The Frank J. Cobbs House is a private house located at 407 E. Chapin Street in Cadillac, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1985 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

History

Frank J. Cobbs was born in Jackson County, Indiana in 1872, and was adopted by Jonathan W. Cobbs. The Cobbs family soon moved to Cadillac where the elder Cobbs purchased a sawmill and, along with William W. Mitchell, founded the lumbering firm of Cobbs & Mitchell. Cobbs & Mitchell was among the largest lumbering firms in Michigan, supplying hardwood flooring and other products to consumers. At its high point, Cobbs & Mitchell used 100,000 feet of raw lumber daily. Cobbs & Mitchell's operations played a major role in the economic development of Cadillac in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Frank Cobbs attended prep school at the University of Notre Dame, later attended the Michigan Military Academy, then obtained a degree from Olivet College in 1894. He returned to Cadillac to work at Cobbs & Mitchell, and in 1895 organized the Cadillac State Bank. However, soon after, his father Jonathon Cobbs became ill. As the only son, Frank Cobbs took over his father's place at Cobbs & Mitchell; the elder Cobbs eventually died in 1898. Cobbs & Mitchell continued to grow under Frank Cobbs's management, with considerable investment in the Cadillac area and growing holdings in the Pacific Northwest. Cobbs married Maude Louise Belcher in April 1898; the same year, he had this house built for himself and his family by local builder James R. Fletcher. It is thought that Detroit architect

George D. Mason George DeWitt Mason (July 4, 1856 – June 3, 1948) was an American architect who practiced in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, in the latter part of the 19th and early decades of the 20th centuries. Biography George Mason was born in Syracuse, New Yo ...

designed the house for Cobbs. In 1905, additions were made to the house, including adding a reading room over the porte cochere and extending the east wing. In 1912, the Cobbs moved to Oregon to supervise the Cobbs & Mitchell logging operations there, and in 1917 had an impressive Jacobethan mansion built in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. Maud Louise Cobbs died in Portland in 1940; Frank J. Cobbs died in 1951.

Description

The Frank J. Cobbs House is a three-story Colonial Revival house with clapboard siding and a gambrel roof clad in red cedar shingles. The center of the front facade projects slightly forward and is surmounted by a gambrel-roof gable. One end of the house has a gable-roofed wing, while the other has what was once a porte cochere, which is now enclosed with an added second story room. The central portion of the facade projects slightly forward of the primary facade plane and is topped by a gambrel-roof gable. The exterior contains a variety of decorative elements, including a

Palladian window Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

, windows with molded caps, round-head dormers, and fluted columns and

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

. A former carriage house, matching the main house in style, is sited nearby. The carriage house now has an organ.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses completed in 1898 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Colonial Revival architecture in Michigan Houses in Wexford County, Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites National Register of Historic Places in Wexford County, Michigan