The Lewis-Wilkinson House
415 N. Huron
c. 1870, Italianate

The house is atypical in the arrangement of its various forms, yet rich in Italianate details of windows, doors, hoods and cornice with elaborate, large paired eave brackets. Its wood frame construction is sided with smooth horizontal boards, unrelieved by bevel, groove or quirk, to simulate the stucco construction of a Mediterranean environment. The siding is aptly arrested at corners with a vertical, round rail to give added emphasis to wall edges. The heavy wood “rope” trim surrounding the front porch doors and the delicate Corinthian capitals capping slender smooth porch posts are unique features. The single door, on the porch just south of the main paired front doors, is the typical “casket” door which allowed for the carrying of a casket into the front parlor, and also permitted townsfolk to pay their last respects to the deceased without disturbing the bereaved family. At such times, the front parlor was closed off from the rest of the house by large, double doors. Interior doors, casings, and baseboards are massive, ornate in detail and profile, and of walnut wood. Special notice should be made of the vintage, wood frame tack house, in the vertical board—and—batten siding of an earlier style, but with diminutive eave brackets matching those of the main house.