scott Street, Dale
Probably built in the 1880's when the Italianate style
was highly popular, this one story version of the
bracketed style is unique in Grand Ledge. Note the
tall, narrow window treatments with bracketed heads.
25. 300 E. Scott Street, Chappell-Worthy
This Gothic revival home with unique Italian villa window
casements was built in the 1870's. The Fred Chappell
family lived here 59 years. He was a local pharmacist.
26. 221 E. Scott Street, Putterille-Smith
The exterior of this house exhibits the Victorian era's
extensive use of architectural detail and use of bold
color. Originally a simple structure built in 1893 by a
local blacksmith, it was expanded into the existing
Queen Anne structure with third floor ballroom in the
early 1900's.
27. 316 Taylor Street, Grand Ledge Hotel-Deming Law
Office
This post-Victorian Princess Anne was built in 1902 as a
private residence before becoming first a hotel, then a
fabric shop and now a law office.
28. 312 Taylor Street, Coryell-Voltattorni, DDS
Built in 1890, this structure is one of the area's finest
examples of Carpenter Gothic architecture. Take time to
examine the use of ornate exterior detail on porches and
balconies, and the square bay windows decorated with
colored glass panes. Moved to this location from the
comer lot in 1923, this structure served as a dress shop
and now a dental office.
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