The John and Eliza Barr Patterson House is a private house located at 6205 N. Ridge Road in Canton,

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, United States. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2000.

History

John Patterson was born in 1804 in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

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

Description

The John and Eliza Barr Patterson House is a -story, five-bay wood-frame Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival farmhouse with Clapboard (architecture), clapboard siding sitting atop a stone foundation. The front facade is symmetrical with a center entrance topped with a transom and flanked by twelve-over-twelve windows. It is topped by a wide frieze, a box cornice with returns, and a shingle roof. 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. 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. Hand-hewn beams can still be seen in the basement of the house. A 20th-century barn is also on the property, along with a shed and the foundation of a barn. 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. A former chicken coop has been converted into living quarters.

History

Description

References

See also