Monday 8 September 2014

TRAVEL: Center Avenue Historic District, Bay City

BayCity

There's something I really love about American late 19th century architecture - perhaps because it's so different in both style and often in size compared to buildings of the same era back back in the UK. One of the best ways of seeing historical structures is always on foot, so after wandering around downtown Bay City I decided to have a wander along part of the walking tour produced by the Bay City Center Avenue Neighbourhood Association. With Center Avenue the core, there are among 880 historical structures with examples of various architectural styles - arts & craft, Gothic revival, mid century modern to Tudor revival and the odd kit home thrown in for good measure.

I myself, well I love an old house with a turret topped off with a cone roof (as in the above photograph along Center Avenue) - a style typical of Queen Ann residences. There's something rather grand and regal about a house with a turret.

First along the walking tour was the Shearer residence;

BayCity
814 N. Monroe
The Residence of George H. & Elva Shearer c. 1876

George appears to have had his fingers in lots of pies - finding his first steps working as a laborer in his fathers lumber business he worked his way into becoming the manager of Shearer Brothers - a lumber, real estate and insurance company. Not only that but dear old George was the secretary of the Elm Lawn Cemetery and vice president of Bay County Savings bank. Designed by his father, 814 N. Monroe is built in the Second Empire style - a Parisian design.

BayCity
BayCity
900 Fifth St.
The Residence of Thomas Webster c. 1886

Moving to Bay City in 1874 Webster practiced law and was elected County Probate Judge in 1880. Upon his death in 1940 at the age of 92, he was the last surviving Civil War vet in Bay City - he'd ran away aged 16 from his New York home to join the Union Army. Webster shared his Queen Anne home with his first wife Ella who died shortly after giving birth to sons. With Isabel - his second wife, he had a daughter Amelia. After being converted into apartments in 1957, the Fifth St Webster house  is now a luxury B&B which looks very swanky.


BayCity
1001 Center Avenue
The Residence of Virgil & Mary c. 1904

Mary Cranage received 1001 Center Avenue as a wedding present from her parents to celebrate her marriage to Virgil - a practitioner and surgeon. And what a grand wedding present it was! In 1964 the home was converted to offices, there currently seems to be some work going on inside.


BayCity
BayCity
701 North Grant
The Residence of George W. and Maria C. Mann c. 1879

1879 saw George Mann, a lawyer purchasing three lots near at North Grant for $300 but it's unclear in the records if the deed was for this house or one that use to be further north. Either way Amos Woolfitt - manager of the Bay Cit Beef Co., had brought the house with his house Mary. The house remained in their family until 1972. With a distinctive blue sliding and bright white wrap around porch this house is a beauty.

It's always great to get the chance to get out and walk around historical neighborhoods, you really get to feel just how old and grand they were when it's street upon street of similar sized and aged building. It's equally impressive, if not more so when you consider how many of them are mere wooden structures - they do well to not only last the test of time, but the Michigan weather. While the brick residences might not look too out of place in England of this era, the wooden homes are certainly, very American.

18 comments:

  1. Gorgeous pictures! The houses are really nice - I especially like Thomas Webster's one. :)
    theemeralddove21.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. It's so pretty isn't it?! I love what they've done to all the rooms too for their b&b - certainly brought it to life again.

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  2. This was a great post and very informative. The architecture in parts of the US is like nothing you would ever see here in the UK, though I've only ever really seen it in pictures! I really want to see places like this for myself one day xx

    www.alphabeth.co.uk

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    1. I love old historical areas of all cities - growing up just outside of York I was spoilt there too, but it's certainly fun to see and explore in other countries as much as it's on your own doorstep :)

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  3. I always find it quite interesting how architecture can differ so greatly between countries - I'd certainly much rather live in a house like this then any of the boring granite buildings you find in Aberdeen!

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    1. See I love that Scottish, granite architectural look too! The colour does certainly add something to houses though.

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  4. Gorgeous pictures and gorgeous houses! I'm pretty jealous that there's this kind of architecture in the US, especially when I'm living in Wales and all the Victorian terraces have been turned in to student flats. These big US houses do always make me think of horror movies and ghosties though! Lisa x

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    1. There's actually rather a lot of original apartment complexes hidden within what might appear from the street as a house (I wouldn't put it past the "houses" in images 1 and 3 being such examples) - especially when a town/city population began to expand and such. But yeah, I remember street upon street back in Newcastle being student housing, it's a shame but when there's that demand and all.

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  5. Michigan truly does have some gems of architecture, doesn't it? I've actually never been up around the Bay City area, but down around Rochester and Romeo there are some amazing houses. It's so fun to just take a drive (or ride your bike!) through areas like these and see some of the old-fashioned houses!
    ~ Samantha
    samsamcherie.blogspot.com

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    1. Utica and Pontiac both have some great old houses - not that I've had chance to walk around and explore but they seem pretty old and interesting driving past! Plus it's always interesting to drive though all the little towns that you just happen to come across.

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  6. I do like that blue one and the yellowy one above it. The thing I've always got from American homes, is the size of them, so much larger than anything I've really seen, compared to the number of people that might live there.

    We have an area near us that I really want to go to that has loads of huge houses lining one street, it's where all the people who work at the European Commission/Government work. But there are some amazing homes!

    I love looking at photos of houses! I really love the houses here as everyone seems to build their own and they all look different in some way. Not like the housing estates we build in the UK where every house is the same.

    Brb, need to see a man about a turret.

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    1. Yeah I wouldn't mind calling the blue house home that's for sure. In some of the richer burbs around here - the houses are crazy huge, I have no idea what you'd do with a house so huge, i'd get lost. But they are all gated up with super long driveways - oh how the other half live. Even the more average priced home - they are all different on the same street, whether it's the original way they were built or people have made changes, but it males a nice change of street upon street of housing in the UK looking the same. Saying that, more of the modern builds in the US look all the same to me, but those houses never appeal to me anyway!

      If you find that man, send him around, I'm sure I could stick a turret on my house somewhere ....

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  7. Wow! The architecture is so different from over here in the UK. I love how huge all the houses are. They are every bit the houses that we see in all American tv dramas. I can only dream of ever owning a house as massive and beautiful as they are. They just don't make it like them over here, that's for sure! I love the house in the second last picture - it's so pretty!
    Debi x

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    1. I'd love a big house, at least to the size of these, but then I remember how much work it would be trying to keep it clean (see i'm lazy and can't be dealing with that reality lol). I might have to paint my house super bright!

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    1. No, haven't really been anywhere in that direction.

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  9. I love the different types of houses in America! I remember doing school projects walking around our little town pointing out the different examples, and then drawing them and pasting them on milk cartons to make our own towns. Ahhhh memories. Those are some gorgeous houses!

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    1. We use to do little things like that, and trips out to old school buildings and churches. Mind you in my hometown, every old building seemed to be a pub!

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