George Dock House, 1894

1014 Cornwell Place

George Dock House, 1894

Perched on a steep bluff overlooking the Huron River valley, this elaborate house was built in 1894 for George Dock, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Pathology at the University of Michigan. The irregular massing of forms, the polygonal tower with tent roof, the wrap-around porch, the use of cross gables, windows in varying shapes and sizes, and the combination of various materials including clapboard, board and batten, and unusual cut shingles are all features of the late Queen Anne style of the 1890s. They combine to give the house a complicated, eclectic look ???_ the essence of this style.

Dr. Dock no doubt wanted to be close to the Medical School and University Hospitals which were then located at Catherine and Glen Streets, but after 14 years he sold the house to another professor, Dr. Albert Barrett. Barrett, who was also Director of the State Psychopathic Hospital, lived in the house for a decade, after which it served a number of owners including the Gamma Alpha fraternity from 1925 to 1950. By 1970 it was known as Clark's Tourist Home. It remained a rooming house until 1986 when it was purchased by the University of Michigan to house its "Med Inns" program. Today the University rents its rooms to foreign students.

The house is remarkably intact despite its many changes of ownership. It had an almost identical twin, the Jacob Laubengayer House formerly at 416 South Main Street, which was moved several years ago to 2345 Huron Parkway. Together with another transplanted Queen Anne, it now houses a medical clinic. Since Laubengayer's house was designed by the noted Detroit architectural firm of Spier and Rohns, it is possible that the George Dock house may have been designed by them as well.