John and Eliza Barr Patterson House

Historic house in Michigan, United States

United States historic place


John and Eliza Barr Patterson House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


42°19′34″N 83°31′40″W / 42.32611°N 83.52778°W / 42.32611; -83.52778
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1844^[2]
Built by	John Patterson
Architectural style	Greek Revival
MPS	Canton Township MPS
NRHP reference No.	00000647^[1]
Added to NRHP	June 09, 2000

The John and Eliza Barr Patterson House is a private house located at 6205 N. Ridge Road in Canton, Michigan, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.^[1]

History

John Patterson was born in 1804 in Connecticut.^[3] John and his wife Pamelia moved to Canton Township in Michigan and purchased property in 1826.^[2] Eight years later, in 1834, Pamelia Patterson died in childbirth; John remained a widower for 10 years.^[2] In 1844, John Patterson married Eliza Barr; the couple purchased another plot of land and built this house.^[2] The couple had multiple children before John died in 1856.^[3] John willed his land to Eliza, who married George W. Peters soon after John's death.^[3] Eliza Barr Patterson Peters died in 1885, and her land passed, as instructed in John's will, to the couple's son Charles Patterson.^[3] The farm remained in the family until 1999.^[4]

Description

The John and Eliza Barr Patterson House is a 1+1⁄2-story, five-bay wood-frame Greek Revival farmhouse with clapboard siding sitting atop a stone foundation.^[4] The front facade is symmetrical with a center entrance topped with a transom and flanked by twelve-over-twelve windows.^[4] It is topped by a wide frieze, a box cornice with returns, and a shingle roof.^[4]

The interior of the house is in substantially original condition. The first floor houses a living room, dining room, a kitchen, and a single bedroom; the second floor contains four additional bedrooms and a bathroom installed circa 1940.^[4] Door hardware in the house is original, and one of the bedrooms still contains a c. 1844 stenciled border at the top of the wall.^[4] Hand-hewn beams can still be seen in the basement of the house.^[2]

A 20th-century barn is also on the property, along with a shed and the foundation of a barn.^[4] Evidence of other farm outbuildings can still be seen around the house, as well as rose, daylily, and peony plantings that date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[2] A former chicken coop has been converted into living quarters.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Kosky and Glynn Associates (April 2000), Historic and Architectural Resources of Canton Township Multiple Property Submission Nomination Form, National Park Service
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Diane Follmer Wilson (1988), Cornerstones: a history of Canton township families, Canton Historical Society, p. 134
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "Patterson, John and Eliza Barr, House". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Archived from the original on May 5, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2010.