Ballard—Breakey House
125 N. Huron
c. 1830, 1845 & 1925, Greek Revival

The Ballard-Breakey House has a mix of classical elements to replicate the Greek Revival style. Dr. Daniel White had a modest Federal style house of stone and brick built on this site about 1830 which was purchased from his estate in 1834 by Arden Ballard, son—in—law of Benjamin Woodruff. Ballard sold it on a land contract to Marcus Lane, local attorney, who lived there for six years, but surrendered it to Ballard in 1840 by default. At that time, the house was still a vernacular Federal. Thereafter, over the span of a century, it was aggrandized by subsequent and prominent owners. In 1845, Ballard added the Roman Doric columns, rare in Michigan at that time, as well as the twin Doric colonettes flanking the front door, to capture the spirit of the waning Greek Revival style. The next owner, Dr. James R. Breakey, probably built the brick Italianate carriage house about 1870, to which was added the frame front half, in about 1910, when the building was converted to apartments. His son, Circuit Court Judge James R. Breakey, Jr., inherited the property and added the rear section in 1925 with its side entrance adorned with a portico of Doric Columns and Greek fret, in an apparent effort to blend with Ballard’s classical elements, and thereby be in step with the Classic Revival style, then near the end of its popularity. Since Judge Breakey’s death, the house has been rented as apartments and offices. The building was surveyed in 1936 and listed with the Historical American Buildings Survey.